So I have a long travel rear end but with open dropouts and a 135mm spacing.

Hope Pro II Evo rear hub.

Wanting the stiffest set up. Considering :-

1.DT Swiss RWS,
2.Shimano SM-AX80 (as specified for Zee hubs),
3.Sun Ringle conversion axle or
4.convert the hope axle to bolt up.

None of them are prohibitively expensive but I would like to know if anyone has experience of comparing or knows which would give the stiffest set up ?

Cheers.

Bolt through slightly stiffer than 10mm we IMO

Couldn’t tell any difference personally (both Hopes). Bolt-up was lighter though and I liked the 2 points of retention. Not that a QR should come loose anyway mind.

A QR is completely out of the question !

Anyone else ?

I meant a 10mm for the bolt-through, rather than a standard QR.

I’ve had DT 10mm RWS, Superstar 10mm through axle and 12mm Hope bolt up. Cant say I could tell any difference between them stiffness wise but immediately way stiffer than QR. I think the DT RWS system was easiest to use but Superstar works OK and best VFM.

The frame may well be the weak link depending on what it is so the axel might not make any difference.

I went with a Hope bolt through on my Supreme. I’d be lying if i said i noticed any difference in stiffness, but i could tighten it up a bit more than the qr which was reassuring.

My hope pro 2 10mm has a Hadley 10mm through axle on my qr frame. Lovely bit of kit

Mmmmm….mixed responses and thank you.

It’s for a Specialized Status – so yes, the frame is a bit of a weak link. Considering it’s budget DH and uses some parts common to the SX trail, like the chainstays, it’s a shame it doesn’t use the final version that had a 142 x 12 rather than the older versions with 135 x 10 :-(. (my Status is frame only, so didn’t come with the stock axle and Spec UK seem incapable of supplying one !)

I use bolt up on an Orange 5, it’s stiffer than QR but wasn’t sure if it was stiffer than the DT Swiss RWS which I tried but stangely seemed to promote brake resonance which meant I went back to bolt up.

As I have the DT Swiss I think I’ll start with that and I have seen that some Spec sponsored pro riders (eg. Luca Shaw) also use it on the same bike.

Any further experience welcome.

Hey Greeble, the Hadley axle looks good.

I wondered if there was a chance of it slipping as the contact pieces are smooth and not knurled or textured like others ?

I had a cheap Susperstar 10mm QR in a Hope rear hub and it stiffened it up nicely. Not tried a bolt up 10mm to compare with though.

10mm Bolt-Up on a Hope Pro2 was noticeably stiffer than the Superstar 10mm thru-axle thing on the Ventana’s I had. And Ventana El-Ciclon’s are mega stiff at the back anyway.

Steel4real

There is zero slippage one end of the axle has a small notch that sits in the dropout

Nice one Greeble – the Hadley axle does look very nicely made.

I was actually thinking about slipping out of the drop out but then thinking a bit more, a smooth surface (the axle ‘nut’) on another smooth surface (the drop out) is probably going to have quite a lot of friction, especially when done up tight.

Did you get sorted Marcus?
I’d also concur with Tom (Tomaso) re the cheap superstar 10mm oversize QR thingy. That’s what I have on the Five in a Pro2 bolt-through.

Previously had it on a Meta 5 and it stiffened that up no-end, so swapped it onto the Five from day-one.