Watch out for cheap thru-axles on rental bikes in Asheville

I went to Asheville last week to check out the greenways and rode a rental e-bike from one of the shops near the river. The thru-axle felt loose when I picked it up, so I asked the guy behind the counter. He shrugged and said it was normal. Halfway down the French Broad River trail, the rear axle started wobbling bad enough that I had to stop. Turns out the threads were stripped almost completely, it was an aftermarket cheap aluminum one with maybe 3 good threads left. The shop had no torque wrench at the stand, just a hex key and vibes. I tightened it as much as I could and limped back, but that could have been a crash on a downhill. Do any of you see this with rental fleets often? Are shops skipping basic torque checks to save time or is it just this one place being sloppy?

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tarak177d ago

Is it possible you just got unlucky with one bad bike? I mean, rental fleets get beat up constantly and most shops do check torque, but stuff slips through on busy weekends sometimes. Idk, one stripped axle doesn't scream "systemic problem" to me, more like a single lazy mechanic having a rough day.