FlashBazbo

You really ought to read the thread. But to catch you up on what's been said . . .


1. I did contact the manufacturer and they immediately shipped replacement skewers. They didn't need to inspect them.


2. The skewers are just a couple weeks old and have never been washed or rained on. Probably don't need oil yet.


3. The concave end on these is omni-directional. No alignment required. Much better than the old days.


4. THESE skewers clamped tight. Would anyone ride with skewers that don't initially clamp tight?

5. The skewers were included with a wheelset. I didn't have to spend big gobs of money on the skewers themselves. To go with steel, I would have had to go out and spend moderate gobs of money. I decided to stay with what I was given.
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Homebrew01

For some reason, bike manufacturers put the disk brakes on the "wrong" side of the fork, so braking forces are pushing the axle OUT of the dropouts.

If the brakes were mounted on the other side of the fork then disc braking would be safer as it would push the axle INTO the droputs.

As much as I dislike "lawyer lips" on fork tips, they are a safety mechanism with disk brakes.
(I ground them off my bikes, which only have rim brakes).

fietsbob

Yes the metal has inherent elasticity...




....

fietsbob

Some smaller frame builders like the German Tout Terrain , their fork dropout opening is towards the front,
rather than the bottom..

but they dont make race bikes..

the Thru axle forks are probably the way you should go for your new bike shopping..






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Cyclist0108

The Enve fork that I have is like that (picture posted in the thread I linked). Their newer version is thru-axle, which I think was probably the right thing to do.

joejack951

I guess I should feel lucky. I have ~25,000 miles on a quick release disc fork (Winwood) using an external cam skewer (American Classic). My wheel never once moved but I did take the time to remove the paint off the aluminum dropout faces for a better bite.

DSC02690 by joe jackson, on Flickr

Jiggle

With disc brakes, it's important to make the lawyer lips so thick that the skewer nut must be unscrewed to within half a turn of falling off to remove the wheel. This ensures that the nut and spring will fall off and parts go flying periodically so that the user will be behooved to inspect the condition of his skewers and keep them in tip top mechanical condition.

exmechanic89

I just bought a pair of the Ti version of these about 3 weeks ago and have been using them on one of my bikes, they work pretty well. Very tight. You wind them tight by hand, then the handle portion pulls away - it's spring loaded - so that you can point the lever in whatever direction you want it.

joejack951

I thought I must be missing something about those DT Swiss skewers but apparently not. I fail to see how they deliver any more mechanical advantage than a typical quick release. They do look nice but for the added hassle of using them, I don't see little appeal to the design.

exmechanic89

They do feel like they tighten down with a lot more force than the steel external cam releases I replaced them with, so there's that. And they do look great, imo. But.. I'm not sure what I think of them yet, I've only had them on the bike a few weeks. I bought them because I wanted a pair of Ti skewers and these came up fairly cheap on CL in NOS condition. New the Ti version is insanely expensive - around $160 for a pair I think - so no way I would've bought them at retail. I guess time will tell if I really like them or not.

danimal92sport

I've been using a similar version from DT Swiss since 2012 and they are easy to use and seem to clamp very tight, though I have no real way to compare the clamp force to cam lock skewers. I've never had an issue tightening them or loosening them, and I've never had a wheel slip in the drop out. I can't say they are better than the cam lock style, but they work and they look neat.

Dan

Homebrew01

You could trim them down a bit if they're that big.

Mark Manner

Hi, my experience with the DT Swiss skewers has been good. I have one bike that had a tendency to slip in the rear dropouts with normal skewers (both some fancy external cam ones and a campy internal cam). I tried the DT Swiss skewer and no more problem. I think that with the DT Swiss skewers it is easier for me to get good tightness every time consistently, whereas with the cam types there is a bit of fiddling to get it tight enough without getting it too tight. FWIW.
Mark

FlashBazbo

FOLLOW-UP ON ORIGINAL POST: I'm going to do something rarely ever done on the bike forums. In fact, I haven't checked, but it may be against the rules. Here goes:

I'm going to accept the blame on my ENVE skewers working themselves loose. It wasn't them. It was me.

What did I do wrong? I DIDN'T READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Now, admit it . . . have you EVER read the instructions that came with a set of skewers? I've seen them, but I can't remember ever reading them. During this episode, and only because of this episode, I watched several online videos about how to install / tighten skewers. The long-standing way to tighten skewers (and the only way I found online) was to tighten them until the lever meets resistance at the 45* point of closure (about halfway). If they didn't meet resistance until after that point, the knob end needed to be tightened. And if they met resistance before that point, they were too tight. So far as I know, that's still the standing instruction for most skewers.

But when ENVE sent my replacement skewers, they also sent a page of instructions. (They were probably included with my original set, too, but WHO READS THE INSTRUCTIONS ON SKEWERS???) The instructions for ENVE's skewers say to tighten them until getting them to 90* causes a distinct imprint in the palm of your hand. Then close them the rest of the way. And I found that, to get them that tight, the lever begins to meet resistance almost immediately from 0* closure.

I have installed my newly much tighter skewers, but I haven't ridden on them yet. But the difference in method makes sense. I discovered that the cams on open-cam skewers have shallower ramps than those for closed-cam skewers. It only makes sense then, to make them equally tight when closed, the open-cam skewers have to start out .5mm to 1mm tighter. Next time, I will read the instructions. Even on something as simple as a skewer!

joejack951

Interesting. This made me go look up how Shimano recommends their skewers be closed. They describe it here: https://si.shimano.com/php/download.p...005-00-ENG.pdf

To be honest, the last instruction I read/received on closing quick releases was when I bought my first MTB, approximately 25 years ago. I was told (of course I didn't actually READ something) to close the lever hard enough that it imprinted my hand. Since then, I've always just done it by feel. I've done quite a bit of wrenching on cars and bikes and have a good sense for when something is being forced too much. I tend to close my skewers just shy of what feels like too much pressure. For external cam skewers, that generally means having the lever open 90° and just barely tightening the nut by hand, then closing the lever. I use a little less for internal cam skewers, probably 60-75°.

Anyway, glad you got it sorted out without any loss of skin or limbs.

sumgy

Ti skewers.
That is all.

joejack951

By what mechanism do you propose they are loosening that is a fault of the titanium?

sumgy

That the titanium rods stretch and bend under normal use.
I have used many ti skewers and they have all done the same.
Went back to steel and no problems since.

dabac

For the same dimension and loads, Ti will stretch more than steel.

joejack951

So long as it doesn't deform, the same preload that was there at the start will still be there after the load is removed. Having used a pair of titanium skewers for years on my hardest ridden bike, I find it extremely implausible that the titanium shaft is the issue here (and as the OP reported, it was not).

FlashBazbo

I agree that it's not plausible that titanium is the "problem." I've ridden titanium Mavic skewers for years (and tens of thousands of miles) and never had a problem on a road bike. The difference between those Mavic skewers and these ENVE skewers was internal vs. external cam design. And I have to say . . . although both types of skewers work fine when used properly, I get a little more sense of security from the "over center" effect you get from an internal cam skewer. With internal cam designs, that final "clunk" as the lever closes gives me confidence that the skewer will stay set. The cam has a notch that keeps things closed. With external cam designs, you don't get that. It seems more of a stiction closure to me. Is the difference in confidence purely psychological? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's real.