New Thru

July 17, 2017 | Tim Krone | Product Review

We’ve sold many Staches, Fuses and Ruzes with Manitou’s QR15 thru axle. The QR15 works just fine, but there is a pretty steep learning curve to figure it out.

I was looking for something one day and came across something called the Hexlock SL, which is a replacement thru axle for the QR15. I figured I’d buy one, install it and give it a whirl. After rattling around inside my work bag for a few weeks, I had a chance to install it yesterday.

Manitou’s QR15. Part thru axle, part quick release, some find it 100% confusing and strange.

 

Innocuous packaging for the Hexlock SL.

 

The best part of the installation was the first part, removing a part stamped with the words, “Do Not Remove.”

Once that law was broken, installation was a piece of cake, just a matter of removing a few things, installing a few more, tightening things down with a pin spanner and applying grease in appropriate locations.

The new system looks sleek and works great. While I personally had no beef with the QR15 system, the Hexlock SL is better — or at least better for me. The Hexlock is much easier to install when you can’t see the axle clearly (think roof rack) and the tightening mechanism is much more intuitive. The bad news is that a 6mm hex wrench is required for installation and removal.