Bike Axle Standards

Our resident mechanic al explains axle standards.

Bike axle standards.

If it is a thru axle it would have a ta in the description such as 110ta. In bicycle nomenclature qr refers to a skewer and ta refers to a thru axle. As always there are some exceptions but we will focus on modern axle standards that are supported by pub wheels. Hub axle standards don t worry brands like boyd enve alto and others are still improving the performance of the humble rim brake hub.

How to measure a bicycle thru axle most thru axles are described by four measurements and you might see them described something like this. It looks as if the pace of change in disc bike axle standards will slow now with 12x100mm front and 12x142mm rear thru axles dominating. The bike industry is known for not creating or adhering to standards but it wasn t until i needed a rear axle i realized how bad it had gotten. 15x100mm 15x110mm boost and 20x110mm the first number refers to the axle diameter while the second refers to the dropout width of the bike.

Mountain bike axle standards explained. Digging through my bins of collected bike parts i pulled a not small selection of rear through axles in what was the correct length and spacing for a 12 x 142mm rear hub. For decades quick release skewers were the standard for attaching wheels to a road bike. Best mountain bike wheels.

Yeah i know i m supposed to hate it because it s new and wtf bike industry but years ago i was one of small group who got to participate in a blind taste test of current axle standards and potential offerings and in the end i unknowingly chose boost which had no name at the time. At first 135mm was the most common rear axle spacing with 150mm used for dh. In this example 15mm is the diameter 100mm is the o l d 127mm is the overall length and 1 5mm is the thread pitch. 15 x 100mm 127 length 1 5.

Skewers are for the bbq. Know your thru axle from your super boost spacing. Front mtb thru axles currently use three standards. But 142mm and 157mm soon superseded these standards with the extra 7mm allowing a stiffer interface with the frame.