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Is a flush rear axle safe? Or does it need to protrude?
I bought a replacement rear thru-axle with a handle to make things easier to remove the wheel, and to not over tighten and blow my frame threads.
The photo on the sales page clearly had writing on the axle that said 174mm length. What arrived says 171mm. All the other values are the same.
The axle does not protrude from the frame. It sits flush. The original axle protrudes a few milimetre. I don't know if it's psychosomatic, but the rear end of my bike doesn't feel as stiff as the original axle. There's a wobble. I had put a few psi in the tyre (Maxxis Aggressor) so 'could' be that. Unsure.
If it's flush then I assume it's engaged all of the threads in the frame? If so then it will be fine, anything hanging out the end is superfluous
Actually, checking again it has 19mm of thread. The original 20mm.
But since the thread is on the end of the axle, and the original protrudes, I have a feeling that the threads are covering the frame threads.
Could the lever action tightening be the lack of stiffness? In that the original axle, using an Allen key, would tighten up the bike stiffer? Not sure what nm is needed, and if lever action thru-axle in the rear just aren't up to the job?
Thru axles need tightened up a lot more than you think. Just crank it harder laddie.
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This hard enough for you? This was trying to open it to wash my bike post ride.
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That bit in the middle was made of cheese. Luckily praising the chainstays apart and getting a pair of needle nose pliers in there could undo the axle. There was no riding it to a workshop.
I really didn't abuse it.
GF just went looking at her bike, that has a similar design rear thru-axle (Kinesis brand)
At least your user name makes sense
Your not happy with it. Send it back and get the 174 you ordered for peace of mind.
Between creating the promo material, and putting the axles into production, someone changed the specs. There is no 174mm axle now. Just the soecification pic of it when you order 12*148 (this is what is on the shop, and I ordered)
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I have a modern Suntour Q-Lock up front. That feels great. But these levers with handles for the rear....I've gone off them. Particularly looking at the cheese-like way the Centre part sheared. There's no way the materials used, and the diameter of the center, can withstand the torsion.
Back to the Allen key axle.
I never do my thru-axles up very tight on the road bike, mainly as I carry a tiny mini-tool and if I need to undo it by the road side I would struggle if I had cranked them up.
The original Allen head thru axles on my Freeranger were made of cheese and rounded off so I replaced them with Brand X axles with handles.The front sticks out by 3mm,the rear is recessed by 2mm.I have just passed 8000 miles and counting without problem so I don’t think small discrepancies matter.