Tailfin Cycling (United Kingdom) - Press Release: As part of our strive to improve your experience choosing the perfect Tailfin setup we have developed a new Axle Finder tool to make picking the right axle for your bike a far simpler task.

Why do we recommend using a new axle for fitting our racks and AeroPacks?

To maximise the carrying capacity and versatility of our rack and AeroPack systems we developed dedicated axles that replace the existing axle used to fix your rear wheel in place. This axle is one of the most unique features of the Tailfin system and key to how it connects securely to your bike. The rear axle makes the perfect lower mounting point for a rack as it is one of the strongest components of your bike and helps isolate the additional forces applied to a bike when a heavy load is being carried, resulting in less stress to your frame.

Remember although we recommend you use the axle mounting method to fit your Tailfin product, you can still opt to use our Frame Mount Adaptors and Fast Release Dropouts or fit your rack or AeroPack directly to your frame.

The one drawback of replacing the axle is the simple fact that not every bike brand uses the same axle standard in the first place. By this we are talking about the thread pitch, effectively the size and type of thread used to secure the axle in the frame. In fact, a bike brand might not even use the same axle across all models. Luckily over the last few years there has been some tightening of standards and now the majority of bikes are fitted with either a quick release axle or one of four main thru-axle standards.

The good news is we currently produce different Tailfin compatible axles to suit all five. But the bad news is this still provides a confusing scenario for many riders as unless you have a complete and thorough understanding of all parts of bicycle design, you are able to accurately measure a thread pitch or your axle has the correct standard measurements printed on it – how do you know which axle to choose?

It has been one of the biggest sticking points for Tailfin customers and we have been working hard to make the experience as painless as possible. We have now gathered an extensive database of bike brands, specific models and model years and placed it into an easy to use axle finder to enable riders to take the uncertainty out of getting the right thru-axle.