Planet X carbon ti skewers- They reliable/safe?

forestnot1

As title suggests..

diamonddog

I have been using mine on one of my bikes for over 2 years now without problems.

forestnot1

Ok, was just wondering as they are so light!

diamonddog

It is the external cam type they use that some riders don't like some prefer the internal cam type skewers.

warrior4life

I've had three sets for years including cross bike and they're great. A sound reliable purchase.

mercia_man

If you use external cam skewers like Planet X on frames with vertical dropouts, rim brakes and lawyer lips on the forks, you should be OK, apart from possibly a bit of creaking. But they could be potentially insecure on frames with horizontal dropouts, plain forks or disc brakes.

The reason is they produce nowhere near as much clamping force as internal cam all metal skewers made by Shimano and Campag. Fitting them to replace standard Shimano skewers would be a downgrade in performance although you would save a few grams. If you want to be sure your wheels will stay put without moving or creaking, choose internal cam.

There's plenty on the internet explaining why external cam skewers are inferior and less secure, includng Sheldon Brown and, quite recently, a feature on Bike Radar by Angry Asian James Huang.

trailflow

I've had a pair. The plastic cam piece (which ideally should be metal) wore away and disintegrated after a season. They never felt all that secure either. They never came undone but i would not buy them again.

londoncommuter

I've not used mine yet but I notice they're £20 now whereas they were £15 a couple of weeks ago (£12 with the infamous staff discount). If you're not in a hurry and can convince yourself you're not going to die then it might be worth hanging on a couple of weeks.

veronese68

londoncommuter wrote:

I've not used mine yet but I notice they're £20 now whereas they were £15 a couple of weeks ago (£12 with the infamous staff discount). If you're not in a hurry and can convince yourself you're not going to die then it might be worth hanging on a couple of weeks.

I've got news for you, and it's all bad.

keezx

trailflow wrote:

I've had a pair. The plastic cam piece (which ideally should be metal) wore away and disintegrated after a season. They never felt all that secure either. They never came undone but i would not buy them again.

It's not only the cam that worries me .....
The modulus of elasticity (Youngs modulus) is only half of steel, what implicates that the cam must produce twice the amount of elongation for the same clamping force as a steel skewer.
I would never use Ti skewers to save a few grams.
I ride my Ti frame with confidence , but with steel skewers.

white91

Mine have been fine, I d never heard of a set coming undone either

keezx

Me neither but I heard a lot of complants about Creakings, clickings, tickings, clankings and knockings.

diamonddog

white91 wrote:

Mine have been fine, I d never heard of a set coming undone either

^^This

MisterMuncher

For general use, I'd always favour a closed cam skewer, Shimano or Campag for preference. If you want to save weight, bolt-on skewers are a more secure option than open cam, albiet with some added faff to release.

norvernrob

No funny noises from mine, they fasten up nice and tight too.

ex-pat scot

never any probs with mine. Bargain, whether at £20 or £12

warrior4life

No noise, no movement, rock solid. All three sets and I'm 85kg.

No difference in performance to any skewers I've very used including Shimano, Campag, SRAM, zipp and lost more... They're just much lighter.