Can this conversion be done easily? I would like to pick up an old 10/12 speed at a yard sale for my teenage son to ride occasionally, but I want the convenience of the QR for maintenance purposes.

What advise can you give me?

Your best bet is to find an old wheel with a quick release. Otherwise, you will have to rebuild the wheel with a new hub, and that is probably not worth the trouble.

There is not much advantage to having a quick release on the rear wheel because it is so rarely removed. Unless you are finding a great need now, consider having him ride it "as is" for a while and determine how necessary a quick release is on the rear wheel.

You may be able to do this and keep the old internals of the hub. You need a thread pitch guage and a set of calipers that read in mm's. You can get both at a discount tool store pretty cheap. Anyway, get the thread pitch off your existing axle, get the dia. of the axle in mm's, and the length in mm's. Then go to www.loosescrews.com and see it they have a replacement axle for you that is hollow. (You may have to buy a complete new axle with cones if they don't so have as much info about the hub handy as possible.) Rebuild the hub with the new axle, making sure the spacers are all reinstalled correctly. Obviously you'll need to get a skewer too. Check Barnett's for the proper procedure for rebuilding and adjusting the hub cones.

Thanks guys! I don't know if I am going to try this or not. I'm going to have to think about it. I do appreciate the information!

Chances are an old 10/12 speed has a two prong freewheel. You will need a freewheel tool, a skewer, and an axle. the axle part is easy. Most LBC's should have those in stock. Just buy him a bike with Q/R and save yourself the hassle.

It can be done, match axle diameter and pitch to a QR axle. It is a lot easier to buy a wrench tho. I do this stuff all day and bolt on wheels are not a hassle.

Maybe you are right Rev, I just hate to carry the wrench when I ride. Then again, I won't be the one riding this one!

Carry a stubby wrench in a small saddle bag or velcro and strap it to your frame pump. Always on the bike and you never need to think about it.

I haven't messed with a bolt on wheel for a long, long time. Seems like I once had trouble with loosening/tightening unless I had two wrenches. Bear with me, I'm going back 35 years. Do I really need two wrenches?

Not most of the time.

Another alternative to this that is very simple is to replace the securing nuts on each side of the hub with cam devices that thread onto each side of the hub. This quick release conversion is fast, cheap, and easy. No need to replace or alter any hub parts nor components.

This one's even more of a zombie thread than a similar one that just popped up over in 50+.