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TECH NEWS
Colnago Hex Lock 13First look: Colnago's Hex Lock 15 thru-axle for their V1-r road bike + video
At Eurobike last week Colnago revealed a disc brake version of their new V1-r aero road bike, and one of the most interesting aspects of it was the 15mm thru-axle on the fork. We cornered Colnago engineer Davide Fumagalli, to get him to talk us through the new axle, which is a collaboration with suspension manufacturer Manitou.
Manitou have offered the innovative Hex Lock 15 thru-axle on their mountain bike forks for some time now, but this is the first time a road cycling manufacturer have attempted to adapt tech technology.
In essence the Hex Lock 15 looks startlingly similar to the Focus Rapid Axle Technology (RAT) design we took a look at recently. You simply slide the axle through the dropout, turn it 90 degrees, then close the lever. A small T-bar shaped end locks into the opposite dropout. It’s really easy to use, as simple as the Focus RAT axle, and is even quicker than a conventional thru-axle that has to be threaded into the dropout.
Both of these thru-axle designs solve the issue of speedy wheel removal concerns, and if anything make changes even quicker, simply because you don’t have to carefully tighten up the quick release to get the right amount of preload when you close the lever.
The new fork has metal inserts to prevent the carbon wearing out, and there’s a removable engagement plate in the opposite dropout, which is covered with a plastic dust cap in use. Colnago claim the fork weighs 420g and the brake hose is internally routed.
Colnago are still working on the design, they showed us the final prototype and they tell us the final version has been approved already - the main change is the final version will have a flat surface on the axle that will make locating it correctly much easier.
We should expect to see the V1-r disc with this new fork available later this year hopefully, and we’ll be keen to get a closer look at the production axle. While Focus are using thru-axles front and rear, Colnago are only using it on the front as they feel there is no real need to a thru-axle at the the rear dropouts, but there is a very real need for it in the fork, to resist the twisting forces generated by the disc brake.
So, Colnago may be a company steeped in history and one that trades off that sometimes, but with their interest in disc brakes and thru-axles, it shows they’re very much looking to the future.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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12 comments
I may agree that the need for thru-axles in the rear dropout is not as urgent as in the front, but why on earth would you want to go with two different type of dropouts on the same bike?
First of all, it wont hurt putting a thru-axle in the rear aswell, and I think the technology is here in road business to stay, so why not go all in, now you're at it?
Second, I have yet to see a wheelst where front is TA, and rear is QR. So this means that we're going to have to mix and match wheelset to get the right dropouts?
Am I missing something, or does it not seem like Colnago thought this thru (aw yeaah) ?
@ Blue_Brevatto , I guess its not so much a question of sharing forces between fork legs. The leg with the brake caliper is plenty strong enough to carry the braking forces. The issue is to reduce the fork and axis flex that makes discs prone to scrape on the brake pads. With standard quick releases it is quite common to have a scraping disc after a wheel change, thus requiring a brake re-tuning after the wheel change. The thru axle promises enough rigidity to do away with this.
VHS v Betamax anyone...???
I don't think it's that bad - if the skewer is the 15mm standard diameter its whole length, then *any* 15mm dia hub should fit. Yes, you could have a proprietary skewer locking mechanism, but then the paradigm becomes one where the skewer stays with the fork, instead of going with the wheel.
If you think about it, there's no reason you wouldn't do this anyway - particularly as the faff of unwinding the threaded skewer nut (and springs if you bother with them) has gone away. I'm sure there are people out there with trad QR wheels that keep their skewers with the bike when swapping wheels - maybe they are locking ones, or just very nice/light. Or maybe have a speed sensor built in like the Mavic/Suunto ones do.
I can see if the skewer was flat on one side to aid location, and there was a matching flat inside the hub, that would stuff it up - but I don't think that's what Colnago were saying?
Welcome to have the above shot to pieces by folks much more worldy than I, but this seems regardless of *how* the skewer locates in the far end, it will work with any wheel.
@ KiwiMike,
I'd like to know more about the compatibilities of this and the focus RAT system too :-). The technical details are interesting, but more so is the question "what am I locked into if I go with [X]?". The wheels probably are the main thing and should cope as long as width and diameter are correct I believe.
Yes, all road TAs I've seen are 15 mm, so there will be no restrictions on changing out wheels.
Hi Dave
do you know how the torque is transmitted from one fork to the other. Obviously the axle shell carries it across the middle but I am interested in how it gets transferred from the insert to the axle ends. Is it via the six flats (or whatever D-flat is in the final version) ? i.e. the same way a spanner transmits torque to the head of a bolt. Or is it via side-wall friction between the ?inner? side face of the insert and some mating side-shoulder on the axle body ?
Or is there some other mechanism I have missed?
I ask because the vid got me thinking about how the system is going to work in practice. If I understand it correctly the primary aim is to share the braking loads between forks by transferring half the torque generated to the non-braking side. This will only happen if the stiffness of the through-axle load path is greater (i.e. several times greater) than the stiffness of the forks themselves.
Any slack or play in the load path would lead to uneven load sharing - so I suspect (on reflection) that it does not use the flats for this reason. But that only leaves the friction produced by the QR end-load. And that might mean that the weakest link is some part of the QR system - which are not normally designed to carry torque. I don't suppose they left you with any cut-away drawings or exploded parts views ? (I wouldn't in their shoes - but you never know ...!)
Wonderful - even more reason to make sure that the next frame I buy for my next road bike, so that I am obeying the all powerful N+1 rule, then its got to be a Colnago
Thanks for the vid!
Important question.
WHY?
That distant crunching sound is a thousand pundits eating their well-chosen 'Who needs disc brakes, disc brakes are marketing being pushed on an unwilling market, they won't be stiff enough, you'll need massive heavy axles, they will take ages to install/remove, you'll have to carry allen keys to change a tyre blah blah blah' words...
Wonder who will be first to make a anti theft thru axel as those look pretty darn easier than the current quick realses.