Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
Further point of confusion. I've not seen any rear axles that are 9mm in diameter. Lots that are 9.5mm, or 3/8", in diameter though. Mixing and matching hub parts without the ALL pieces in hand is a crap shoot. When a wheel comes into the shop and the customer is asking for cones or axles I ask who is going to do the work. If they are then I tell them to come back with everything taken apart and cleaned up. Only then will I have the ability to truly compare and pick replacements. Andy.
Oddly enough, I searched high and low for a solid front axle, and ended up with this product:
Wheels Manufacturing AXLE-14
I figured the only thing "rear" about it was the length, and I cut it down to 142 mm, after measuring the outer dimensions of my bikes and adding the thickness of the nuts, which have floating serrated washers.
But I agree with the crap shoot bit.
Originally Posted by
HillRider
Well, from a mechanical standpoint, a properly tightened qr skewer is inherently safer than a nutted axle since it can't spontaneously loosen. A nut can vibrate loose but a skewer goes "over center" as it is tightened and the force needed to open it actually increases for the first part of the lever travel. Properly used (emphasis on properly) qr skewers have a stellar safety and reliability record.
My thought process is that a single point failure of the skewer results in a crash, especially since neither of my bikes has lawyer lips. On the other hand, two nuts would have to both fail in order for the wheel to fall off. Failure of a single nut would result in reduction of function, but not a crash.
Anyway, I don't have enough knowledge or evidence to weigh into a debate on this, so it's just my own personal pursuit. I've certainly never experienced a skewer failure myself, or even heard of such a thing.