sheldon brown recommended steel enclosed-cam skewers, completely old school

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Quick Release skewers come in two distinct types: Enclosed cam and Exposed cam designs.
Enclosed cam:Internal Cam Skewer

The original type of quick release skewer, invented by Tullio Campagnolo features a steel cam, surrounded by a solid metal body. The body is the part that moves back and forth as you flip the lever, usually has teeth to press against the left dropout.

The cam is well shielded against contamination, can be lubricated by applying a couple of drops of oil every couple of years.
Exposed cam:External Cam Skewer

Sometime in the '80s, a variant type of skewer was introduced, one that is less expensive to manufacture, and is sometimes a bit lighter. This type uses a split external cam that straddles the end of the skewer. External cam skewers use a curved plastic washer between the cam and the toothed metal washer that presses against the dropout.

This type was originally marketed as an "upgrade" because they 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 can not be kept as clean and well lubricated as the shielded one can.

In addition, the exposed cam is 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.


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