Anyone converted their Pro2 to 9mm thru axle? can you notice the stiffness increase over the std QR?

I have ’09 Rebas that I would like to stiffen up a bit – the other bike has Pikes and I miss the solidity they give.

yes it stiffened up my 32 floats
especially on rocky stuff
though i now notice for and aft twang more than i used to ?! not sure if thats because im looking for it, whether it was previously masked by side to side movement or whether the energy is transfered in some crazy way

anyway worth it imho especially as superstar are doing the axles now

So is this a thru axle that replaces a standard QR skewer? How do you do this? It sounds good if it works!

chiefgrooveguru – Member
So is this a thru axle that replaces a standard QR skewer? How do you do this? It sounds good if it works!

Essentially, yes. While standard front dropouts are 9 mm, the skewer is only about 5 mm. That means a 9 mm through axle will fit in regular dropouts (assuming you can convert your hub to fit) and should stiffen things a bit.

It stiffed up the Fox Float on my bike, with noticeably less deflection over roots and rocks. But, it really doesn’t feel as stiff as the same Float with QR15. Some forks are inherently stiffer than a Float too, so the effect might be small/non-existant.

This seems very interesting indeed! In the last week I’ve noticed I’m now riding aggressively enough that I occasionally hear the ‘braaaap’ of big fat tyre against rather close fork crown, which presumably is due to various parts flexing under load. So any rigidity I can gain is worthwhile! The bike in question is a Boardman HT Pro and it still has its original wheels with unspecified cartridge bearing hubs. Said hubs on another matching Boardman are pictured in this thread here: http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15986069 courtesy of bails87

Can anyone that knows about these things advise me if it’s possible to adapt this hub to accept a 9mm bolt? Thanks!

the ‘braaaap’ of big fat tyre against rather close fork crown, which presumably is due to various parts flexing under load

It’s not, it’s due to the tyres being too big for the fork. You can minimise how much it happens by putting more oil in the fork or just more air. But the tyre should not rub on the fork crown even when you bottom out the fork.

Why would adding oil or air to the fork reduce this problem?

Are you sure you mean the fork crown and not the bridge, in that case?

Anyone converted their Pro2 to 9mm thru axle? can you notice the stiffness increase over the std QR?

Yes, converted my front wheel running on some 130mm Revelations, and it’s stiffened things up nicely. Not as much as a 20mm axle obviously, but a noticable improvement over a normal QR and for very little investment…

Yes maybe that’s what it’s called! I don’t know, I remember the days when forks stayed where you put them…

Which bit do you mean then? The bit holding the lowers together or the bit under the headset?

Yes I see, the bridge joins the lower legs and moves whilst the crown joins the upper legs and steerer.

Anyway, these things look similar to the bits on either side of the hub which unscrew and have a 5mm hole in them.

http://www.bikepimp.co.uk/70372-dt-swiss-conversion-kits-20mm-to

Now I guess all I need is an item with the same screw thread, the same offset as in my hub and a 9mm hole. Not asking a lot…

The bit holding the lowers together.

yes I went to 9mm through from superstar
seemed quite a bit stiffer for the first half ride until I folded the wheel on a tree stump
now Im still to fix wheel so back to an old 9mm QR hub

I serviced my Deore hubs this evening, removing the 9mm hollow axle in the process. Can someone explain to me why I can’t replace the 9mm hollow axle with a solid 9mm through bolt axle system?

buzz-lightyear – Member
Can someone explain to me why I can’t replace the 9mm hollow axle with a solid 9mm through bolt axle system?

Standard axle is 5 mm (in the middle), so your hub only has a 5 mm hole through it.

Can someone explain to me why I can’t replace the 9mm hollow axle with a solid 9mm through bolt axle system?

Standard axle is 5 mm (in the middle), so your hub only has a 5 mm hole through it.

It’s the 9mm axle he’d need to replace. The one in the pic has no threads no it, and wouldn’t work.

You could simply use a bolt-on axle (i.e., with nuts).

Ah, yes. Axle and skewer confusion there.

Yes I see, the bridge joins the lower legs and moves whilst the crown joins the upper legs and steerer.

Just realised I’ve been talking *rse – you ever have those days where you just can’t think of something and then the following day you wonder wtf the problem was?

It’s called the brace, not the bridge. I knew it was a br word.

But yes, a stiffer axle would help this but you either have very floppy forks or a huge tyre. That’s never happened to me. A too tall tyre (Hutch Python) a while ago did result in buzzing the tyre on the underside of the crown tho.

Back on topic – anyone know if you can get a 9mm adapter for XTR hubs? I’m guessing not actually since we are talking about threaded axles again. Bolted or 5mm QR isn’t it?

Having said that I could go bolted since this is my race bike and it’s running tubeless so punctures are less likely, and I now have an external bike rack so wheels stay on in general.

It’s called the brace, not the bridge. I knew it was a br word.

But yes, a stiffer axle would help this but you either have very floppy forks or a huge tyre.

No wonder I got confused! 😉 The forks are ’09 Reba (pretty light and cheap and XC oriented so presumably somewhat floppy) and the tyre is a Bontrager XR4 2.2 (a real 2.2 so pretty big – same size as a 2.35 High Roller).

You could simply use a bolt-on axle (i.e., with nuts).

Sorry to be a bit thick. But what is one of these?

Its what we used to use when QR meant you had wingnuts on your axle…

Re 9mm QRs – standard on DT hubs (and 10mm rear) but not that quick.

And you can also use that skewer you show on some saint hubs