I have a nice set of alloy 27" road wheels with Shimano hub from about 1985 - I am tryng to replace the standard bolt on rear axle with a QR - I took one of my cones to the shop, and it didn't fit any axle they had. Are axles from the eighties a different size? I know that they are a differnt length, I get that, but are they a different diameter? If worse comes to worse, I will throw a 15mm wrench in my bag, but I would prefer a QR setup.

There seems to be different diameters yeah, over the years Ive found they could thread on but be too loose, thread on but be a job and a half doing so, and not fit at all. You may be able to try using different cones too, sometimes they' don't fit good with the dust caps though, but ive had luck mixing and matching hub guts before, you'll just have to experiment.

You could by an axle/cone/locknut set and solve the problem. Surprised a bikestore can't match Shimano though...

You should also confirm that your front fork dropouts will take the larger diameter quick release axle.

Solid axles are often smaller diameter than hollow ones for QR. Exact diameters of front and rear axles (rear is almost always larger), and thread pitch, both vary a lot from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some are 1 mm pitch, others 24, 25 or 26 TPI. My guess is that your LBS just doesn't stock the size you have, because it's smaller than normal for a hollow axle, and their inventory is limited. You may have to try to find new/used cones along with a new axle -- what model hubs, by the way (if you can tell; I realize they're Shimano).

The dustcap is also the limiting factor that I've run into when swapping axles. There are lots of small 15mm wrenches around if you stay with the solid.

Neal

I may just stick with the solid axle. I don't think a little wrench is going to kill me.