Track Cycling: Velodrome Racing and Training Area - TK2 Front wheel axle has flats...

I just picked up my Felt TK2 from the shop. The bike is gorgeous and feels amazing. The is a problem though, right out of the box: to the shop and my surprise, the front wheel axle has flats on it. That is, the threaded section the nut goes on appears to be ground down to make parallel flats that engage with the front fork. This isn't documented anywhere on the Felt website that I can find. Even when I zoom in on the picture of the TK2 the axle end looks round. (click the "Download Image" link on this page (http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2010-Product-Catalog/TRACK/TRACK-Series/TK2.aspx))

This means that I can't transport my bike on my roof rack (fork lock) because the fork won't fit onto the lock axle, and I can't use my old track wheels to train on. I'd like to be able to do both.

Is this a standard thing on track bikes? I have pretty limited experience in the track, and I think the only place I've seen these flats before was on a 70's Schwinn Varsity I fixed up for a friend. The bike is beautiful, and I'd rather not do this, but I'm considering using and end mill to open up the fork ends. It's going to be a real hassle if I have to transport my bike inside my car.

So, multiple questions:
Are there roof racks that will work with the narrow fork openings?
What are these axle's called, maybe I could just put a new axle in my old wheels
Why did felt do this? I can see it helping to make it easier to put on/off the wheel, if you only had one hand... but they didn't do it to the rear wheel. So, what's the point?

After searching around, I've found some information in the single speed forum.

I'm guessing Felt is doing some kind of odd mishmash of parts, but I guess the front is a 110x10mm hub, slotted to 8mm. I'm not sure what to call that in searching for parts online.

110mm x 8mm slotted axle ?

Still, it's pretty annoying that something like this that demands non-standard parts isn't mentioned by felt. So, anyone else out there looking to pick one of these up, keep in mind that the front wheel is a going to be a hassle to deal with.

Anyone have a good source for 110x8mm slotted axle for sealed cartridge bearing hubs?

First off, there is no difference between the front fork ends on a typical good quality road and track bike. The spacing is 100mm between the inside faces of the dropouts, and the slot size is 9mm to accomodate a 9mm axle, which is slightly less than 9mm thread diameter. You can use either a front road or track wheel in a track fork. So provided the fork ends on your Felt TK2 meet these criteria, you should be able to use any other front wheels and you should be able to fit the bike on your roof rack. If the fork end openings are indeed only 8mm wide, then you need to either file them out by 1mm (0.5mm on each side) or have Felt give you a proper size fork. In the distant past French and Italian solid axles were only 8mm, but this was reserved for cheap bikes, and Campy has always used 9mm for solid track front hub axles.

Have you actually tried to put a different front wheel on it? Have you tried to put it on your roof rack?
I'm thinking that maybe Felt went with a larger diameter axle then flatted it to fit a standard fork.

pics of your actual situation could go a long ways

I am not sure I understand exactly what this means but I would like to hear more about it. I am in the market for a 2010 TK2, but if I can't A) Put it on the Thule roof rack AND B) Put my fast road wheel on the front... it is going to be a deal breaker. please keep us updated, thanks.

None of the problems that the OP had would in any way effect your ability to put this bike in a rack or run whatever wheel you wanted.