Robert Axle Project Launches World’s First Electronic Thru-Axle: The eRap

We’ve all been there. Lining up a thru-axle is a struggle, dialing in the correct torque is a guessing game, and riding without live torque metrics displayed on your Garmin device is pretty much as dangerous as it gets. Robert Axle Project’s new eRap addresses these issues, and much more, as the world’s first wireless electronic thru-axle, and we couldn’t be more excited.

The eRap relies on an internal self-charging battery to power itself, with a claimed 30-day battery life. If the battery dies, you can simply ride your bike to charge it back up or send the entire bike to Robert Axle Project for removal. The streamlined button on the head of the axle has an aerodynamic benefit of 0.5 watts over a traditional hex hole, and an LED ring on the axle increases nighttime visibility.

Chris at Robert Axle Project admits that early on there were some challenges with accidental removal. “More than a few times during testing, we would set our bikes down and the button would get pressed by a rock or stick, causing the axle to remove itself. The first few times we didn’t notice until we tried to ride away and the wheel fell out.” Thankfully there is an iPhone app that assists with these issues, and includes axle removal notifications and other security features. Future app updates can be yours for an affordable $41/year subscription, which we think is well worth it. Although Robert Axle Project hasn’t confirmed it yet, we’re pretty sure adding additional memory to the axle for GPX file storage and wireless photo backups isn’t out of the question.

The eRap will retail for $420 for a pair. Orders are open now at robertaxleproject.com. Axles will begin shipping on 4/1/2021.

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