Deathmobile

For my upcoming build I'm planning to use some sort of security skewer for my wheels, seatpost, etc. and so while I was planning it out, I began to wonder about the hub preload. Since the QR won't be in place, will the replacement skewers still compress the axle, or should I tighten the cones a little more for proper preload and write off the compression?

Bonus question: what is the board's favored security skewer?

Thanks

fietsbob

Still have to hold the wheel in, and as you screw on the bolt thru the hub you are still stretching the skewer

and thus compressing the axle, you just are not doing it with an eccentric lever. the lever is the wrench.

fuzz2050

but is it enough to make a difference? I know many security skewers don't have enough clamping force for horizontal dropouts, maybe this means they don't have enough to significantly compress the axle.

davidad

With the wheel out of the frame put a nut on the non-drive side axle and put the quick release in and try it. Then if necessary readjust the bearings.

garage sale GT

Why not simply use an adjustment technique which tells you when it's tight enough?

I clamp a stack of washers on each end of my axle with the skewer so I could see how the axle feels with the skewer closed. If I clamp washers to the hub instead of clamping the hub in the bike, I can twirl the axle around in my fingers. If you just tighten the skewer onto the hub with the wheel out, you'll crush the springs and the clamping force won't be the same anyway. The washers are a simulated dropout which still let me twirl the axle in my fingertips.

Then when I remove the washers and put the wheel into the bike, I readjust the skewers so they start to clamp in the same place as before despite the slightly different thickness of my washer stack vs the bike's dropout. Therefore, the clamping winds up essentially the same.

You could leave the cone adjustment as it was, (assuming it wasn't too tight or so loose that you can't get any preload without stripping your security skewers,) then clamp a stack of washers to each end of the hub which are as thick or thicker than your dropout, by tightening the security skewer finger tight. Make sure to put a little oil, grease, or antiseize on the skewer threads. Then, take note of how much more you have to tighten the security skewers with an allen key before the hub bearings feel right.

Then, when you put the wheel in the bike, tighten the security skewer finger tight, then add the same amount of tightening with the allen key.

garage sale GT

Incidentally, why not just buy solid axles? Although, I guess with the proliferation of fixies, thieves are just as likely to have a 15mm wrench as they are to have allen wrenches.

BCRider

Where ever you heard or read that the source was wrong. A thread on security skewer is fully capable of generating as much or more tension in the skewer rod as a good Shimano QR style skewer. The threading is what makes it work so much easier. In fact even with that small wrench/key they give you it is quite easy to over do things.