quick release skewers

I have to buy new quick release skewers.
I don’t fully get why there are large differences in prices.
Are the expensive/shimano skewers noticeably better than regular ones? Is it worth it for an entry level road bike?

You’re just paying for brand name and potential marginal gains in weight. Having said that, there are some difficult to open QR’s but shouldnt be a big issue either way.

i understand thanks. You use QRs in a big city like taipei?

All my bikes have QR yeah, but they’re not bikes I leave outside :).

I hear good things about Shimano and DT Swiss quick releases. I personally use both of them and they are pretty simple to open and close. I think they should run you around 600-900NT a pair.

For reasonably priced QRs, the biggest thing to look for is internal vs external camming. Internal is what Shimano, Campy, etc use, and external is what all cheap, brightly anodized QRs use. There are some decent external QRs, but they tend be to expensive.

Just buy Shimano QRs. No need to get the high-end ones either, even the most basic ones are super solid.

Surely, a skewer is a skewer is a skewer.

I have Campag, Shimano, Pro-Lite and Mavic on existing bikes. They all hold the wheels in place.

The end.

I’ll bet my bottom dollar that you still favor your Campy skewers. :smiley:

I genuinely have no preference at all, except for keeping Campag (I do not recognise Campy :wink: ) with Campag hubs, Mavic with Mavic, etc… but that’s just my OCD.

Seriously, I cannot ever recall thinking “ooh, these skewers are better/worse than those skewers”. They open, they close. Simple.

Really? Pray tell. :stuck_out_tongue:

Source: Me

I have both. I like them. They open and close.

But what have you heard?

Come on. We need to know these things. :wink:

#skewergate

I heard from me, that I said…

ooooookaaaaay

Um, there are significant weight differences between many of these, so that could be an issue to bear in mind if that’s important to you…

rear skewers on my bikes range from some SR 1980 Japanese crap (actually Sansin brand a.k.a Sunshine, but merged later) at 103.4 g (all chromed steel), Campagnolo Record from 2000 at 68.2 g, (steel with alu caps), and a nice light Joytech made in Taiwan from Alu and Ti at 40.0 g.

so, saving 110 g on a wheelset by using different skewers does make sense, and it’s so easy.

Yes, i did just go and weigh them all right now. No, i do not have a logbook of weights of all my many bike parts. My name is not ColT

Eh?

I have no interest in what any of my bikes weigh, let alone skewers or any other parts.

Are you seriously suggesting that a weight saving of 110g on a bike/rider combined weight of - ooh, I dunno, let’s estimate - 83kg is significant? What’s that… 0.013%? Seriously?

Better than 0% :laughing:

LOL . he did bite.

No, i don’t really care that much. It depends… I do a lot of my riding on my 1983 steel frame Colnago and I still love it.

I ride my track bike to work, and that’s also from 1983, and heavy as fuck.

But when I climb all day I am glad of my lightweight TCR. with light wheels. with light skewers…

Yes, i know that 0.02% isn’t much, but when the weight weenie carries that logic through the whole bike they end up with a 50% lighter machine… and a much lighter wallet. So that adds up too!

_I recently came across a blog post on this subject by Mike Varley of Black Mountain Cycles.
http://blackmtncycles.com/quick-release/
The more expensive, heavier, Shimano-type skewers are stronger. They exert more clamping force. They are less likely to slide in a horizontal dropout, or fail catastrophically if overtight.
Not same same.
Go to Sheldon Brown’s website. See “Quick Release Mechanisms”
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/skewers.html
then scroll down to “Quick Release Choices” for an exhaustive discussion of this topic.

“This type was originally marketed as an “upgrade” because it could be made a little bit lighter.
Despite the marketing hype associated with these “boutique” skewers, they are actually considerably inferior in functionality to the traditional type. They are often seen under rather prestigious names, as was the one photographed here. (I Photoshopped the logo off, so as not to pick on one particular brand.)
The exposed cam cannot be kept as clean and well-lubricated as the shielded one can.
In addition, the exposed cam has a larger diameter, (typically 16 mm vs. 7 mm for an enclosed cam) so the friction is acting on a longer moment arm (the radius of the cam.)
The result is that the exposed-cam type provides very much less clamping force for a given amount of hand force on the lever.
Fortunately, the move toward “boutique” skewers happened after the industry had mostly moved to frames with vertical dropouts and forks with “lawyer lips.”
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.”

thankyou that is concise and comprehensive summary

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