Review: Old Man Mountain Axle Pack: The Installation

The component parts of the OMM Axle Pack and fit kit.

 NOTE: Old Man Mountain sent over the Axle Pack kit, a fit kit, and through axle from the Robert Axle Project to Guitar Ted Productions for test and review. I am not being bribed, nor paid for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

If you missed the introduction to the Axle Pack from Old Man Mountain, you can read that HERE. This post will detail the installation process and my first impressions of the Axle Pack.

OMM has an excellent step-by-step instructional for the Axle Pack which was very helpful. I will say that it lacks in imagery though, which may be a detriment to those who are more visual learners. Also, the instructions are found by scanning a QR code. Neat. Great stuff, but having to trigger your phone back on again and again gets annoying. One vote for paper instructions here. But I get it. I'm not against how OMM did this, but everything has its drawbacks and the experience I had was a bit tedious due to the way the instructions were implemented. Paper is wasteful, probably more expensive, etc. Like I said, pros and cons there.....

Now, as far as how things went together, this was seamless. All the parts were well made and I had all the fasteners necessary. There is a bit of a trick that I will share here that I think would make life easier for you if you should decide to get an Axle Pack and want to install it yourself. 

That would be to "mock up" the way it will go on first. You can read through the instructions and then get a feel for how the parts can be arranged, because you have options. Plus, you'll want to ascertain where the Mounting Pucks will go so you can clean up and apply the protective film precisely where it should go. 

The first step is to swap out your through axle for the specified Robert Axle Project axle for your particular bike. Then you can get to mocking up the set up and go forward with installation.

The special Robert Axle Project through-axle will protrude a bit on either side. (Those are Berd spokes, by the way, in case you were wondering.)

By mocking up the set-up I was able to ascertain where I needed to place my protective film on the fork blades.

Once you've gotten the Robert Axle Project through-axle in place, you can then grab the rails of the Axle Pack and see which orientation works best on your fork. The attachment at the wheel is offset so it will better align with your fork in one way than the other. Once you've determined that, you should take the proper bolts and pass them through the hole at the axle end of the rails and carefully screw them into the Robert Axle Project through-axle. The threads are fairly fine and the axle is aluminum, so you definitely want to take care in this step. 

Leaving those bolts loose enough that you can rotate the rails by the axle end, swing up the rail to be in line with the fork, grab a Mounting Puck, (I actually went ahead and attached mine first to the rails), and determine where you want to apply the protective film. Once you've gotten that figured out, everything starts to fall into place. 

Here I have the protective film in place and one of two cable ties started.

A closer look at those special cable ties.

As a bike mechanic with 30 years of experience, I have seen a TON of cable ties and I know the quality of them can vary from absolute garbage, useless ties to really nice and everything in between. However; I had not yet met the Panduit cable ties. Holy smokes! These are - by far and away - the very best cable ties I've ever laid hands on. Kudos to Old Man Mountain for sourcing those for their Axle Pack kits because I have no doubt these will last and I have full confidence in using them. 

Also, you get a few extras, so don't worry if you accidentally cable tie a spoke in with the Mounting Puck. (Be careful of that!) You have a "mulligan" with those ties since you have a couple extras. One other note on those ties. I found that a craft X-acto knife with the angled blade cut through the tie like butter, so you can trim back the extra ends after tightening them down very cleanly. OMM recommends using a fingernail clipper, and that would also work well. 

This is what it all looks like once it is all buttoned up.

All installed and loaded up.

I finished up the installation and loaded the Axle Pack up with a water bottle cage on one side and an Anything Cage HD on the other side with a Salsa Cycles Dry Bag which has a Thermos inside of it. This is going to be my test set up for the Axle Pack for the Winter. 

My thought being that if it is very cold but conditions are okay for a ride that a Thermos will keep a drink from freezing, or could hold a warm drink, like cocoa or coffee. Or I could use that bag to hold dry gloves and head gear, or.... Whatever! It just takes a frame and fork that is minimalist and makes it more versatile. And remember, I can always take the Axle Packs off if I want to go to a race, or use it on another bike. (Gotta get more of those Panduit cable ties from OMM though! See HERE) 

Next: The riding will show how the Axle Packs work out. Stay tuned....