Originally Posted by
ttakata73
I could be wrong, but wouldn't there be some flex there in the skewer since there is no axle or dropout surrounding that bit of skewer?
Even if the airgap there is a fraction of a millimeter, its still there.
A thru axle has no air gaps since there is no actual dropout; so it should be stronger?
I don't know, I figured bigger is stronger and so why not on a road bike.
As already said above, the wheel is held in place (firmly) by the pressing of the inside surface of the dropout against the locknut on the axle. The axle doesn't need to touch the dropout at all. The dropout presses the nut and the nut supports the axle. The skewer compresses the dropouts against the nuts. It has nothing to do with spaces or surrounding the axle with dropout.