Reccomend me some skewers

mcj78

Hi all - need (want) some new shiny skewers for my road bike, gonna be either red or gold, not decided which as yet - any pointers? I like the shape of the current hope ones I have on my mtb but think they might look slightly industrial on a roadie - found these on ebay, pretty cheap - anyone tried them? my bike frame's carbon, had some old gold bottle cage bolts lying around & quite like the look of that against the black, or is gold sooooo last year??

Cheers
John

Lig

I bought some Zipp ones to go with my 303s but they were crap and kept creeking. I sent them back and got a refund. I went with the Hopes and they did the job nicely. Easton ones look good also?

Lig.

mcj78

Yeah, i've always liked Hope stuff & found it to be well constructed (even if my monos squeal like a peeeeg) but thinking on summat different this time... i'm gonna end up buying another pair of hope aren't I?!

J

CarbonCopy

Give KCNC skewers a look they are great.

nicensleazy

If you are looking for sometihng really special.......look no further!

https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/app/secure ... ilyID=2980

Everything you need from a top draw pair of skewers!

I own them and I love them!

balthazar

I know you want the shiny ones, but I wonder if you underestimate how important QR's are. They clamp with enormous force; probably more than can be achieved with nutted axles, tightened with a big spanner. Not only do they attach your wheels, but they locate them: it is only this clamping pressure that prevents the wheel fretting in the dropouts.

Shimano, Campagnolo, and other "traditional" component companies make QR's by using a steel axle; a beefy shell on one end, inside which is a steel eccentric cam attached to a steel lever. On the other end is a steel nut. The whole assembly is tough, durable, and holds your wheels in place. These milled out aluminium things use a mechanism which suffers high friction, lower leverage, and unknown failure characteristics. As they say, just sayin'.

hopper1

Token make some nice Ti QR's, too.

ride_whenever

crank brothers ones look the mutts.

Anonymous

Dura Ace are the best ones I've used.

But they aren't the blingingest...

dennisn

balthazar wrote:

I know you want the shiny ones, but I wonder if you underestimate how important QR's are. They clamp with enormous force; probably more than can be achieved with nutted axles, tightened with a big spanner. Not only do they attach your wheels, but they locate them: it is only this clamping pressure that prevents the wheel fretting in the dropouts.

Shimano, Campagnolo, and other "traditional" component companies make QR's by using a steel axle; a beefy shell on one end, inside which is a steel eccentric cam attached to a steel lever. On the other end is a steel nut. The whole assembly is tough, durable, and holds your wheels in place. These milled out aluminium things use a mechanism which suffers high friction, lower leverage, and unknown failure characteristics. As they say, just sayin'.

I tend to agree, but it would appear that these issues simply don't mean a thing to the bling aficionados. Light and colorful and that's all that matters. :roll: :roll: :roll:

storck

Simple Tune .good as it gets!

CarbonCopy

dennisn wrote:

balthazar wrote:

I know you want the shiny ones, but I wonder if you underestimate how important QR's are. They clamp with enormous force; probably more than can be achieved with nutted axles, tightened with a big spanner. Not only do they attach your wheels, but they locate them: it is only this clamping pressure that prevents the wheel fretting in the dropouts.

Shimano, Campagnolo, and other "traditional" component companies make QR's by using a steel axle; a beefy shell on one end, inside which is a steel eccentric cam attached to a steel lever. On the other end is a steel nut. The whole assembly is tough, durable, and holds your wheels in place. These milled out aluminium things use a mechanism which suffers high friction, lower leverage, and unknown failure characteristics. As they say, just sayin'.

I tend to agree, but it would appear that these issues simply don't mean a thing to the bling aficionados. Light and colorful and that's all that matters. :roll: :roll: :roll:

Somebody is on a roll today

balthazar

dennisn wrote:

balthazar wrote:

I know you want the shiny ones, but I wonder if you underestimate how important QR's are. They clamp with enormous force; probably more than can be achieved with nutted axles, tightened with a big spanner. Not only do they attach your wheels, but they locate them: it is only this clamping pressure that prevents the wheel fretting in the dropouts.

Shimano, Campagnolo, and other "traditional" component companies make QR's by using a steel axle; a beefy shell on one end, inside which is a steel eccentric cam attached to a steel lever. On the other end is a steel nut. The whole assembly is tough, durable, and holds your wheels in place. These milled out aluminium things use a mechanism which suffers high friction, lower leverage, and unknown failure characteristics. As they say, just sayin'.

I tend to agree, but it would appear that these issues simply don't mean a thing to the bling aficionados. Light and colorful and that's all that matters. :roll: :roll: :roll:

It occurs to me that there's a better way of expressing it, that I wish I'd done in my original comment. QR's don't just hold your wheels on, they hold your bike together. In light of that, it seems crazy to treat them as decorative elements.

alan_sherman

Wow - do you negative guys leave the lawyer lips on your forks too? i agree that a failed skewer is a bad thing, but rarely is it catastrophic like a fork crown shearing, especially with all the vetical dropouts in use these days.

FWIW the enigma ones are only OK, slower to use and I had to send one back as the handle came off (note that would not cause any issues at all whilst rifing along). The KCNC ones get good reports from weightweenies and seem like a good design to me. they won't last as long (read that as if you use the QR often the ball joint will wear out) as shimano or campag skewers, but they are over half the weight.

Pokerface

I guess I've been lucky that my bling hasn't snapped in half, reducing my bike to a pile of rubble by the side of the road - considering that these two little skewers is all that holds my bike together! :shock:


But if you can ignore that - KCNC ones are very nice. Token ones are also. Even the Planet X ones look good.



Or you can go the safe route and convert to track axles and just bolt your wheels on with a big spanner?!

dennisn

alan sherman wrote:

The KCNC ones get good reports from weightweenies and seem like a good design to me. they won't last as long (read that as if you use the QR often the ball joint will wear out) as shimano or campag skewers, but they are over half the weight.

So here's my question. Do you really believe that you are gaining anything at all by having skewers that weigh half what DA and Record weigh??? How much faster do you go with these lighter ones??? Is it even measurable???? Anything to be gained??? More expense and a shorter life span(so you say). What's the attraction, other than bling and bragging rights, to these skewers??? Seriously???

rick_chasey

SBezza

I have the token ones on my TT bike, and they have been nothing but great at keeping the wheel (and bike) together. No slipping when applying the power, and they clamp the front wheel on very tight.

Reason for using them wasn't really the lightness of them, though that was a consideration, but the fact they are small and a bit more aero than Shimano ones. Ti axles are just as strong as steel, just lighter. They clamp just as well and once clamped it isn't as though is is going to wear very much, unless it is constantly undo, and then done up.

Not sure how they would fail, unless not done up correctly to start with.

mcj78

Rick Chasey wrote:

Thanks for the input guys, but i'm gonna go for the rooster ones above

Nah, I get the point about security being paramount as I don't want to lose a wheel @ 40mph, also accept the fact that dropping less that 100g in weight won't help my performance half as much a big "Forest Gump" before I go out, it's mainly about looking pretty :oops:

If money wasn't a factor I think the new Token Ti ones in gold with the red nut look really nice, however £80 or whatever they are could be used far more productively on my bike! I do like the KCNC ones, even if they remind me of Hope ones from 10 years ago, so these are a distinct possibility... I like the classic understated looks of the DA too, but it'd be the only DA on my bike so maybe out of place

Decisions decisions, so many pretty skewers... cheers all!!
John

Pokerface

dennisn wrote:

alan sherman wrote:

The KCNC ones get good reports from weightweenies and seem like a good design to me. they won't last as long (read that as if you use the QR often the ball joint will wear out) as shimano or campag skewers, but they are over half the weight.

So here's my question. Do you really believe that you are gaining anything at all by having skewers that weigh half what DA and Record weigh??? How much faster do you go with these lighter ones??? Is it even measurable???? Anything to be gained??? More expense and a shorter life span(so you say). What's the attraction, other than bling and bragging rights, to these skewers??? Seriously???

0.12 MPH

SBezza

Token ones are only £35 at Wiggle, I wouldn't pay £80 for a pair of skewers. Wiggle only have the black ones currently however.

mcj78

Oh yeah, they look good too - the £80 must have been a typo from some Taiwanese seller on ebay, these are the ones I like the look of:




mmmm.

ajb72

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... 0000000000

FFWD skewers, 86g a pair, £24, look bling but feel sturdy in use. I admit I bought them because they are light and they match my frame colour! That said, they are pretty cheap but well made and so far totally reliable.

Pokerface

So - is it just the Dura Ace skewers that are safe to use then?

For instance - out of all the Pro teams riding today - do you think they all use this ONE design of skewer - or do some use the 'unsafe' design?

Genuine question.

ajb72

I've never heard of a set of skewers failing - does this actually happen?

ride_whenever

tune ones come in at 48g a set...

pastey_boy

i have the skewers at the top of this article. they weigh exactly as stated, they have a good smooth action and i weigh 17 stone so work them hard and they have never slackened off. took less than a week to get here as well.

Bear77

ride_whenever wrote:

tune ones come in at 48g a set...

and in gold!

or these at 17.5g a set, gold and theft proof. Get the credit card out.

http://www.poshbikes.com/product.php?id=330

Gazzaputt

ajb72 wrote:

I've never heard of a set of skewers failing - does this actually happen?

It does. When I used to MTB I had some Cook Bros skewers and the clamp failed on the rear. Wasn't good.

ugo.santalucia

Pokerface wrote:

So - is it just the Dura Ace skewers that are safe to use then?

For instance - out of all the Pro teams riding today - do you think they all use this ONE design of skewer - or do some use the 'unsafe' design?

Genuine question.

On close ups at big stage races, I've seen a lot of internal cam skewers on the back wheel... mainly Shimano. Definitively more than you see on the roads everyday

No reason to go for DA, 105 and Ultegra are equally valid and so are the MTB ones, some of which are very reasonably priced.
I think it's important to create the awareness... I felt like sharing my experience about external cam skewers failing, which I did last week on an analogous thread. Then everyone can make his own informed decisions.

Pokerface

I just get the impression that if these external cam ones were always failing, then we'd hear more about it? There would be some sort of safety warning?

Are these things the Toyotas of the cycling world!?