There will always be people who vehemently disagree with this statement, but disc brakes have been a net positive to road and gravel cycling.
They have helped enable the concept of gravel and all-road bikes to take off, removing the tire size restraints of caliper brakes. And of course the braking power is better, alongside allowing sustained braking on long descents without overheating tires.
That’s not to say there haven’t been tradeoffs. Besides a weight penalty, the biggest downside to road disc has been doing away with the convenience of quick-release levers and ushering in the era of thru axles in road. Taking wheels on and off now takes more time.
Fulchee has a solution.
The OEM manufacturer’s Ultimate Quik Axle is a two-piece system, the first of which looks like a traditional thru-axle with a quick-release lever added on. But instead of a thread on the other end to screw into the dropout, it has a pin similar to what you would find on the male end of a cable lock. That side locks into a receiving end screwed into the other side of the dropout. Twisting the receiving end unlocks it and allows the axle to enter. Letting go of the receiving end locks the axle into place. The quick-release lever then closes to provide an extra layer of security.
It sounds more complex than it actually is when written out. All you have to do to remove a wheel is open the quick release, twist the knob on the receiving end to the unlocked position, and pull out the thru-axle. The whole operation takes a matter of seconds. No tools are required, and no time-consuming unscrewing the thru axle.
And, of course, a video is worth well over a thousand words.
While it arguably falls short of the descriptor revolutionary, it is a convenient product that saves time. Judges at the 2023 Taipei Cycle Show d&I awards agreed and recognized the Quik Axle as one of the top products at the show.
What about other thru axle options?
The Quik Axle is not the first attempt at speeding up the operation of thru axles, but it seems to be the best yet, and the most universally adoptable. Fulchee can make it for any thru axle dropout standard, and it works with any existing bike with thru axles.
Mavic’s Speed Release system has the benefit of allowing you to keep the axle in the hub while removing the wheel, but it requires the fork to have a cut out on the non-drive side dropout, meaning it has to be made specifically for this one thru-axle system. It also still requires you to unthread the thru axle completely from the dropout, which takes time.
Other brands have taken to including a lever in the thru axle that looks similar to a quick-release lever so you don’t need to fish a hex wrench out of your flat kit to take off a wheel. That’s convenient but still requires the extra time of unthreading the thru axle.
Assuming the system is durable enough for the long haul — it certainly seemed well built as I played around with it on the show floor — it’s something I would love to have on my bikes.
When can you expect to see the Quik Axle? That’s hard to say. The brand is selling OEM and you can’t buy it directly from them, so time will tell what brands pick up the Quik Axle. For what it’s worth, Fulchee’s website lists Giant and Merida as two brands that buy the company’s thru axles.
More info: fulchee.com
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