Re: a moment for the neutral support mechanics

cyclintom <cyclintom@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Fri Jul 25 14:42:21 2025 AMuzi  wrote:

https://www.wsj.com/sports/tadej-pogacar-tour-de-france-crash-mechanic-2da6796d
 
"Their job is to help riders with mechanical issues or
supply spare wheels when their own team cars are too far
away or stuck behind the peloton. If they?re on screen, then
something has usually gone wrong. The neutral service
mechanics know better than most that while the Tour de
France can only be won at a few critical junctures, it can
be lost pretty much anywhere."

 
 
 
 
I've been watching Neutral support for the last couple of days and they
have a real handful. There must be three or four wheel standards and the
through axles can be 12 or 15 mm. They should be setting real standards
rather than dictrating how narrow your handlebars can be. Also the LENGTH
of through axles needs to be standardized. It is all erll and good using
a reversible electric drill eith an allen head to install or remove
through axles but they have to be the same length. And that has to do
with the thickness of the ends of the chainstay axle mounts.
 

For MTB yes you have 15 mm Front and 12 mm rear through axels, with Boost
and super boost specs ie wider hubs.

Some older road bikes and particularly Gravel bikes used MTB specs early
2010’s but certainly for TDF, the Through Axels are at least a standard 12
-100/142mm and have been for while.

Clearly much slower than QR to swap wheels out, but on the road side it’s
at least on one standard.

Roger Merriman