15mm thru-axles - how tight?

Ghostt

Bit of a stupid question, so bear with me!

Recently acquired a set of 15mm thru-axled forks. Having never used a through axle, I'm not sure how tight you're supposed to do them up. Obviously don't want to strip the thread out of a brand new fork, so thought I'd check.

Basically, when I thread the axle fully into the fork, the qr lever seems too tight to close, at least without really forcing it. Would I be right in saying the axle only need to be threaded into the fork enough to make closing the lever "leaves a mark in your palm" tight (like with qr skewers), or does it need to go the whole way in?

vala

Fox's service web page says 6 full turns then close the QR lever.

Anonymous

My Lyriks I think are Maxle 'Lite' and basically as I understand it with those, you screw it in until it feels tight, then lock the lever down. The lever should leave and imprint as with a skewer QR. The tightness of the lever however I discovered is not based on how far the axle screws in but is a little bolt/screw behind the lever that needs to be adjusted if it's not locking tight. The adjuster has small 'clicks' as you adjust and only needs a few small clicks I find.

Many (and I fell into this initially) think the lever just locks and is okay hanging loose. I think some do work like this, but these definitely don't as I found as they kept coming loose. Fiddled with the lever screw and all is good now.

All may vary with different systems though.

I recommend not leaving the axle in place and locked for long periods though as I notice many seem to end up with them seized very tight. I take the front wheel off every trip and it's stored wheel out and axle loose.

ilovedirt

Ghostt - what fork is it?
With the Rockshox Maxle system, as deadkenny said, just screw it in until it becomes tight (it's quite obvious) and close the lever, it should feel about as tight as a normal QR.

deadkenny - you need the grease the Maxle, this happened to me once, it was because the maxle was totally dry. A bit of grease on there (all over it, not just on the threads) will stop this happening.

Ghostt

deadkenny wrote:

My Lyriks I think are Maxle 'Lite' and basically as I understand it with those, you screw it in until it feels tight, then lock the lever down.

I recommend not leaving the axle in place and locked for long periods though as I notice many seem to end up with them seized very tight. I take the front wheel off every trip and it's stored wheel out and axle loose.

Cheers for that, probably should have mentioned the forks are RS Sektors, so maxle lite too. Didn't pay any attention to how for the axle was screwed in when I took it out the first time.

With the adjustment bolt, would it be better to adjust it so the lever is palm-print tight when the axle is fully threaded into the fork then? Or not make much difference (as I expect)

Anonymous

I just did it when it was fully threaded. Probably doesn't matter.

Ghostt

ilovedirt wrote:

With the Rockshox Maxle system, as deadkenny said, just screw it in until it becomes tight (it's quite obvious) and close the lever, it should feel about as tight as a normal QR.

Yeah, when I did this the lever felt too tight to close, hence asking! After loosening the axle slightly, about half a turn, lever was about right.
I can only assume it wasn't fully threaded in when I took the axle out too, as the lever wasn't that difficult to open.

sanchez89

the axle needs to be fully inserted into the threads. the collar behind the lever should be tight up against the fork. if the lever is difficult to close when its like this, you need to release some force by undoing the small 2 or 2.5mm grub screw inside the lever, only a few turns/clicks.

if you read the manual the fork comes with it explains how to set it up correctly and also you will defo need to grease the whole thing. not loads just a nice smear all over.

Anonymous

Worth using Copper Slip? i.e. holds in place, but prevents seizing. Rather than regular grease which just is plain lube.

cooldad

Just normal greasy grease. Ask thel33ter about his trials and tribulations.

ilovedirt

Normal grease is fine, it's not gonna come undone.