smasha

i always ride with a set of hex tools, and i've been thinking about wheel theft... so hex-key bolt-on skewers to replace the QRs seemed like a good idea. i got a pair of these hex skewers and, due mostly to lack of sleep, tightened the front skewer and snapped the bolt! it took a few minutes to find the piece that went flying.

this makes me a bit shy of these types of skewers, but i'm still thinking about them. what i DO like about the QRs is that it's stupid-easy to get the tension right every time - if they're used correctly. but hex skewers... with a torque wrench (and sufficient sleep) it's easy to get them just right, but what about on the side of the road, on a dark and stormy night?

also, if i correctly understand the forces involved with a front disk brake caliper mounted behind the fork (as is standard design on current bikes?!?!?), the lawyer-lips are really holding the front wheel in place - the skewers just keep the axle from sliding past the lawyer-lips.

so... too tight, the bolt snaps, the wheel falls off. too loose, the skewer slides past the lawyer-lips, the wheel falls off. THIS is why i like standard QR skewers.

i guess what i'm really wondering... is there a way to always get the right torque on hex skewers without a torque wrench? maybe something like, turn until there's resistance, then one full turn and stop?

would it ever be feasible for something as small as a hex skewer to have a built-in clutch that slips when the correct torque is reached? or some other method to always get the correct torque?

FBinNY 

The key to hex skewer torque is to understand that they're basically like any 5x.8mm screw and cannot be torqued any more than their cousins.

smasha

@FBinNY - this would also apply to QR skewers, but they do have a built-in way to correctly adjust the torque (or, perhaps more precisely, the tension). that's the part i'm missing with hex skewers. after snapping one while half-asleep, it's hard to trust myself to do it by hand.

daveizdum

I've been using non-QR skewers for a long time. I can't imagine ever tightening them enough to break them. With vertical dropouts, skewers don't have to be very tight. Just get the wheel snug and let gravity do the rest. When you had QR skewers, were you cranking them overly tight? Some things, e.g., crank arm bolts, do have to be torqued pretty hard. Skewers only have to be tightened enough to take the play out of the hub and hold the wheel securely.

This is just my opinion based on personal experience. Others should feel free to correct me if there are situations which demand highly-tightened skewers in vertical dropouts.

waldowales

I have a trailer that hitches to the rear axle with a threaded rod that replaces the skewer. It has flats on the special nuts, to turn them. I wondered how tight they should be, so I put one of the nuts on a regular skewer, adjusted it like any other quick release, then turned the nut to get a feel for how tight it was. Now I just tighten the nuts so they feel about the same, and I've had no trouble with them being to loose or stripping. You might try that.