Bicycle Mechanics - Rear Wheel Skewer Question

I have a Trek 7.3fx and recently bought a Kurt Kenetic trainer to keep some of my bike fitness over the winter. My wife would also like to use the trainer and her bike is presenting the problem I'm running into. She has a cheaper Nishiki bike from Dick's that doesn't have a quick release skewer in the rear wheel. I didn't notice this until after I picked up the skewer I needed for her bike to fit into the "cups" (or whatever the specific name is) on the trainer that holds the bike in place. I had assumed I could just take the rear wheel off, remove the bolts and use the QR skewer I had, but that's definitely not the case since the bolt that runs through the middle of the wheel appears to be attached to the hub/ball bearing in the center of the wheel. I can take a picture of what this looks like if it helps, but I'm assuming at this point that it is likely how all wheels with standard nuts work. My question is what do I need to do to get the QR skewer on her bike?

Side note/rant: What kind of bike still comes with non-QR wheels? I have Diamondback that I bought at Dick's almost 15 years ago that has QR wheels on the front and back. And why would they put a QR wheel on the front and a non-QR on the back?

The axle on a quick release hub is hollow and the skewer goes all the way through it. A nutted hub has a solid axle (i.e. the "bolt that runs through the middle of the wheel" as you described it) and the only way to fit a quick release is to replace the entire nutted axle with a hollow one. You can get replacement axles at almost any bike shop and it's a reasonably easy change. However, I recommend you let the bike shop do it and get a cost estimate first. Another possibility is to get a replacement qr rear wheel but that's probably even more expensive.

What kind of bike comes with non-QR wheels? Cheap ones and some track and fixed gear bikes. I expect your wife's bike is in the former catagory.

you should just be able to use the nutted axle in the trainer. The only reason they provide their own skewer is because the axle clamps will chew up any aluminum or plastic parts and because the open cam type skewers can pop out of the clamps due to the lever position.

What kind of bike comes with non-QR wheels? Cheap ones and some track and fixed gear bikes. I expect your wife's bike is in the former catagory.

It is definitely a cheap bike. I guess I was more surprised with the level of cheapness since it wasn't a WalMart or Target bike, but then again pricepoint-wise it wasn't all that much different than some of their "higher-end bikes" so I supposed I shouldn't be too surprised.


you should just be able to use the nutted axle in the trainer. The only reason they provide their own skewer is because the axle clamps will chew up any aluminum or plastic parts and because the open cam type skewers can pop out of the clamps due to the lever position.

I had thought about that, but I thought maybe it'd sit funny in the trainer since it's not round. I wonder if this would void any part of the warranty on the trainer though. Seeing as how its brand new I'd be hesitant to do anything out of the norm at this point. Thanks for pointing this out though; I'll definitely look into further.

I've run my trainer with nutted axles and it wasn't a problem. At least on mine, the cups ended up clamping onto the frame with the nutted axle keeping the bike from dropping down.

As for QR in front and non-QR. That was more common years ago when horizontal drop outs were the norm. Allowed the rear to be tightened so it wouldn't slip and the front wheel (the one more likely to be removed when transporting) to be taken off without tools. Not so common any more. on the positive side, if it is a freewheel-equipped bike, you're less likely to snap a rear axle.