Before I take the plung on some new forks, is there realistically much difference in stiffness between the Fox QR15 and Rockshox Maxle system? It'll be my first upgrade to bolt-thru, so I'm ubsure how much difference there is in the 2 systems!

I went for 15mm and the only issue I'm having is finding sensibly priced 15mm wheels.

Can't really see there being too much difference in weight or stiffness really, I just got my forks 'cos they were cheap…

Personally I'd go for the 20mm Maxle option due to, as said above, the greater number of hubs available.

It's probably more important to get the forks you want, regardless of whether they have a 15mm or 20mm axle.

My husband demoed an Orange Five with a 15mm Float and then bought the frame and put a 20mm Revelation on it – he says the Revs are noticeably stiffer… but he is pretty heavy and rides fast and hard so he's probably more likely to notice the difference than most… either is a noticeable upgrade in stiffness to qr though (and I'm a very light rider). Don't know if that helps?!

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have Hope Pro2's so converting them to 15mm shouldn't be a problem.

I'm torn between some Fox 2's and Rev's….

I prefer Rev's to Foxes. I have a Fox Float 32 with QR15 sitting in a box while I wonder what to do with it (not living in the UK though).

The QR15 is a clear improvement over 9mm QR, but I can't think of anything it does better then a Maxle. Add to that – that RS forks are more tunable (at least the dual air models I had) and get full travel…

Great post, I have been researching this one for about two weeks. I can't quite tear nyself from Fox though as the two pairs I have had have been so reliable.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one hh45! All comments much appreciated!

I'm too light to notice the difference between them – but I do think the 15QR is better in use, more elegant and better thought out.

It's a bit more fiddly to setup, but once setup I much prefer it.

Still baffled by buying hubs to match an axle type – the Pro IIs really paid for themselves when I switched from QR to 15QR…

I've got the Revs with Maxle, fantastic fork, and after a recent fling with a On-One and standard QR forks, I'm never going back to QRs. Bolt through axles for me from now on.
I've no personal experience of the Fox clamping system, but can say that the RS Maxle is brilliantly simple and secure system. I think I'll be considering the next bike purchase on maxle rear as well.

At least my qr15 squeezes the front hub a bit, I notice it spins more freely with my current fox 36. Maybe this could have been tuned somehow. Also to note, while revs have traditionally been very reliable the 2010 u-turn assembly on the first product runs seems to have been faulty (judging vy the amount of people who's forks died on the first day at mtbr forums). Dual air models are fine, and the already have a working fix for the problem.

20mm is obviously the more succesful standard so far, so I'd say to go with maxle if you have to go with either, but…

I have a set of 140mm Revelation Maxles and a set of 130mm Revelation QRs. The difference is absolutely tiny in use, to me not at all worth the weight penalty on those forks, so I went back to the QR ones. I'm sure with some forks it makes a bigger difference, especially longer ones but my own experience with a very direct comparison is that it's mostly hype.

That said I want my next forks to be 150mm maxle revs or lyriks, the newer ones don't have much of a weight difference and the longer fork may benefit more.

I think the old Rev's with Maxle where basically Pikes, hence the weight difference.

Regarding a difference in stiffness, it would really depend on the trails you ride. If you have a lot of off camber roots and stones you should definitely notice a difference (or then you have so much flex elsewhere [wheels?] that it negates the difference).

I can barely tell the difference between maxle and QR personally so probably not the best to comment, I think every comparison I've seen though gives the nod to maxle for being slightly stiffer.

I don't really get how QR15 is more elegant or better thought out either…?

IME 15QR was a fair bit stiffer and ALOT more secure than a 9mm QR but i had to faff with with the lock-nut bit to get it tight and never managed to get rid of the slack in it.

Went from 15QR to Maxle and the Maxle was stiffer and quicker to use too.

I was using Pro2 hubs so had no issues with getting adapters.

overall, RS are stiffer than Fox but there's not a lot in it and more to it than stiffness. fore and aft the RS is stiffer, but that's not to do with the axle. shear-force resistence – ie how well they corner in the rough – is better on the RS, but tbh Fox damping is so good it makes up for the less stiff fork overall. I'd buy on a combo of durability, need for good compression damping and need for overall rigidity.

"I think the old Rev's with Maxle where basically Pikes, hence the weight difference. "

Pike lowers I think and lighter uppers, so yep, heavier parts. But like for like a maxle fork's always likely to be heavier than a QR, there's just more metal involved (it always strikes me as a bit unfair that weights for maxle'd forks tend to include the axle but QR never does, I understand why but it's not an equal footing)

Maxle! 🙂

I've got reba team 120mm on 20mm Maxle-lite and they are great. Only small drawback is that they don't feel as if they roll as freely as my old ones – I'm using a DT 4.2 rim on Hope pro 2 and used to have Mavic Crosstrails.

well wheel price prob not really an issue as above if you don't need bling. Pro II come with QR15, 20mm, 5mm and 9mm options for the front and rear (well 10mm not 9mm) so your left with fork stiffness really and fork preference 😉