BlazingPedals

They're both valid words; in fact they're homonyms. "Loosing" means to let loose, as in an arrow or a horse. That might apply if you purposely launched the front wheel.

Blackberry

[QUOTE=DnvrFox Oh, and that white line in the middle of the highway has to go[/QUOTE]
I always hated that white line.

serotta

Erroneous comparisons always make a point. Let's see, apples, duh oranges... yep, same fruit!

Let's just agree to the fact that we all have thoughts regarding these tabs, and it's a personal, not a legal issue.

I-Like-To-Bike

Good idea. Same restraint should be shown before someone wishes to post an over-the-top rant (i.e. Darwin and Organ Donor rhetoric) about those who have differing thoughts on bicycle helmets.

bobkat

In aviation, pretty well everything on a plane has a backup in case the first thing (or procedure) craps out. The "Belt and Suspenders" philosophy. Although I absolutely detest frivolous lawsuits, and although some "safety" devices are admidetlly a pain in the behind, I'd leave them on for exactly this "belt and suspenders" reason.
Actually, being a newbie biker I never knew those tabs were even there or what they do before I noticed it in this forum, but I suspect they might have saved me a wreck a year ago when I happened to notice the front wheel loose while loading my bike after a ride about a year ago. For the tiny inconvenience involved, I'd leave them on! Beats a head or neck injury or fracture, or even just leaving a skid mark of your hide on the road!

Louis

I think it says somewhere in the booklet supplied with my newest bike ('02) that removing the tabs will void the warranty. So far I've left them on for that reason. My other bikes are so old it becomes a moot point.

2manybikes

I was showing a young lady how to take off her front wheel on her new bike. I commented on the "Lawyers lips", and that you have to live with the inconvenience. She said both of her parents were lawyers. Oops !

mollusk

The biggest thing that I dislike about them is that I feel insulted that someone thought so little of my intelligence that they thought these were necessary.

CrossChain

It goes beyond merely their distrust of some cyclists' intelligence. They're more concerned with protecting their assets from lawsuit when you have enough smarts to contact a sharp lawyer. Personally, I think an adequate defense would be, "That dummy should have tightened his quick release."
Still, someone would protest that they did not know the function or how-to of said quick release.

Wonder if the same goes for brake levers?

edzo

I leave mine alone. I pondered removing them, but

1) they aren't really a hassle

2) QR's can pop loose sparring with riders on the road, or on the trail. tabs will ensure
front end won't drop your face to the floor if QR does happen to get released.

old99

Look at this from a different standpoint. Let's say you're building bicycles; who's your target buyer? By and far the largest purchasers of bicycles aren't responsible, 50 somethings who know to check the basics--like whether the wheels are on properly (if they remember to bring them ). The largest group of bicycle buyers are kids raised on video games and computers--not a real issue if the mouse wheel falls off--who have no mechanical skills whatsoever, nor do the majority take any responsibility for their actions. Unfortunately what these kids do have, as a rule, is parents who sue for any reason at all. And they think a bike manufacturer with all its insurance is a peach that should be picked. As a manufacturer, I'd do everything I could to CMA (that's CYA, but Mine in this case).

That all said, I leave them. Quick (as in QR) is relative. Have a flat, find the wrench, loosen the left nut, change hands with the wrench and loosen the right nut, find the left nut that fell in the dirt, blow out the threads, repair the tire, reinstall the wheel, tighten the left nut, change hands, tighten the right nut, change hands, check the left nut, change hands, check the right nut, wedge the wrench back into the pack...taking a couple of extra turns with the skewer is still quicker.

I-Like-To-Bike

Ya think responsible 50 somethings wouldn't be at their lawyer's office just as fast as those parents for exactly the same reason? - a product that failed catastrophically because the user treated it like any other typical bike. Selling a product to the general public with an intrinsically unsafe design for the casual user requires the safety countermeasure; Don't fool yourself. It isn't the lawyers, that made the wee-wee poor marketing decisions that put quick release wheels on bikes meant for the general public and casual cyclist.

rule

They work. Mine are staying. To each his own.

jwbnyc

Don't race.

Don't use quick releases.

Not an issue.

CrossChain

Unsafe design? I've been riding for over 20 years over the usual crumby roads and a few washboard trails and I have yet to have or hear locally of a QR popping open. Bolt on wheels are far more a pain in the butt than a few extra turns on the skewer to overcome the tab. I'll bet far more riders are hurt falling onto their top tube than from having a wheel come off due to QR problems-- perhaps partly due to the tab. Maybe general bike frame design is intrinsically flawed and we should all switch to mixte to guard the nards?

I-Like-To-Bike

So what do you think the lawyers (of lawyer lips) fame (and their clients) were making a fuss about? Perhaps you didn't read some of the earlier posts on this thread. Remember, bicycles are sold to people with whom you may not associate.

CrossChain

I-Like,
I don't think the design is unsafe...it is functional and seldom fails...if used properly. More people probably burn themselves on clothes irons, slam their fingers in car doors, etc....than smash to the pavement because a QR failed. In short, those pavement-smashers almost certainly failed to use this moronically simple device properly.

Should QR's be put on "non-serious" cyclist's bikes? That's a manufacturer's marketing and, in the real world, legal department's decision. If people forget to use a simple device--whether a car's door lock or a QR-- whose real fault is it? The tabs are a back up for fallible human nature....but QR's don't seem to be "intrinsically unsafe" because they require no special training or aptitude to use-- any more than a paring knife. Should the law really require others to protect us from our own intrinsic folly or lapse of attention?

There's plenty of chicanery, malfeasance, and indiffference in the commercial world-- but QR's don't seem to be it. The safety tabs are probably a good idea. Filing them and off and accepting any consequences is an individual's choice.

Anyway, the design and use of QR's doesn't seem to me to be flawed...whether they're appropriate for all cyclists is something else.

I-Like-To-Bike

We are in agreement on your bottom line analysis of the subject.

DnvrFox

I have seen a number of folks attempt to tighten up a QR simply by tightening it as you would a bolt, not being aware of the leverage aspect inherent in the lever itself. Of course, once they think they have it "tight" it is not possible to utilize the lever.

No one ever taught them, and it is NOT intuitive.

Monoborracho

From a mechanical standpoint, the QR is actually safer than some kid or adult using a crescent wrench to tighten a 9/16" nut. The QR by its nature is a cam lock system.

I have been around two front wheel losses. Both were from non-QR systems.

I-Like-To-Bike

It's interesting that experienced cyclists who have no problem managing quick releases have so much trouble getting the wheel off a bike if it has "lawyer lips".

CrossChain

Who would have thought a a small bead of metal no bigger than a tick could have sparked such a discussion! Forget the lawyers, what does this say about our ability to generate much from little.

Dnvr, you probably have a point on people "expertly" screwing down the QR lever-- but what's a bike shop for?? Maybe it's just one more thing we should add to intermediate grade school curriculum!

Louis

Yes I've seen this too. I am amazed at the number of people who cannot grasp the concept of a QR.

Retro Grouch 

Aren't you at least a little bit afraid to admit such an act via a media that is being monitered by Homeland Security? You should be. Forget about the black helicopters. The ones that they're using today look kind of like big model airplanes but they're quiet and hard to see. Check outside your house right now and see if you can see one loitering around.

I don't tear the tags off of mattresses either.

DnvrFox

Only as long as the state assessment programs have a question or two about QR's and leverage. Otherwise, just forget it! If it is not tested, I didn't teach it! Not as long as they publish the scores by school, grade level, subject and, essentially, by teacher.