Solid Rear Axles
 

Hello everyone! Does anybody out there still use solid axles?

Alright, I have a solid rear axle that served me well on an old 26" mountain bike wheel. Now I was wondering if my solid rear axle would be transferable to a vintage road bike I have my eye on at the local bike shop. The only problem with this road bike is the broken axle, but it appears to have an over sized rear axle hub (similar to the picture, though not identical).

Any thoughts?

Axle compatibility depends on a number of specs. First is diameter, 3/8" (or 9.5mm) and 10mm are common rear axle sizes. Then thread pitch, 24 threads per inch, 26TPI and 1mm per thread are common. Length comes into play but only has to be "long enough" and have enough of a threaded section each side. One has to compare both axles in hand and maybe with a couple of measuring tools to know for sure. Andy.

Sure. While it offers little-to-no strength increase, the added weight isn't much to worry about either. Nutted axles offers a tiny theft deterrent, both in terms of removal and in making the wheel look cheaper.

So why not leave it there? Axles are inexpensive enough. Hardly worth scavenging if it means taking apart an otherwise functioning wheel.

No way to tell, too many unknowns and too many variations on diameters and threads.

Not having a pic of the actual item makes the guesswork even harder. But I've never seen an OS axle that would take a regular sized axle inside. You might be seeing some spacers though.

The axle in the pic seems to be oversized, cartridge-bearing style . Is it any particular brand?
You cant replace it with a std diameter cup and cone style axle, solid or hollow.

Odds are that with enough talent you can modify any hub to solid axle, some more easily than others.

The question you have to ask yourself is - why, what benefit are you hoping to realize? In the case of the hub you have pictured, a conversion to solid axle would probably toward the harder end of the spectrum, possibly needing some special parts custom fabricated. Odds are that whatever benefit you're looking for could be achieved other ways for less effort or cost.