I’m looking for a pair of coloured qr skewers. Any recommendations? Looked at Superstar and Hope, both of which get good reviews, also looked at KCNC and token.

Salsa

Yep, if it’s not Shimano, it should be salsa.

Salsa are good as mentioned above, they have a very positive cam action and feel nice in your hand when closing them up tight.

But I use a Chromag skewer on my rear wheel and on my seatpost (15mm front), bombproof construction, again a very positive cam action and very well built and once they’re closed – they’re staying closed.

Not impressed wi hope’s i ‘ve had in the past, now’t ever went wrong wi them but the cam action wasn’t the greatest and they were not comfortable to use

Either the Salsas or Chromag would make me feel safe n’ secure.

For UK riding its got to be a consealed cam design and that means Shimano. They come in a range of 2 colours, black and silver. No-one will ever notice your QRs once you are rolling along.

Looking for gold coloured. Don’t think Salsa do gold.. I have black Shimano skewers and too be honest if they are better/safer than the coloured skewers then I would probably keep the Shimanos.

Just fitted some Halo Hex bolt-ups on my SS and sitting here wondering why I’ve spent 30 quid’ish on hope and shimano qr kit in the past :-/…apparently they come in blingy colours if that tickles your fanny…

Shimano really are the best I’d say.

Hope.

My experience with the Salsa seat clamp was that once it was covered in filth it became hard to do up properly. I wouldn’t personally want them on my wheels.

Shimano (and most other internal cam skewers) may not be exciting but they are far and away the best at their job. And when the job is holding my wheels on, I think it’s a job worth doing well.

The wheel skewers from salsa run on nylon cams and are far more capable in the dirt than the seatpost clamp.

SHIMANO

The Chromag skewers and seatpost QRs really are lovely things. A bit more expensive, but quality items.

In my experience the Hope ones were pish in comparison to shimano. Look lovely, but the cam action is stiff and I had one come loose on a fast descent….. I’d be interested to try a salsa one but Shimano are flawless.

Never had an issue with Hope skewers in all sorts of conditions and on different bikes… you do need to occasionally lube the cam on them tho’ with a bit of dry lube, this helps them to shut nice and tight.

Google Sheldon Browns advice on skewers, and you’ll get a Shimano type one!! Having discovered an exposed cam qr skewer come undone at the bottom of a VERY fast descent, I agree with him!! In fact that descent made me sell my bike and get a 15mm maxle bike!!

sheldons advice

Crank bros splits.crc have got them cheap(or did)

Sparky – that CrankBros one is the one that came undone on me!! Stay well clear!!

never had a problem nearly a year on,but cheers for the heads up.

Shimano. Salsa are lovely on day one but don’t last well in my experience.

That said, I don’t use QRs at all, I use Halo Hex bolts- light, cheap and secure.

That Sheldon Brown article is interesting, as is the one he links to on Lawyer Lips, especially as I had the QR on my rear Rohloff hub come loose yesterday.
I think I’ll swap to hex skewers as I need a 5mm hex key for the Lefty on the front anyway.
Halo Hex skewers have got alloy serrations though, not steel inserts as Sheldon recommends.
Are there hex skewers with steel inserts available ? Or does it not make any difference with a titanium frame as the steel serrations don’t really bite in anyway ?

Halo Porkies 🙂

I think I’ll swap to hex skewers as I need a 5mm hex key for the Lefty on the front anyway.

I’d been thinking the same (well, hadley bolt axles), but given the articles linked to, how are hex skewers any better than a QR?

Pre-loaded bolts (or nuts) rotate loose, as soon as relative motion between the male and female threads takes place. This motion cancels the friction grip and originates an off torque which is proportional to the thread pitch and to the preload. The off torque rotates the screw loose, if the friction under the nut or bolt head bearing surface is overcome, by this torque.

For UK riding its got to be a consealed cam design

what about for riding in Europe – what’s the best cam design then?

Other option is the DT Swiss RWS skewers – they won’t come undone either.

I ditched my front Hope QR as it kept coming undone – rear one is OK but no interaction with the fork there.

Markie, I think it’s just that hex skewers can be done up tighter than QRs.
The female threaded part is identical. A 5mm hex key head provides more clamping force than a QR lever, which means the whole assembly never starts moving and working loose in the first place.

Markie, I think it’s just that hex skewers can be done up tighter than QRs.
The female threaded part is identical. A 5mm hex key head provides more clamping force than a QR lever, which means the whole assembly never starts moving and working loose in the first place.

Thanks, makes sense to me!

Markie – Member

given the articles linked to, how are hex skewers any better than a QR?

It’s because the articles are full of theoretical problems that don’t actually happen 😉

+1 for shimano ..

and hope !
really like the hopes, never had any issues with them..
and most important for me….no plastic parts ! (

Salsa! But then I’m biased. The titanium ones are very light, too. I have 3 sets on various bikes, one being 4 years old on my race bike. Anything that can survive 4 seasons of racing must be good.

Otherwise Shimano. Had nightmares with other brands and I just wouldn’t trust those super-thin, super light jobbies from KCNC and others – give me a bloody great lever to hold my wheels in any day.

GB