It’s not to keep your axle in, it’s because it’s a floating axle: to accommodate the (small) variations in hub widths, the axle floats in the right fork leg, until you do up that pinch bolt.
If it bothers you, you could switch to the QR axle, that uses a sleeve you fix with the pinch bolt, and ever after all you do is unscrew the through axle.
All the ‘standards’ that are anything but standard
Trying to sell bikes at silly prices based on the assumption higher paid people will buy them on salary sacrifice
An industry led by people who don’t appear to be able to learn from the past
All the ‘standards’ that are anything but standard
Heres the rub though.
Would you like still riding about on a 26 1 3/8's cottered cranked sturmey archer'd bike with a 1inch threaded headset and loose ball bearings all over the shop?
"Standards" don't mean it comes as standard. It means that within tolerances separately engineered items, constructed to the same specification, will function together.
Stop making pedals that can only be removed or installed with an Allen key, my knuckles prefer it when I can use a nice big pedal spanner!
i just use a socket set with a massive breaker bar, keeps the knuckles plenty far away
I grease the pedal axles when installing. Then remove pedals with a multitool.
Do you like being miserable?Do you find climbing miserable? I find it to be one of the most challenging and fun (type 2) bit of cycling in general...
And on the "pushing of e-bikes" subject, just been chatting to a colleague about him getting into mountain biking.
He's been "researching" and had decided that the best thing for him to get is a Levo Turbo and chipping it. This has come from some of his other mates and a couple of shop guys that he spoke to. (I'd hope they didn't suggest the chipping).
He's also not yet 30 and runs on and off road marathons and ultras.
I was somewhat taken aback at the instant leap to a 6 odd grand ebike from his current riding to work and back on a 3 speed town bike...
As for e-MTBs - they're such a waste of a crucial resource we need for the green transition and have so much higher emissions associated with their production compared to normal MTBs (which have fairly low impact and aren't robbing key minerals from more important uses) that they should stop existing.
Surely the same logic applies to recreational cycling?
Would you like still riding about on a 26 1 3/8's cottered cranked sturmey archer'd bike with a 1inch threaded headset and loose ball bearings all over the shop?
Ah yeah, but have you tried to buy a bottom bracket lately? Or a headset? OK, with your own bike that you're familiar with, but **** me, the number of combinations to choose from is quite ridiculous.
eg. one brand, top level, there are multiple options below most of them
Ah yeah, but have you tried to buy a bottom bracket lately? Or a headset? OK, with your own bike that you're familiar with, but **** me, the number of combinations to choose from is quite ridiculous.
This is where the industry as a whole has truly shot itself in the foot.
They've made it pretty much impossible for a shop to have the right parts in stock for a repair, whether that's one the customer wants to do themselves or they want to take the bike in for repair.
No shop can ever have every BB or headset or freehub now. Everything needs to be special ordered. This makes it frustrating for the consumer and more likely that they'll shop online which in turn puts the shop under financial pressure.
He's been "researching" and had decided that the best thing for him to get is a Levo Turbo and chipping it. This has come from some of his other mates and a couple of shop guys that he spoke to. (I'd hope they didn't suggest the chipping).
He's also not yet 30 and runs on and off road marathons and ultras.
I do wonder if riders who've gone straight to eebs will really appreciate the assistance? And if they ever try a neeb, won't it feel like absolute torture?
have you tried to buy a bottom bracket lately? Or a headset?
Or direct mount chainrings? Why oh why oh why couldn't they just have settled on one standard pattern?
No shop can ever have every BB or headset or freehub now. Everything needs to be special ordered. This makes it frustrating for the consumer and more likely that they'll shop online which in turn puts the shop under financial pressure.
So distributors need to step up, not the LBS. In my (B2B IT) industry, I can place an order with a distributor up until around 5pm for next day delivery to my customer.
So distributors need to step up, not the LBS
What a weird argument. Weird because this is thread is about what we would like the industry to stop doing - we say increasing the number of "standards" - you say the distributors need to step up. So, the increasing standards is a good thing for us and we're just being idiots? Fair enough.
So distributors need to step up, not the LBS. In my (B2B IT) industry, I can place an order with a distributor up until around 5pm for next day delivery to my customer.
If I'm going to a bike shop, I want to take the part home with me. Otherwise I'm spending an hour of my time travelling somewhere, just for someone else to do an internet order on my behalf - aren't I?
Actually two of my LBSs are actually among the biggest UK online retailers, and I still don't go there in person unless I'm really stuck. So perhaps I'm not the best sample customer.
So distributors need to step up, not the LBS
What a weird argument. Weird because this is thread is about what we would like the industry to stop doing - we say increasing the number of "standards" - you say the distributors need to step up. So, the increasing standards is a good thing for us and we're just being idiots? Fair enough.
the issue was that LBS’ couldn’t hold stock of every standard? Distributors can. So you could go to your LBS, discuss what you need, they order it and it could arrive at your house the next day. Or it arrives with them the next day, they fit it and it’s ready for you to pick up.
So distributors need to step up, not the LBS.
Agreed
In my (B2B IT) industry, I can place an order with a distributor up until around 5pm for next day delivery to my customer.
Like this, for bike stuff - https://www.freewheel.co.uk/about
Order anything from the UKs largest distributor and have it delivered to your LBS (as one option). Or, ask the LBS about what you might need and they can order it in for you.
First you gotta work out what the hell you need them to order.
that’s where going into the LBS helps. ‘I have xxx frame, order me a (Brand) bb & Headset and fit it, I’ll pick it up in a couple of days.’ Or, ‘I have xxx frame, send me a (Brand) HS/BB and I’ll fit it’