Bicycle Mechanics - Quick Release Tire + No Ridges = Bad Idea??

I have an old Bridgestone with a ridiculous kickstand that I never use. I want to take it off to make it lighter as well. Not that that's a huge problem. The problem that does exist though is the fact that the ridges to keep the nut from loosening is ON THE KICKSTAND. When I remove it, the metal underneath is smooth. If I wanted to remove the kickstand permanently and ride without it, how would I go about getting that ridged so a QR doesn't just slide right off? Am I worrying too much? Would it be ok w/o it? Thanks in advance folks.

-Ryan

If I understand you correctly your kickstand is sandwiched between your dropout and the nut of your QR? And the problem that you anticipate is that by removing your kickstand there will not be enough friction between the QR and the drop out and your wheel will come off unexpectedly?

As long as your QR skewer is snug I think you will be fine.

You have a kickstand which attaches to the dropouts somehow, rather than to a separate chainstay-mounted kickstand plate? Interesting. I would be curious to see a picture.

A QR mechanism will hold your rear axle in place just fine, with or without the help of 'ridges', and even with old horizontal dropouts. By all means, go ahead and remove your kickstand. Make sure your QR is tight... but, of course, you were doing that before, right?

You might be thinking of newer bikes with funny ridges ('lawyer lips') on the (usually front, sometimes rear) dropouts, which protect stupid people who don't put their QRs on tight enough. This is a silly design (it makes the QR less useful) unless you have front disc brakes, which can work their way free a wee bit at a time.

ALSO: make sure the axle isn't too long. It shouldn't stick out past the dropouts after you remove the kickstand; otherwise the skewer won't tighten against the dropout. If this is a problem (unlikely), you can shorten the axle slightly with a sharp hacksaw or grinder, leaving a locknut screwed on below the cut, and back the locknut off to smooth out the threads again.

The QR ends themselves should be in contact with the dropout directly once you remove the kickstand. The QR inner faces themselves should have small ridges, or on the inside of the dropout, the axle locknut should have a recessed round ridge, or better, a serrated ridge. As long as you clamp the QR tight enough, it should hold without issues. I've owned a whole bunch of Bridgestones from mid 1980's with horizontal dropouts, some with stamped dropouts (Bridgestone 500 and below pre 1990) and some with forged (e.g. older 600 and 700). I never had a pull-out from a properly tightened QR in the rear. (I have pulled out the rear and crashed but on an improperly tightened rear QR). All my hubs had at least the inside locknuts have a round ridge on them. And that seems to suffice. And I'm a pretty big clyde and used to do lots of hill climbing and honking out of the saddle and sprints.

Does he need an extra washer in there to make up for the distance provided by the kickstand?

Exactly. And thank you. I'll give it a test on a short ride then.

At the risk of condescending, you know how to tighten a QR properly, right? You adjust the nut on the other end so that you start to feel some resistance when you get the lever halfway closed. ;)

- Scott

When I was young there were no such things as lawyers lips. It just takes a few evolutionary throw backs to
forget about bike maintenance, get hurt, sue the company for not designing for stupidity and voila
everybody pays. Didn't one school just ban soccer balls from their field because a teacher got hurt by one.
If you keep your skewers locked in the same position you just have to look at them to know they are OK,
or heaven forbid bend down and check them.

Laywer lips giving you grief? I file them off. Problem solved. On the bike that is. Regarding lawyers, there is probably no hope.


Does he need an extra washer in there to make up for the distance provided by the kickstand?

No. Unless the skewer is way too long and bottoms out the threads. In that case, a shorter skewer would be called for. But a washer would work.

You have a kickstand which attaches to the dropouts somehow, rather than to a separate chainstay-mounted kickstand plate? Interesting. I would be curious to see a picture.



http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OaXNnHMfOro/Tq22Y79rVXI/AAAAAAAAIHk/mWNsku_PY44/s1600/2011-10-30+048.JPG
They are quite common here, but this is the only picture I could find. My wife's bike has one. Hers has a support which then cups the outside of the chainstay.

At the risk of condescending, you know how to tighten a QR properly, right? You adjust the nut on the other end so that you start to feel some resistance when you get the lever halfway closed. ;)

- Scott

To add (just in case) ... the lever "flips" open & closed, NOT turned like a screw. And it should take a bit of a "grunt" to open & close.