QR for fixie

pottssteve

Hi,

I want to get a QR for my lovely Fuji Feather fixie/single speed's front wheel. The bike has vertical dropouts. This will allow me to take the wheel off, which is a requirement of transport for bikes on trains here in Hong Kong, with less fuss.

I would be grateful if anyone could offer advice as to the best kind to buy. I have read that an enclosed cam skewer is preferable to an external cam - does this matter on a front wheel?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

ddraver

The one in the bottom of your tool box mate...

After that, the one that you think da mandem will fink mos' pimpin' dog

pottssteve

ddraver wrote:

The one in the bottom of your tool box mate...

After that, the one that you think da mandem will fink mos' pimpin' dog

Pimping is very important to me. The bike looks like this:



So I need to get the quick release just right.

mercia_man

Doesn’t really matter so much for front wheel. Although an internal metal cam QR by Shimano or Campag will work better and clamp much more securely than the exposed plastic cam versions marketed as a lightweight “upgrade”. Their failings are exposed if you try to use them with horizontal dropouts on the rear wheel like I have on my classic steel tourer. The wheel will pull to one side. Personally, I’d prefer a proper enclosed QR on front as well for safety reasons.

pottssteve

Mercia Man wrote:

Doesn’t really matter so much for front wheel. Although an internal metal cam QR by Shimano or Campag will work better and clamp much more securely than the exposed plastic cam versions marketed as a lightweight “upgrade”. Their failings are exposed if you try to use them with horizontal dropouts on the rear wheel like I have on my classic steel tourer. The wheel will pull to one side. Personally, I’d prefer a proper enclosed QR on front as well for safety reasons.

Thanks. I would only use one for the front wheel but I did think that the enclosed would be better. I might have difficulty sourcing one in HK - is a training wheel QR the same thing, as I can probably get one of those?

Thanks,
Steve

imposter2.0

If your current front wheel has track nuts, then it is very unlikely that you will simply be able to just replace these with a QR, even if the axle is hollow. Using a QR is probably only going to work on a front hub designed for a QR fitment. So you may need to use a different (ie a road) front wheel.

mercia_man

Imposter is right. Not sure what sort of hub you have but you can’t fit QR skewer if it has a solid axle. If you do have a suitable hollow axle hub, you can get a good Shimano QR from any cycle shop. For example, Wiggle and Chain Reaction are selling Ultegra 6800 front wheel skewers for around £16. Otherwise you may have to carry an axle nut spanner with you or buy a new wheel.

imposter2.0

If you want to keep your front wheel as is, then the only viable option is probably going to be something like wingnuts or similar..

mercia_man

I’ve just looked up the Fuji Feather Fixie on Evans Cycles website. In Q&A section they confirm it has track hubs with nuts and you can’t fit QR skewers.

Darius_Jedburgh

Why are there no valves on your wheels?
Are you riding solid tyres?

pottssteve

Thank you to everyone for your advice. Technical stuff is not my speciality, which is probably obvious....
I did think it was all looking too easy! I guess I need to look for suitable wingnuts now to save carrying a spanner.

Franco - mine has inner tubes with valves, I think they have been photoshopped out of the photo for aesthetic purposes.

Off to look for wing nuts!

Steve

amrushton

bear in mind you wont get the same torque from wingnuts as you do a spanner and this is the opportunity to purchase a lovely spanner from eg Velosolo (other brands available). It's suitable for back wheels (15mm nut) as well!

https://www.velosolo.co.uk/shoptool.html