I was wondering what you think about the Qu-Ax alu frame, and what your experiences are with the frame (if you have tried one). I’m thinking of upgrading from the standard Qu-Ax muni frame to a lighter frame at some point, but I’m not yet sure if it would make that much of a difference.
When I first saw the Qu-Ax alu frame I thought it was totally ugly, but meanwhile I somehow came to like the look of it. It’s a little bit heavier than the KH frame, but also 30eur cheaper, and of course it looks totally different.
Here are the frames for comparison, I fear the alu frame has even less “knee-clearance” than the standard frame:
I had the 20" Quax aluminium frame, I used it for street / trials, I quite liked it. The only reason I sold it really was to get my KH frame and some other parts. I did hit my knees on it from time to time though.
I have this frame in 20" and 24".
The 20" I used for trials, and although when I first started using it, it was ok, as I progressed and got better, it became worse and worse. Once you start really having to tuck on high hops, you start hitting your knees on the crown. Also I found I would hit my knees on gaps too. On the other hand it is a very stiff frame, although the brake mounts are completely unnecessary.
The 24" is a completely different story. Its nice a stiff, the brake mounts are really handy and because not much SIF hopping is used in Muni, you don’t have the problem of hitting your knees on the crown. The only time I have hit my knees on the 24" is when I have been going down VERY steep hills and I was cranking really hard to control my speed. The brake eliminates the risk even further.
To sum it up, the 20" is rubbish for trials, the 24" great for muni.
Edd
The 20" frame is shit. On top of it the bearing holders are crap and i’ve heard one guy on the french forum got a kh frame sent to him from quax as a replacement.
Get a kh frame. It’s only a tiny bit more, so much lighter. If you dont want the weight, buy a koxx devil frame. It’s lighter than the quax aluminium frame. And a lot cheaper too.
Still undecided but glad to hear there is at least some good feedback on the 24" frame. It would save me a good 500g (of ~7.8kg) and doesn’t compromise the strength of the otherwise pretty bomb proof Qu-Ax muni. Also I wouldn’t have to buy a new seatpost and clamp as I would need with a KH frame.
But maybe I’ll stick with the steel frame until I can afford to completely go for a lighter setup with KH wheelset and frame.
I’m the French rider who got a KH frame from QU-AX as replacement about 2 years ago. The reason is that QU-AX alu frame has a design flaw in the bearing holder, the holes to connect them to the frame are not in the axis of the bearings as all “normal” frames and when you tighten the bolts, bearing holders move oblically and create stress in the bearings; I used washers between bearing holders and frame to put bearing holders parallels to the frame and remove the stress in the bearings. Now I’m still riding aluminium frames but just KH (24, 29 and 36)
All the story (in French !) there :
http://monocycle.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3282&highlight=d�faut
That are some interesting details, I wonder if Qu-Ax still sells those frames with the flawy bearing holders or if the design has been fixed in the meantime.
My first request to Egon BECKER from QU-AX at that time was to get a QU-AX aluminium frame with a right bearing holder design as replacement of my frame with flawy design and Egon BECKER’s reply was that they will not change the design as this frame was a small sales market for them so I negociated and got FOC a KH2007 frame plus a standard KH seat post and a single KH seat post clamp as QU-AX Germany is also a KH distributor
My QU-AX aluminium frame is still riding, I sold it to a neighbour and still using the additional washers to get the right bearing stress
