A close shave!

peat

4 miles into a ride last night, i had just finished a fast single-track decent. I decided to give my bike a check-over because something didnt feel quite right.

The QR on the front wheel was completely loose!!!!

Luckily, because i'm a bit of a wuss, i was trailing the front brake all the way down, must have been the only thing keeping the wheel on when jumping over the exposed tree roots!

Spooked me a bit, rode home very conservativley.

:-/

GhallTN6

About four years ago I finished White's Level/Afan, lifted the front wheel up to get through the mini gate thing, and my wheel fell out.. was so glad when I got a bolt through on the front last year.

Anonymous

Peat wrote:

Luckily, because i'm a bit of a wuss, i was trailing the front brake all the way down, must have been the only thing keeping the wheel on when jumping over the exposed tree roots!

The front brake can actually cause loosening of the QR, which is why forks have those tabs that mean you have to unscrew the QR substantially before you can pull the wheel out.

peat

ahhh, ok. Wondered why that was, good info.

Some of my pals have advised me to go down the bolt-through route aswell.

Anonymous

You'll be fine with QR almost all the time, just stay away from open cam QR skewers (like hope/superstar etc), and stay away from stupid skewer material like aluminium or titanium.

craker

yeehaamcgee wrote:

The front brake can actually cause loosening of the QR

I remember there being a heated and long running thread on this topic back in the days when I frequented usenet (anyone still use alt.rec.cycling?). The argument goes that the rotor exerts a torque on the dropouts under braking. I can't see this loosening the QR though? Oh heck, I don't want to resssurect this one.

Make sure your QRs are tight before setting off.

Anonymous

It's not a debate, it's engineering fact. That is WHY we have those tabs on the fork.
The debate was about a court case where some person (who I shall withold insults about this time) was trying to sue Fox because the wheel came out of his forks. We had someone who was on his side legally, who was trying to discredit Fox, and was trying to make out as if this problem only affected them - when in fact it's a known phenomenon, and they take exactly the same precautions as every other fork manufacturer.

Monkeypump

yeehaamcgee wrote:

You'll be fine with QR almost all the time, just stay away from open cam QR skewers (like hope/superstar etc), and stay away from stupid skewer material like aluminium or titanium.

And ignore this scare-mongering advise - it's nonsense. Just check skewers and tighten them properly.

DCR00

yeehaamcgee wrote:

You'll be fine with QR almost all the time, just stay away from open cam QR skewers (like hope/superstar etc), and stay away from stupid skewer material like aluminium or titanium.

This

I binned (sold on ebay) my Hope skewers after the back came undone whilst i was crossing a main road....

cat_with_no_tail

Monkeypump wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

You'll be fine with QR almost all the time, just stay away from open cam QR skewers (like hope/superstar etc), and stay away from stupid skewer material like aluminium or titanium.

And ignore this scare-mongering advise - it's nonsense. Just check skewers and tighten them properly.

*grabs popcorn, pulls up chair, awaits arrival of Yeehaa*

Anonymous

Monkeypump wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

You'll be fine with QR almost all the time, just stay away from open cam QR skewers (like hope/superstar etc), and stay away from stupid skewer material like aluminium or titanium.

And ignore this scare-mongering advise - it's nonsense. Just check skewers and tighten them properly.

Not so much scare mongering as just application of engineering. There's a "best" material to make things out of, and then there's "not so good" materials to make things out of, then there's "wholly unsuitable" materials to make things out of. Ti falls into the LAtter as regards QR skewers, since it's stretchy and springy, which are not qualities ideally suited to clamping your wheel in place.

dan shard

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Monkeypump wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

You'll be fine with QR almost all the time, just stay away from open cam QR skewers (like hope/superstar etc), and stay away from stupid skewer material like aluminium or titanium.

And ignore this scare-mongering advise - it's nonsense. Just check skewers and tighten them properly.

Not so much scare mongering as just application of engineering. There's a "best" material to make things out of, and then there's "not so good" materials to make things out of, then there's "wholly unsuitable" materials to make things out of. Ti falls into the LAtter as regards QR skewers, since it's stretchy and springy, which are not qualities ideally suited to clamping your wheel in place.

Fun though

paramart

for once i think yeeha is right, i used xt skewers for yrs no probs got some ti superstar bling bits and my front wheel has become loose a few times, but as stated the wheel will not drop out and you feel it before it gets dangerous.
the only thing different is i run rigid forks, but thinking about it thats all that was available yrs ago and it didn,t happen then, so maybe some truth in the matter

Anonymous

paramart wrote:

for once i think yeeha is right

:roll:
If you think I'm only right this once then you have a lot to learn.

Andy B

From personal experience...

I have had no issues with any skewers that I've used on any of my bikes, Hope, Shimano, A2Z, Halo, X Lite & Ti

But I do check them before most rides (if not every ride then every other ride)

I have heard of some skewers coming undone, but as it's not happened to me or anyone I ride with I can't comment on that

Anonymous

Andy B wrote:

I have heard of some skewers coming undone, but as it's not happened to me or anyone I ride with I can't comment on that

But you just did.
The chances of any of them coming undone are slim, but the probability of failure goes up with open cam designs, and using daft materials.

02gf74

I've been using skewers for donkeys years and have yet to find one loosen, yet undone.

In last year have fitted some Ti skewers and so far not had any problems but will check on them once in a whille.

njee20

I agree with Yeeha, but would say that ti skewers are 'less appropriate' not 'inappropriate'. For sure it's not the best material for skewers, but I've used ti skewers for years (Tune, Bontrager, Roval, KCNC and Mt Zoom) and never had one come loose.

Anonymous

njee20 wrote:

I agree with Yeeha, but would say that ti skewers are 'less appropriate' not 'inappropriate'.

Seems fair enough.

Raymondavalon

yeehaamcgee wrote:

The front brake can actually cause loosening of the QR, which is why forks have those tabs that mean you have to unscrew the QR substantially before you can pull the wheel out.

They appropriately nickname those things "lawyers lips", the design is to prevent morons trying to sue manufacturers when they are to lazy or stupid to check the bike over before riding.

njee20

I file them off on my road bike, it's a good incentive to check your skewer!

Old Pace forks didn't have them IIRC, not sure I'd fancy that on an MTB.

Anonymous

Rim brakes don't cause the same problem, so provided your skewers are fitted properly, they're not needed on road bikes.

njee20

Yep, hence why I did it! It makes changing wheels a lot faster in a race too, it's really helped the two times in 8 years I've done it :roll:

j_l

Been riding with Hope QR's since they were first out, used Ringle before that and with both Rim and Disk brakes I have never had one come loose or fail, look after your kit check your bike regularly and you will have no problems.

Using the right equipment for its application is the best way e.g. don't use Ti QR's on a big hitter and you will be ok.

To summarise use common sense :roll:

End of :evil:

njee20

IMO design is a huge part of it too.

I'd be far happier using certain ti skewers than I would Hope Steel ones (early ones at least).

Tune skewers are excellent, got a proper internal cam and what not, I'd not use them on a long travel bike as above, but they're very confidence inspiring for a light piece of kit. Conversely, my KCNC ones scare me a bit, I only use the rear one as it's more of a thru-axle. The Mt Zoom front one which weighs exactly the same as the KCNC is far better.

milfredo

I use a Ti DT Swiss rear QR that is more of a bolt through as it twiddles tight and boy can you get it tight! If that Ti is streching and making my bike flex then I'm a monky's uncle. The rear end is super stiff and wobble free. On a cam QR I can see this being not nearly as tight due to the nature of the closure but I hightly recommend the twiddle design of the DT's design.

estampida

qr's

avoid any with plastic bushes

if your really nervous get a set of USE twist stix (you normally can get the lever to sit againt a fork leg)

or halo allen bolts and get rid of that lever

Anonymous

milfredo wrote:

I use a Ti DT Swiss rear QR that is more of a bolt through as it twiddles tight and boy can you get it tight! If that Ti is streching and making my bike flex then I'm a monky's uncle. The rear end is super stiff and wobble free. On a cam QR I can see this being not nearly as tight due to the nature of the closure but I hightly recommend the twiddle design of the DT's design.

You realise that you can probably put more tension with a Cam design than with one of those DT jobs, right?

Oh, and for what it's worth, a bolt "through" does exactly that - it goes through the frame, there's no slot for it, there's a circular hole.