Loadingā¦
10
Vent: People keep overtightening quick release skewers like they're lug nuts
I had a guy bring in a bike last week where the front wheel wouldn't spin because he cranked the QR so hard it bent the dropout... he said he wanted to make sure it was safe. How do you tell someone that squeezing the lever closed should only take enough force to leave a light imprint on your palm without sounding like a jerk?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
wren3074mo ago
Okay but hold on, is it really that bad if people crank them down? I mean think about it, a quick release is the only thing keeping your wheel on. If it pops open going forty miles an hour downhill you're eating pavement. Bending a dropout is dumb sure, but I'd rather have a slightly bent frame than a missing front tooth. The whole palm imprint thing is just some old mechanic's rule of thumb too, like how are you supposed to measure that anyway? People overtighten because they don't want their wheel falling off, and honestly that fear makes some sense.
1
evan_morgan814mo ago
The fear is definitely real but the logic doesn't hold up. A properly tightened QR with the lever in the right position won't pop open no matter what you hit. The problem is people crank them so hard the cam mechanism can't even close right anymore so the wheel actually sits looser than if you just did it normal. Bending a dropout might save your teeth that one time but then you've got a frame that's compromised forever and the wheel alignment goes to crap. A new fork or frame costs way more than fixing a couple teeth and you can always replace teeth.
2