Mountain Bike Quick Release Standards

The width from one face of the hub to the other a k a.

Mountain bike quick release standards.

Again the axle is part of the hub. As always there are some exceptions but we will focus on modern axle standards that are supported by pub wheels. The first crop of disc bikes used quick release with 100mm axle length at the front and either 130mm or 135mm at the rear. A guide to mountain bike axle standards.

Some wheels and forks have swappable end caps or dropout inserts allowing for the use of either. Quick release skewers were a huge innovation for cycling offering fast reliable wheel swaps. If it is a thru axle it would have a ta in the description such as 110ta. Mountain bikes mostly use a 15x100mm front thru axle and you might still find a few road bikes that adopted that standard early on but 12 100 is more future proof for road.

Thru axles thread through the wheel hub and circular dropout holes. This works on frames with open dropouts only. Many bikes sold still use frames with open dropouts. In bicycle nomenclature qr refers to a skewer and ta refers to a thru axle.

When choosing a quick release the most important things to note are skewer diameter skewer length materials and cam type. Which quick release is right for you. The end of the quick release skewer era. The long time standard for rear hubs was 135mm width with a 10mm diameter hollow axle and a 5mm quick release.

For most standard road and mtb bikes the wheel hubs will accommodate standard 5mm skewers. However the latest generation of bolt through mtb forks and frames utilizes larger diameter axles for additional. Quick release skewers are now mostly found on cheaper bikes jonny ashelford immediate media. So the width hasn t changed from quick release wheels on the front.

Quick release thru axle. Mountain bike axle standards explained. Thru axles work better to keep wheels attached to the bike. Old quick release hubs and 142 x 12mm thru axle hubs have the same widths between the hub flanges so there is no change in terms of hub flange positioning and wheel strength and stiffness.

These were used for many years on mountain bikes using 100mm front and 135mm rear axle spacing i e. Traditionally frames and forks had slotted dropouts.