Originally Posted by
Garthr
It would be helpful friday1970 if you had photos or at least told us what skewer you are using. I had an issue of my rear wheel slipping on a steel bike and finally realized the Performance brand external cam alloy/steel skewer was insufficient to hold the wheel in place. So I bought a lower end non-group specific all steel Shimano internal cam model from ebay(with the recessed nut for the lever), for a steel on steel clamp sandwich. Not one budge of the wheel since.
I don't think it necessarily be all steel though as I also have some alloy/steel Shimano levers on another steel frame that don't slip either. I've also used vintage Campy and Suntour steel QR's on these frames and they all hold w/o ever moving. So three cheers for internal cams
+1 The two big factors for clamping force are 1) a steel shaft and 2) an internal cam design with a modern cam shape.
Steel shaft because it has the highest modulus of elasticity of any usable metal. Twice that of aluminum and half again that of titanium. It stretches less. Stretch is the shaft relaxing and losing tension.
Internal cam design is simply better than external. Much more clamping force. You want to use a skewer made by a major manufacturer after the late '80s or so (I don't know when the change happened) and the cam shape was reworked to provide more clamping and a better lock when shut. I believe Shimano was on the leading edge here. In any case, any modern Shimano has the new cam. And all the Shimanos, of any price, have good construction and do the work of securing wheels very well.
So, el-cheapo Shimanos rule. You cannot get better, just lighter, sexier and lower bank balance. Go to your bike shop and ask for a $12 Shimanos of the correct length.
Skewers I use: Cheap Shimanos on my city bikes. Various on my 126 OLD 7-speeds. All internal, all steel skewered and probably the new cams but I don't really know. My primary 7-speed is getting re-vamped now so it will probably roll on with the new cam. Higher end Chorus and Ultegra on my best bikes. Early '00s, steel skewers and the new cams. All but one of my bikes is horizontally dropped. I'm not massively strong, nor do I have strong hands. I don't kill myself closing the QRs. Rear wheels only slip if I forget that the wheel is only in tight enough to not fall out. (I was working on the bike and needed to put it away to free the stand for another, say.)