Bicycle Mechanics - Question about skewers

I recently had to put a new front fork on my bike and now I am having a minor problem. When I pop open the skewer and the brake spacer, the wheel will not come out on its on. With the old (original) fork, a slap to the tire and the wheel would fall out. Now I have to grab the nut on the right side and hold it while I unscrew the skewer about 3 turns. This means I have to use two hands which makes it real hard to hold the bike up. It appears that the tangs are somewhat concave. Is there a shortcut to make it easier to pop the wheel off, perhaps adding washers to the inside?

The forks now are made that way so if the skewer were to come loose the wheel wouldn't fall off. Sort of a safety feature. I wouldn't use washers. What I do is put my leg against the skewer lever while I unscrew the other side a few turns.

honestly I would rather have to spin the quick release around a few roations before my tire will come out. I know on mt. bike fork the design it that was, just incase your quick release does come undone on the trail, your front tire will not fall off while riding...
but to answer your question, I bet if you look at your new fork you will notice that where the skewers goes has either little raise "bumps" or a circle cut off where the quick release goes, so basically the fork is designed this way
why some practice you will be able to hold the bike up and undo the quick release w/o any trouble

You have what are referred to as "lawyer lips" on your new fork. You can file them down, but it might not look too god.

BTW, all forks are on the front. Calling it a "front fork" is redundant and unnecessary.

I've filed lawyer tabs off all my forks and my skewers are happy.......

Dremel works great on these!!! These are the most annoying, useless, devices they ever came up with.

For over 100 years of cycling we did OK without these.

Have you ever lost your front wheel? Guess not, or you would not call a savety device useless.

I've seen it once. The guy involved lost nine teeth, broke his lower jaw and could not eat or drink without a straw for four weeks.

It happens, and over the last 100 years more often than you think.

If there weren't 50 lawyers for every men, women, and children living in this country, these dumb-ass tabs wouldn't have existed in the first place! And that goes for most every little petty 'safety' device that's out there...

How did this guy lose his front wheel? Did he forget to close his quick release. If a bike shop forget, he would be a rich man now?

I'll bet he pulled his bike out of his car put the front wheel on and forgot to close the quick release lever. If you can not remember to do this simply act, hang you bike up and quit riding. If want to ride and accidentally forget to close the release, take responsibility for your mistake.

You get one STUPID person who does this, the lawyers get on it and $%^$ it up for everyone else.

One good thing about the guy whose front wheel came off, I'll bet he never forgets to close the quick release again!!!

Well, we're talking about The Netherlands here. If you take somebody to court here for such an accident you'll get 1000 to 1500 USD max.

Anyway, no clue why he lost the wheel. It just happened on a Sunday morning ride, some hours after the start. He takes good care of his bike, so who knows.

Cheers,
Timo

Yes, we're all experts until we forget to do something like do up the quick release nice and snugly after fixing a flat, or taking the bike out of the car.

Believe it or not, there are actually people out there who are beginners... and others who don't know why or how a quick release works. Come to think of it, they probably make up 80% of the population which rides bikes. That's a lot of STUPID persons!

I have seen (not once, not twice, but more than I care to remember) quick releases done up really tightly (and really loosely), but with the lever still in the "off" position. I had a hire bike returned with a tacoed wheel and badly bent suspension forks from this very problem (and before anyone starts pointing fault-finding little fingers at me... the hirer entirely admitted fault).

Yes, there are people out there who need protecting from themselves. Maybe even those who take to their lawyers lips with dremels -- remove the metal and reduce the strength of the drop-out. Great idea! And let's not worry about voiding any warranty you might have had on the forks.

If I remember rightly, lawyers lips in one form or another are right back in vogue at the moment on MTBs with some types of disc brake set-ups because they are so powerful and the geometry is so wrong that they are wrenching the QR and axle right out of the drop-outs. You have checked to see if your bike isn't one of those before getting out the dremel, haven't you?

FWIW

R

Originally posted by Rowan
[B
If I remember rightly, lawyers lips in one form or another are right back in vogue at the moment on MTBs with some types of disc brake set-ups because they are so powerful and the geometry is so wrong that they are wrenching the QR and axle right out of the drop-outs. You have checked to see if your bike isn't one of those before getting out the dremel, haven't you?

R [/B]
Now, that's a very good, valid point...

A friend of mine when I was a teenager had a loose front QR that came open just as he was going over a set of railroad tracks. The wheel departed from the fork and the results were not pretty. He wasn't wearing a helmet either and smacked headfirst onto the ground.

Occasionally I will see people riding with the QR fully open but the nut snugged down (presumably just by hand). This isn't a secure hold and I've been known to stop riders and educate them. Most seem grateful. Many of them are beginners who just don't know better. Either the bikeshop they bought their bikes from failed to instruct them on the proper use of QRs or they didn't get their bike from a shop or they just didn't pay attention. Or ***** happens and they just plain forgot.

A friend of mine when I was a teenager had a loose front QR that came open just as he was going over a set of railroad tracks.

Quick releases do not just come open on their own, they require an outside force.



If I remember rightly, lawyers lips in one form or another are right back in vogue at the moment on MTBs with some types of disc brake set-ups because they are so powerful and the geometry is so wrong that they are wrenching the QR and axle right out of the drop-outs. You have checked to see if your bike isn't one of those before getting out the dremel, haven't you?

If your brake torques off your quick release and axle because it is too powerful, that is out of your control. Obviously the disc brake people need some new technology to get it right.

How about this:
You are in your car and you get a flat. You fix the flat on your own but in your haste you forget to tighten down all of the lugnuts. A week later your tire comes off and you kill a cyclist along side of the road.

Is this your fault? Are you responsible or is it just an accident?

I agree most people should leave their laywer lips on. But if they annoy you then take them off. It does not weaken the fork. You also have to take the responsibility that comes with this decision.

This is just my not so humble opinion. If you have any doubts about anything you read in this forum please disregard all of the information and go to a bike shop!!!

I have seen people that angle the opening toward the front of the bike, if they fall or hit something it will pop it open, they dont notice and disaster stikes.

True, it is a lesson learned to many novice cyclists: never have the lever on the QR point forward. When riding in a pack it can easily be hit by the shoe of another cyclist or get entangled between the spokes in the rearwheel of the rider in front of you.