Replace rear QR?

larkim

On my trusty old £99 Toys R Us bike (:eek:) I was able to hook on a trailer for my smaller kids by adding a special bracket in between the left hand side axel nut and the frame.

Would like to take this trailer on a short holiday soon, and I've bought a Rockrider with a QR skewer there instead. I'm fairly sure that the bracket can't be added on unless I replace the QR setup with a traditional bolt.

Is this a fairly straightforward swap, or should I jut put up with taking the old bike to drag them along?

Matt

nicklouse

it depends on the hub.

and some will work with a Qr.

larkim

Just so I understand, are you saying that whether I can remove the QR skewer from the rear hub will depend on the way the hub is set up?

Yes, I've see that some brackets do work with QR, but fairly certain that the one that I have won't - the hole through which the axel passes on the bracket is, I think, wider (or very close to the tolerance on) than the QR skewer itself, so at the very least I'd need a washer / adaptor in between the QR bolt and the bracket. But of course to put that in place I'd need to remove the whole of the QR skewer, or at the very least just the end of the QR skewer, and that's not something I've done before so not sure how to go about that.

Matt

cooldad

Just take the nut off the end and the skewer will slide straight out.

nicklouse

What is the hub?

larkim

cooldad wrote:

Just take the nut off the end and the skewer will slide straight out.

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Does the the skewer need greasing up after removing / reinserting? I've only ever removed an axel from a cheap BMX, and that required removing the bearings, cleaning, greasing up etc etc. Given that the skewer is effectively the axel for the wheel, I presume some of those same issues will arise?

Matt

cooldad

Nope, the skewer is not the axle, it just holds the wheelnuts (or nut and QR handle to be specific) together. The QR goes inside the actual axle, which is hollow.

larkim

Aha, that's the bit of logic I was missing! Thanks, that makes sense.

I shall be extracting said skewer with no fear tonight!!

larkim

Now that would be extreme! Actually, its a 29in "Big RR" so the wheel sizes would be an issue. But in the end, it was easy. Bike upside down in a stand, undid QR, slid it out (taking care not to lose the springs), slide on the bracket, replace QR and tighten up. Having always stayed clear of doing stuff around the rear axel before, I think I was imaging problems that weren't actually there!

Cheers!

Matt

The Rookie

Nothing much on a bike you need to be frightend of really!

larkim

You haven't seen what I've done to my kids brake cables over the years!!! :oops:

larkim

cyd190468 wrote:

Probably should make sure the QR is nice and firm as the bracket will introduce a bit more play and different forces. But I guess your probably not going to set any speed records while towing anyway.

Yup. Can't really see exceeding 10mph round the circuits at CenterParcs!! But yes, I've given it an exta bit of wellie when tightening up, and will be checking it regularly!

The Rookie

Ideal candidate for a Shimano QR, they are 'simply the best' in terms of clamping as the internal cam is a higher clamp ratio and also less prone top friction due to crud.