Well, obviously not, but..

..planning a new build, first for quite a while, and it's going to be the inevitable long(ish) travel steel HT 🙄

Thing is I have a few sets of QR wheels and could do without the expense of a new set of wheels and new forks.

Is it false economy to stick with QR forks to save the price of a set of wheels or should I just CTFU and get some 'proper' wheels..

..if so, any recommendations for front bolt through wheelset with white rims 😳

Dont be soft lad, quick release will be more than adequate – marketing makes you think you need bolt through

Do you Need it?

Nah, barely anyone was bothered by 130mm QR forks, can’t see how an extra 10mm means certain death, Fudding Mags….

Dont be soft lad, quick release will be more than adequate

Yeah I know really, It's still a month or so before frame arrives and I'm thinking a bit too much about the options I guess 😕

Do you Need it?

Didn't think so until I started to believe the internet 😳

What forks are you intending to get? Plenty of forks around on offer with bolt thru. Flog off some of the QR wheels to pay for the new front wheel.

I made a big loss selling virtually brand new 140mm QR Revs. 🙁 So yes, I would say it is a false economy.

Far too flexy for me. Even with big heavy Halo skewers pulling it all tight there was visible flex under heavy braking which I found terrifying! Round fast corners it felt like you didn't have much control over the bike.

That said, if you've been happy on QR 130mm forks, I can't see how 10mm would make too much of a difference.

What forks are you intending to get?

Probably a Float 32 if I was going for QR.
Having some spare cash for the first time in years I'd probabaly to build with matching F/R wheels and I'd keep the QR wheels anyway for the 'spare bike'…

…bugger, there's just too much choice 😕

I couldn't tell you if it was an issue until i put a 203mm disc up front instead of a 185, and now you fan feel it under heavy braking.

Only time I had it with the 185 was during serious last minute anchor-droppage in a race to outbrake and get the burst on a hard corner at the bottom of a very big hill!

Still got the QR's and the 203 on though, it's fine for now! when I get a new bike, I'll be getting bolt through though!

If I was spending a shed load on forks I would probably factor in a bolt through wheel build too, but if not expensive forks then QR wouldnt worry me, 170mm forks used to have QR without too much death and carnage..

Fox 32's at 140mm are too flexy for qr imo. Can't speak for any other brands though.

What have you got at the moment? If it's Fox's the Mojo can put 15mm lowers on for about £130, to save you some money, then a set of Hope Hoop's will see you right at a good price.

Vinneyeh – it's £144 just to buy the 32 lowers from Mojo and then they have failed to quote me for the full conversion! I'd imagine it's that plus a service – so about £240!
http://www.mojostore.co.uk/acatalog/Forx_QR15_Lower_Legs.html

TFT quoted £160ish i think (inc. parts) to convert but recommend a full service at the same time – again, knocks it up to over £200.
Still cheaper than buying a new set…

ive got qr on my fox forks and i found they felt flexy with my olympic/240 lightwheelset but i swapped the wheel to ex1750 with 9mm bolt and they feel solid now . on my h/t i have fox ones too but they feel solid with a burlier wheelbuild anyway hope with xm321 . so i think a lot of if is down to the wheel too

How does bolt-through (horizontal stiffness) translate into less flex back and forward under heavy braking? The forces are perpendicular to each other.

Stops the twisting of the fork from unbalanced forces because it is stiffer? Basically you are right tho – o the tandem we bend forks a couple of inches under heavy braking.

For me for security and peace of mind I would always go for a 20 mm axle. It still only takes seconds to undo even a true bolt thru.

@paulrockliffe

I had a think about that too. I think it's because there is only one caliper on the left-hand fork-leg, so all the braking forces go through that leg leading to twisting.

I think on balance I'd go for a bolt through. If nothing else for security, Having closely followed Pinder v Fox, I don't think I'm ever going to have a QR on the front of my bike again.

@nickc

I would never go horse riding then if I were you.

Ok, I'll bite…

Why shouldn't I go horse riding* if I don't want to use a QR on the front of my bike? Them seem at first glance to be not obviously connected.

*Not that I'm about to start all that malarky again, if you think MTB is expensive….

Er, feel free to bin this post if it's stepping out of line but here goes…

[shameless plug]

I've got a set of 09 XT UST 15mm wheels for sale on ebay, BIN £200 + postage and I'll throw in a hardly used LUST Highroller. (Remind me though as it's not included in the listing)

Not stuck them on the classifieds yet as there's still a few days to go.

[shameless plug/]

Well, the number of people breaking their back due to their front wheel falling out is probably a lot smaller than the number of people breaking their back due to falling off a horse.

From the office of probably true but essentially made up statistics.

Fox 32's at 140mm are too flexy for qr imo.

+1

RS Rev at 130mm was a bit flexy too, 140mm must be more so.

Cookeaa – Do you think magazine writers have just made up that QR forks are flexier than bolt-through forks? Have you tried one?

@chakaping

Maybe they haven't 'made it up', but treating marketing with suspicion is no bad thing.

had 20mm revs and qr revs.

the 20mm are literally 5 times as good. big rock fields are just SO much easier to ride through.

much much better.

(both at 130mm as well as it happens – 140mm would only be worse)

Yes bolt thru forks will make the front end stiffer and on a heavy duty bike i wouldn't use qr (although i did briefly have 150mm drop offs on my old big hit) however i have qr rebas on my 5 as i did on my last trail bike,no issues unless running a dinner plate rotor.
Since the introduction of qr15 its amazing how many bike reviews come with comments like `let down by the lack of a bolt thru front end' i mean we have managed all these years without them and now all of a sudden they are a trail bike essential, i don't doubt the benefits of the bolt thru standard but certainly not a must have IMO.

@poppa, I guess…

I'd imagine the amount of people falling downstairs/in the shower, and breaking their backs is probably also greater, I'm not about to move into a bungalow stop bathing either…

In the case of bolt through, yep, never had it happen to me (the wheel dropping out thing) but bolt through weighs only a bit more, IS more secure, and adds a measure of stiffness, all for only a small increase in price. Seems worth it to me, especially for longer forks, where the emphasis of intended use is more "gnarly"

are the super cheap superstar wheels 10mm at the front

a set of those (assuming you dont have hopes or similar) and a dt swis thru axle (or similar) and ta da!!! much stiffer forks

Yeah, I figured cornering loads would cause less twisting with bolt-through, but if you're trying to corner hard enough to twist your forks much and braking heavily, a bit of extra flex is the least of your worries. I hadn't thought about the braking force trying to twist the fork; I guess the stiffer axle would reduce this twisting.

I think it's a false economy to by anything other than 20mm forks and wheels these days though.

Maybe they haven't 'made it up', but treating marketing with suspicion is no bad thing.

I think there's more than enough personal testimony here to show that it isn't all hot air.

There's a difference between being sceptical and blinkered.

Noting of course that I never claimed bolt-thru was hot air…

I have QR on one set and 9mm bolt through on another. Both fine, I can't tell the difference.

Thanks for all the replies, they exactly sum up the thoughts I've been having….

..to put in context a bit – I ride jeyXC, nothing more than 100mm to date – for a laugh,a dn ahving a bit of spare cash, I fancy building a bouncier HT.
Frame will be a PA, always wanted one and finally ordered one 😀
It's designed around 120-140 forks so thought may as well go for the full cream 140 than the semi skimmed 120.

I'm really not bothered about the QR 'coming undone thing' – many things more likely to hurt me whilst riding than that (sorry TJ)

Anyway, it's clear that it's not clear – the forks I like are white, the wheels I like have white rims, the frame is Kawa green, colour coordination is as good an argument for me as laterla stiffnes and longitudinal flexibility 😉

i made the jump from 130mm QR to 130 bolt thru and now to 120 bolt thru, and i'm glad i did. i was a bit skeptical at first too, but it does make a difference, especially noted in the alps, where the extra stiffness was lovely to have on off camber stuff and round tight switchbacks.

fwiw though, my 80mm race bike has QR, as it is faster in a race situation, and at that travel/on that bike i don't deem it necessary.

I have QR on one set and 9mm bolt through on another. Both fine, I can't tell the difference.

on float 32s i did notice the difference, specifically cornering hard and landing on an off-camber slope or diagonally from jumps etc

edit double post

chakaping – Member …

Cookeaa – Do you think magazine writers have just made up that QR forks are flexier than bolt-through forks? Have you tried one?

No I think they are Mugs that have bought the line that manufacturer’s marketing gibbons sold them…

I never said 20mm forks weren’t stiffer, I said there’s no point in wasting hundreds of pounds because some tosser in a mag’ tells you that you must.
The “dangers” of a bit of flex in a fork have been massively overstated, if anything a bit of lateral compliance in the steering of a 2 wheeled vehicle designed to travel rapidly over uneven terrain may be of some benefit, it could be the difference between you getting bucket off line of simply feeling a bit of a sideways jolt…

Have I run a QR fork? Yes several, and I still use one (An old one) and I’ve not died funnily enough, I also run a 20mm Bolt through axle for DH and have ridden various QR and 20mm forks over the years, a chunky axle alone is not what makes for a (laterally) stiff fork, take the example of good old shivers/Dorados, no lower brace obviously and thus more flex than other 20mm DH forks of the time…

Considering most of the current 9/15/20mm forks available share a common lower design until you get to the drop out I think it’s worth looking at how the lower braces of most forks have changed over the years, just about all forks are more rigid than their equivalents were just 5 years ago, I’d say the lower leg brace has more effect on the rigidity of a fork…

Look at it this way, if 140mm QR forks were as inherently dangerous as people seem to think surely you wouldn’t be able to buy them, RS, Fox, Marzocchi and Manitou will have substantiated every one of their products, regardless of the price point…

Don’t get me started on the pointless, 15mm revenue generation scheme…

Fox 32's at 140mm are too flexy for qr imo.

Hmm, I have 130mm Vanillas, swapped em for 140mm Vanillas and the 140s are better.

Just put some 140mm QR Rev's on my bike and had to step up to a 203mm rotor due to post mount adaptor – I can't say I've noticed any handling altering flex. the fork goes where I point it – a lot stiffer than the RC41 XCAM's it replaced.

If you are buying new, buy bolt-through – and its only the front wheel that will need a rebuild/new.

Irrelevent of anything, they weigh no more, are less likely to undo and are stiffer. On my 100mm QR Rebas I could twist the wheel easily by hand, far less able with the 120mm maxle Rebas I have now.

and its only the front wheel that will need a rebuild/new

Pardon me, but is it free for just the front wheel? It's still a lot of expense on top of a new set of forks for some people. Especially for something that isn't really needed.