This is normally the time of the year when we break out our indoor trainer because it’s cold outside, but thanks to COVID, riding the trainer/zwifting is for better or worse a year-round exercise.
It’s not as simple as just bolting your bike these days if you have a thru-axle in the back. There’s nothing to connect the flush bolt-on frame to the trainer. Luckily the folks at the Robert Axle Project are here to help.
By using the company’s robust online axle finder, I was able to locate the right axle for my Ibis Hakka MX and the finishes on it were top-notch: Beautifully machined, anodized with specs clearly marked on the axle body. The axle weighs 70 grams, 23 grams more than the single-use stock version.
Installing it was as easy as the stock axle: slide it in and turn. The only difference is that there’s now a 5mm hex bolt head on the non-drive side, and an identical cap meant to be threaded into the drive-side end to provide space for the trainer. In using, the smooth beveled ends center the bike into the receiving end of my trainer, and my old but beloved 1up USA CPR A-2000 that has seen more work in the past 6 months than in the past seven years combined.
It’s a simple but effective solution that can replace your stock axle if you switch from the trainer to real road, or from the trainer straight to the starting line, whenever racing returns.