Skewers?

Dick Scruttock

Is the general consensus that shimano skewers be if Deore to XTR are the best on the market? Sick of the rear Hope on i have, its a right pain in the arse to get nice and tight so its coming off and a shimano skewer fitted if people agree they are the best.

blister pus

Rick Draper wrote:

Is the general consensus that shimano skewers be if Deore to XTR are the best on the market?

yes, shimano.

njee20

Not the lightest, but the most secure.

If you want light ones then Tune are the best IMO, proper internal cam.

llamafarmer

Definitely Shimano, they just work!

neninja

I bought a set of KCNC ti skewers.

After 2 rides the XT ones were back on and the KCNC are now relegated to the spares box.

supersonic

Shimano the the best, no doubt about that.

ESHER SHORE

the light weight / fancy skewers are sh*t for keeping your rear wheel, and especially front wheel in place! (there is huge loads on quick release skewer / forks running disc brakes)

its ironic when riders get a new bike with stock shimano / campag / formula steel Q/R cam skewers, and their first upgrade is to some fancy light weight skewers, which look nice and "save weight" but cannot generate 1/2 of the clamping force that the original steel skewers can

years ago Brant Richards of MBUK did a great article on skewers, with a proper test rig measuring clamping torque, and the article came to the conclusion that the Shimano steel skewer was about as good as it gets...


the other big problem I have seen in my workshop, with fancy Q/R skewers on the rear is with dirt jump bikes running horizontal dropouts - the wheel will not stay put under heavy braking or cranking - we normally remove the light weight skewer, install a heavier steel Shimano or Formula skewer and the problem does not return

Spugnut

Gotta say, I've never had any problems with my Salsas. Don't work loose and they're big and red with "Salsa" written on them.

Northwind

Heh, I did exactly what Esher Shore says, got my first bike and replaced the ugly Formula QRs with pretty lightweight ones. Which are now on my brother's commuter because I don't trust them on anything that ever gets its wheels off the groun Those cheap Formulas are still going strong in a mate's bike.

Only thing I've found to tempt me away from lovely XT is the Halo Hex bolted skewers, but I'm still not totally convinced by those, need more miles to decide. Had one come loose but tbh I'm reasonably sure I'd undertightened it.

njee20

the light weight / fancy skewers are sh*t for keeping your rear wheel, and especially front wheel in place! (there is huge loads on quick release skewer / forks running disc brakes)

Tune ones work well, as I said, but they're about the only ones with a proper internal cam. They're not cheap either.

benpinnick

Have you greased the brass bushings on your Hopes? That normally makes them alot better to use. That said, Shimano are the best.

thedirge

where is best to buy the shimano skewers? Noticed the xtr are quite expensive, any point or are other models just as good?

Anonymous

benpinnick wrote:

Have you greased the brass bushings on your Hopes? That normally makes them alot better to use. That said, Shimano are the best.

The brass should be self lubricating, but it doesn't cope well at all with water and crud.
I can't be arsed having to grease my QRs, when a cheaper option works better, and needs no maintenance.

njee20

No real point in XTR, pure tart factor. Deore ones work perfectly well for 1/3 the price!

thedirge

thanks njee20

Bluemoon39

My front wheel started to actually move slightly in the dropouts when braking using my stock skewer, changed to Deore and not had any problems since.
After reading up on issues with QR and disc brakes I wouldn't feel safe using anything other than Shimanos patented QR system. I would never use anything else.

Anonymous

I never knew they were patented by shimano. I thought Campag held the patent.

njee20

I didn't know they were patented by Shimano either, strange!

The Rookie

A thumbs up here for Halo bolt through, as long as you don't want QR they are lighter than any QR and generate great clamping loads. My Mate uses them on his 36" wagon wheeler as that generates huge loads on the skewer.

Ti for the skewer shaft is all wrong from an engineering viewpoint, its too elastic (half the modulus of steel).

Looking at the BR reviews page http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... se-skewers is interesting, shame that on-one has really jacked its prices recently!

Simon

lawman

DT and superstar's 9 and 10mm thru bolts are ace imo, wayyyyyy stiffer than qr's more secure, stronger and in the case of the DT's on 50 odd grams each :shock: only downside you need a hub to accept them and the dt's are expensive, but considering the OP's next bike, i doubt he's short of cash :P

The Rookie

50g each? Halo are 31g front 36g rear!

Simon

lawman

The Beginner wrote:

50g each? Halo are 31g front 36g rear!

Simon

yer but considering a halo qr isn basically a 2-3mm thick lentgh of aluminium, and the dt's are hollow 9 and 10mm axles, they're bloody light and as i said much stronger than normal qr's. you can quite easily bend a qr, i'd like to see some one bend a DT rws thru bolt

njee20

50g each? Halo are 31g front 36g rear!

I've got some Parts of Passion MTB skewers (specifically branded as such too, the road version are lighter) which are 34g for the pair. I've not used them, they scare me. It's a shame, as they look great.

supersonic

Deore are exclelent. But have to say the XTR are even better to use!

kopite1979

I`ve been using superstars QR`s for over 12 months and never had a single problem with them

Bluemoon39

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I never knew they were patented by shimano. I thought Campag held the patent.

Actually I think you may be right.
Read THIS and the associated James Annan article, before buying anything other than the enclosed cam type skewer

The Rookie

Does that mean my clunky old all steel enclosed cam Shimano skewers are valuable now then?

Simon

njee20

I love the snide tone of that Sheldon article! I do agree with what he says, but I doubt you will die if you use external cam skewers! I've been using Bontrager titanium skewers on my road bike for years, no lawyer lips on the fork, and I'm still here!

Dick Scruttock

So could i fit a Hope Pro2 10mm bolt through axle to my AM4's and a DT swiss 10mm QR? Hmm that might be a option but then i think the rear of the LTc will be plenty stiff enough.

Anonymous

njee20 wrote:

I love the snide tone of that Sheldon article! I do agree with what he says, but I doubt you will die if you use external cam skewers! I've been using Bontrager titanium skewers on my road bike for years, no lawyer lips on the fork, and I'm still here!

Are you using horizontal dropouts, or disc brakes though? Problem only really presents itself if you are.

njee20

Although disc brakes are clearly likely to exacerbate the risk, he's getting at the idea that an external cam skewer can come loose if not tightened properly, and with no lawyer lips that means you wheel drops straight out.

The exposed-cam skewers are generally OK for vertical dropouts in back, and for forks with "lawyer lips", but should not be relied on with horizontal dropouts or plain forks.