Installed recently the RS100 on my CAAD8 2015. Normally i tuck the qr lever arm between the chainstay and seatstay. But with these wheels, the qr lever arm touches a bit on the chainstay. So i positioned it under and parallel to the chainstay facing forward. Is this safe? Can i just use the qr lever on the stock Maddux wheels instead?

This is what it looks like when positioned between chainstay and seatstay. Is this safe for the frame? Can you add a spacer here?

If you ride the bike on trails where a branch might snag the lever, it maybe should point rear-ward. On the road, probably not so much.
It's a nice-looking set-up (the lever pointing forward).

I haven’t tried riding it with shoes on. I hope the left shoe won’t hit the lever arm. Using blue cleats.

That's extremely unlikely. You'd probably have to un-clip to do it.

The first pic shows the lever position that I have used since Nixon was president. I don't like the pointing rearward or between the stays locations. But I really dislike it when the lever can't be filly closed, like the last pic shows. As to other skewers having different shapes that might work better where you like the lever to end up at I can't say without trying them. Andy

It is fully closed though. But touches the frame by a bit, tried putting tissue paper in between and it won’t go in. But you are right, it has to be fully closed to be safe.

It’s fine parallel to the chainstay.

There’s a one in ten trillion chance you’ll catch something to open the lever. If a branch ever did get caught it would break before exerting enough lateral force (how??) to open the lever.

I have a near absolute rule about QR lever position. I (almost) NEVER close the lever along a tube. It has nothing to do with the tube itself. It's about leaving room to comfortably reach behind the lever and yank it open when it's properly tight.

Get a flat on a cold rainy night and you'll adopt the same rule.

On most bikes I orient the rear lever into thr gap between the two stays. It's nicely tucked out of harm's way, yet easily grabbed when I want to.

Why would anyone want to ride in such conditions? It’s like going to the beach and dumping a shovel full of wet sand into your bathing suit.

you could probably file down the interfering area on the lever. Touch it up with some OTS nail polish.

I've been a long ride road cyclist for over 50 years (since 1966).

Long rides by definition means all weather. Add in year round commuting and I probably have over 10,000 wet miles enjoyed in short intervals and 100+ mile rides.

FWIW I do try to avoid wet riding in beach areas, but I'm always ready to take whatever comes my way.

Have at it! I don’t commute but when I did it was only during nice weather. I’m not a glutton for punishment.

Of course, much of my earlier riding was in SoCal.

Oh… and you’ve been riding since my birth year. More power to you!

Wow. I tip my hat off to you, sir. I enjoy talking with the older cyclists and bike mechanics here in my area or when out on a ride. You always learn something from their wealth of experience.

For a road bike it's really not that important which way the lever is as long as it can be fully closed and doesn't interfere with anything. Not worth pondering too much unless as FBinNY pointed out it is just easier for you to use in a certain position. For the OP if the lever is touching/nearly touching the frame in the between-the-stays position it's hard to know if it's fully closed and over time will probably wear off some of the paint.

Yep lever is fully closed. I found someone who has a CAAD13 with RS100 wheels, he said his rear wheel’s quick release lever is also positioned like mine and he’s been riding it like that without any issue.

I dunno... that might give people the impression you ride so fast the wind turns the lever around!

FWIW, the Dura Ace 9000 quick release lettering is printed to be legible in the chainstay-parallel position. The lettering would be upside down if closed facing rearward.

I like this position a lot. First off - it's not backwards... that would be a cringe. Second, if it's too close to the chainstay it can be hard to get your fingers in there to open it up. Where this one shows, it's tucked away nicely, reads from the top, and easy to open. Between the stays is ideal, but this is a reasonable accommodation to your predicament.

Skewer parking position is sort of graduate-level OCD... not quite as elementary as tire label position.

Heh... I doubt anyone would have trouble figuring out how to operate it under those circumstances.
I was joking anyway!

Still, the lettering would still look silly being upside down!

No one would notice at the speed I ride!

I love how securely Shimano QR levers close (I have the Ultegra 6800 version) but the offset lever arm is difficult to position in its fully closed position. I had the lever arm adjacent to and almost touching (rather than under) the left chain stay, but as FBinNY said that makes it really difficult to open. So when the Enve ones went on sale I upgraded; nice weight savings too.

ENVE Titanium Skewer Set [100-0012-004] at BikeTiresDirect

These internal cam QR skewers are supposed to be made by / in collaboration with Mavic. The internal cam mechanism feels the same as the QR skewers which came with my Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels.

Good point!

Yes, they're passing me so fast they wouldn't have time to pay attention to stuff like that!