QR or thru axles?

nickbec
nickbec Posts: 36
edited February 2014 in MTB general
Can anyone advise me as slightly confused. I want to get wheels that are thru axles so have been advised to get a conversion kit. These kits are coming in at almost £30.00 each wheel, that means another £60.oo (yes I have A level maths)
Will my present forks take a thru axle and what do I need to do?

Comments

  • jimothy78
    jimothy78 Posts: 1,407
    nickbec wrote:
    I want to get wheels that are thru axles
    Why? You can only use them on frames and forks that take them - if your current frame is QR, you have to have QR rear wheel, if the frame is 142x12mm thru, then your wheel needs to be 142x12mm thru. Same applies to forks, although there are more "standards".
    Will my present forks take a thru axle and what do I need to do?

    Only you can tell us that - what fitting do they take now?

    There are exceptions to this rule, but I'm not getting bogged down in those until you tell us what you have now (forks, frame and hubs), and what you are planning/attempting to change...
  • Thanks for the info
    they are Fox recon gold on my 29 . I'll have to see if I can get a conversion kit for the wheels. I am sure DT do them
  • jimothy78
    jimothy78 Posts: 1,407
    nickbec wrote:
    Thanks for the info
    they are Fox recon gold on my 29 . I'll have to see if I can get a conversion kit for the wheels. I am sure DT do them

    NO - there's no point converting wheels to a standard that you can't use. Unless you are changing the forks or frame as well, then you HAVE to stick with whatever fittings they take, which WILL be the fittings your current wheels take. You can't crowbar 142x12mm thru axles into 135x10mm QR dropouts, and you can't fit a 20mm thru axle into your forks if they're made for 9mm QR.

    Am I misreading this? -
    1) Have you bought a wheelset that doesn't currently fit your frame or forks?
    2) Are you planning to change the forks anyway?
    3) Does your frame have swappable dropouts?
    Unless you can answer "yes" to at least one of these questions then there is nothing to be done.
  • Or do you want to run 9 and 10mm bolt thoughs?
  • nickbec wrote:
    they are Fox recon gold on my 29 .

    Are you sure about this? I think you have Rock Shox recon golds which in 29er flavour can come with 15mm drop outs. Is this the case or do you have standard 9mm QR drop outs in which case the only way your converters are going to work is if you get a hack saw on your forks but then you'll end up like this guy. Don't be that guy
  • jimothy78
    jimothy78 Posts: 1,407
    nickbec wrote:
    they are Fox recon gold on my 29 .

    Are you sure about this? I think you have Rock Shox recon golds which in 29er flavour can come with 15mm drop outs.

    If they're 29er Recon golds, they could be for 15mm or 20mm thru - both are available. Given that the OP apparently wants to convert to thru axle, I suspect that they're not.

    EDIT - scrap that - just seen some that are 9mm QR as well, so looks like he could have those, too.
  • paul.skibum
    paul.skibum Posts: 4,068
    OP - a link to your bike or a picture of it would help - telling us its a 29er is not that helpful nor is mis stating the forks you are using without adding the detail that is actually key to the answer!
    Closet jockey wheel pimp whore.
  • Its all too much. I thought it would be simple, so I am going ror decent sdet of QR wheels
    thanks
  • WindyG
    WindyG Posts: 1,099
    nickbec wrote:
    Its all too much. I thought it would be simple, so I am going ror decent sdet of QR wheels
    thanks

    Why? you still don't seem to know exactly what ones you actually need.
    All you need to do id post a pic of the bottom of the forks and we could tell you straight away what you need.