Tapered Steerer or 15mm Maxle.
The Northern Monkey
Posts: 19,174
In WMB, the review of the Trek Fuel EX6 mentions:
Really?
Personally, I think a tapered steerer makes more difference than a 15mm axle.
I had the Boardman with a tapered steerer Reba and standard QR and it was noticeably stiffer than any 15mm axle I've ever ridden.
I don't even see the point in 15mm axles, there is almost zero difference between standard QR and 15mm axles!
Whereas the reduce flex you get from a tapered steerer can make a huge difference!
If you had the choice of 1, what would you take?
Tapered Steerer
15mm axle.
The sector fork gets and untapered steerer, but get a 15mm maxle. If we had the choice between either a tapered steerer or 15mm maxle, we'd take the maxle
Really?
Personally, I think a tapered steerer makes more difference than a 15mm axle.
I had the Boardman with a tapered steerer Reba and standard QR and it was noticeably stiffer than any 15mm axle I've ever ridden.
I don't even see the point in 15mm axles, there is almost zero difference between standard QR and 15mm axles!
Whereas the reduce flex you get from a tapered steerer can make a huge difference!
If you had the choice of 1, what would you take?
Tapered Steerer
15mm axle.
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Comments
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The steerer - brake flutter is noticeable on many forks.0
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Steerer for me too. Demoed a few bikes last year and was very impressed at the extra stiffness on bikes with tapered steerer. I seem to notice the back and forth flex in forks more than the torsion twist which I think is what the larger axle standards are supposed to fix.0
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How long's the fork? I'd probably say maxle, but I might change my mind for a really long fork.0
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Well there is an easy way to find out, and surprised a mag hasn't done this yet, rig up some kind if dyno and get a whole load of rockshox rev's or sektors with all the available steerer/axle combo's and get some numbers to compare. Must be easy to source a tapered forks with all the axle options and a straight steerer with the same options too. The kit is all there to test, some one just needs to do it!0
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I asked WMB about testing like that, might be in the pipeline.
15mm adds 15% torsional stiffness according to Fox.0 -
Surely they add stiffness in different ways?
Surely the thicker axle will top the forks twisting whilst the tapered steer reduces the flex at the steer/crown interface; or am I thinking about this wrong?What We Achieve In Life, Echoes In Eternity0 -
That is true, the stiffness added is different. But the steerer stops the whole structure flexing sideways too, so can feel like more torsional stiffness is added.0
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Hmm, the votes a bit flawed. I would take 15mm over tapered so I dont have to find a QR and adaptors. Others might take QR over tapered as they are 1 1/8...A Flock of Birds
+ some other bikes.0 -
It is assuming that your current setup can accomodate any combination, however you only have the choice of one or the other.0
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15mm is too small a gain for me. If a Reba is 15% stiffer than a Float, then the Reba QR will feel as stiff as the 15mm Float. So many other things to look at overall, if I wanted the best torsional stiffness I'd get a structure that was already known to be stiff and look at 20mm axle and a taper/1.5.0
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Which is why I would choose a tapered headset on a decent set of forks over a 15mm axle.
If it was 20mm, which is quite a bit different than a 9mm QR, it may be a more difficult question.0 -
Tapered just makes sense - we have 32mm stanchions as a minimum pretty much, more for bigger forks - why have a spindly 28.6mm alu steerer?0
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Both my forks are standard steerer, one is a 15mm fox float the other a quick release rev, pretty much identical travel 150 vs 140, and I use a DT 9mm thru axle on the revs, yet I find the float to be stiffer, and the rev with a standard quick release can be down right hairy at times! I'd be interested to see the difference stanchion size makes, would a standard steerer, qr fork with 34 or 36mm uppers be stiffer than a tapered, bolt through 32mm fork? I guess a lot depends on construction, but it'd be interesting to see!
Also, Maxle sucks compared to the fox 15mm axle, if only they did a 20mm version0 -
It's not difficult to use maxle though lol. They dropped the 150mm float QR, was just too flexy, I am in no doubt the rev structure is stiffer. 9mm thru axles do very little, some standard QRs make the fork stiffer looking at tests I have seen.0
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supersonic wrote:I asked WMB about testing like that, might be in the pipeline.
15mm adds 15% torsional stiffness according to Fox.
I have a tapered steerer and 15mm maxle on my fox 32s and they still don't strike me as being particularly stiff.0 -
Mags will tell people what the advertisers want you to hear :shock:0
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Which is one reason why I've unsubbed from WMB.
Apparently 26" wheels, 1 1/8th steerers and qr skewers are obsolete.0 -
Last time WMB tested forks like this the stiffest was a QR.
But I don't have as much input anymore...0 -
for me, i believe a 15mm axle makes alot more impact than a tapered steerer.
i can tell the difference between my old QR sektors i had and the 15mm maxle Rev's. when you braked seriously hard i could see the fork bending and twisting, the wheel would move slightly in the dropouts, even with the QR banged up way too tight. The maxle fork this doesnt happen.
Also makes setting up the front disc way easier. always had to shift the QR wheel slightly so the disc wouldnt rub the pads. on the Maxle fork the wheel is virtually in the same place everytime. never had the front disc rub due to the wheel not being bang on straight.
thats my 2pence worth anyway.2011 KHS Full Susser Carbon 29er Race BuildClank wrote:M'eh, I might just go back to zapping it with frikken lay-zur beeeems. And sharks.0 -
Are you a bit simple? It's just a screw with a lever on the end :shock:lawman wrote:Also, Maxle sucks compared to the fox 15mm axle, if only they did a 20mm version0 -
supersonic wrote:Tapered just makes sense - we have 32mm stanchions as a minimum pretty much, more for bigger forks - why have a spindly 28.6mm alu steerer?
Because the stanchion has 100mm-150mm of unrestrained length to flex. The steerer is much better restrained and takes some strength from the head tube.
The frame will be stiffer if it has a tapered head tube because it has a much bigger connection to the down tube and top tube.Transition Patrol - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=130702350 -
bennett_346 wrote:
Are you a bit simple? It's just a screw with a lever on the end :shock:lawman wrote:Also, Maxle sucks compared to the fox 15mm axle, if only they did a 20mm version
And all standard qr's are the same are they? :roll: Maxle is ok, but the fox one I've found to be less problematic, I've had issues of my maxle loosening which I've never had with the fox axle, which just seems better designed and more ergonomic. The maxle also gets gouged quite badly after alot of use due to the way it works, and it just looks tatty0 -
lawman wrote:bennett_346 wrote:
Are you a bit simple? It's just a screw with a lever on the end :shock:lawman wrote:Also, Maxle sucks compared to the fox 15mm axle, if only they did a 20mm version
And all standard qr's are the same are they? :roll: Maxle is ok, but the fox one I've found to be less problematic, I've had issues of my maxle loosening which I've never had with the fox axle, which just seems better designed and more ergonomic. The maxle also gets gouged quite badly after alot of use due to the way it works, and it just looks tatty
Never seen that happen at all...0 -
RockmonkeySC wrote:supersonic wrote:Tapered just makes sense - we have 32mm stanchions as a minimum pretty much, more for bigger forks - why have a spindly 28.6mm alu steerer?
Because the stanchion has 100mm-150mm of unrestrained length to flex. The steerer is much better restrained and takes some strength from the head tube.
The frame will be stiffer if it has a tapered head tube because it has a much bigger connection to the down tube and top tube.
The flex comes from the crown/steerer interface. The frame will be stiffer too, but to make a 28.6 steerer as stiff as a taper you add more mass - and they end up heavier overall. 28.6 just does not make sense for longer forks anymore, when this area flexes more than the stanchions. Unless you use dual crowns.0 -
lawman wrote:bennett_346 wrote:
Are you a bit simple? It's just a screw with a lever on the end :shock:lawman wrote:Also, Maxle sucks compared to the fox 15mm axle, if only they did a 20mm version
And all standard qr's are the same are they? :roll: Maxle is ok, but the fox one I've found to be less problematic, I've had issues of my maxle loosening which I've never had with the fox axle, which just seems better designed and more ergonomic. The maxle also gets gouged quite badly after alot of use due to the way it works, and it just looks tatty
I have had the same problems with the Maxle, wish Fox/Shimano would make a 12x142mm axle for the back of my ibis over the shit maxle.0 -
Rick Draper wrote:lawman wrote:bennett_346 wrote:
Are you a bit simple? It's just a screw with a lever on the end :shock:lawman wrote:Also, Maxle sucks compared to the fox 15mm axle, if only they did a 20mm version
And all standard qr's are the same are they? :roll: Maxle is ok, but the fox one I've found to be less problematic, I've had issues of my maxle loosening which I've never had with the fox axle, which just seems better designed and more ergonomic. The maxle also gets gouged quite badly after alot of use due to the way it works, and it just looks tatty
I have had the same problems with the Maxle, wish Fox/Shimano would make a 12x142mm axle for the back of my ibis over the shoot maxle.
This! But its down to Ibis choosing the maxle over the fox design, Yeti and transition both use the fox axles.0 -
i didn't think there would be a big difference however been riding with a twenty mm through and tapered steerer on the strive and went back to a q r on the on one and can notice the flex badly0
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supersonic:
how much stiffer is 20mm over QR (and/or over 15mm) ?0 -
Not seen any figures quoted from anyone! Only 15mm vs 9mm.0
