QR Skewer Locked Position

Cee-Jay-Cee

A friend of mine was recently involved in a crash while racing (A2) where one of the Commissionaires cars was passing the lead bunch and blowing the horn to warn them (I suppose) which spooked the rider to his right who veered into him, the outside riders front QR took out every spoke in my mates front wheel causing him to crash heavily breaking 2 ribs, a groin strain, road rash along his upper leg and splitting open his helmet (so a nasty crash by all accounts)

I always close my QRs in line with the fork on the front and along the line of the chainstay on the rear. I have no need for them to be facing backwards for quick release as I will never be in that big of a rush to get a wheel off in any situation. In an A2 race, unless the rider is supported then a puncture will usually spell the end of the race so why the need to have your QRs in facing backwards?

This has always puzzled me, apart from looking cleaner having them in line with the fork/chainstay or seatstay puts them out of harms way and ensures they are not going to catch on anything.

Finnrocco

If your rear qr is facing backwards, another riders front wheel could go between it and the frame and knock it open.

I always put rear qr in the middle of the chain and rear stay angle.

Put front qr parallel to the fork but with enough gap that you can get your fingers in to open it.

As you say, if I ever needed to get a wheel change my race was over, so a few seconds longer changing the wheel would make no difference to me.

magicbastarder

Finnrocco wrote: »

I always put rear qr in the middle of the chain and rear stay angle.

Put front qr parallel to the fork but with enough gap that you can get your fingers in to open it.

i don't understand why anyone would deviate from the above.

Paul_Mc1988

Finnrocco wrote:

I always put rear qr in the middle of the chain and rear stay angle.

Best place for it. Sits a bit deeper in between them so no chance of it coming out. Front one I have pointing towards the rear of the bike for them precious aero gains.

AxleAddict

I don't race, but like you, I typically align my QR release with the forks/stays - I normally grip my hand around the fork/stay and QR release to aid me in closing it firmly - although I can see where having the release aligned with the fork/stay might slow things down a little as you squeeze your fingers in between the fork/stay and QR release to re-open it. I know of a few guys who do it for 'marginal gains' purposes - the thinking being that the QR release pointing backwards reduces drag (even if only marginally)

North of 32

magicbastarder wrote: »

i don't understand why anyone would deviate from the above.

For what it's worth, some say it's more aero to have the front QR horizontal towards the rear of the bike

Finnrocco

An experienced rider who won Ras stages told me to never face qr skewers backwards, so that was good enough for me.

Obviously in time trials you could get the aero benefits, but in bunch racing I would always take all precautions not to have a mechanical (including rigorously inspecting tyres before races for flints etc, making sure cages are holding bottles firmly, bolts are tight etc).

doozerie

For me the rear QR lever goes between chain and seat stays, as already suggested, by preference. That's not always possible though, one example being a bike with disc brakes, the caliper might be in the way between the stays.

In that case I opt for behind the seat stay if possible. This might not be an option if you have mudguard stays of a panner rack in the way, though obviously that's not a concern that arises for a race bike.

My last resort then is under the chain stay and in line with it. This is actually an excellent option for some skewers due to the design and shape of the lever, such as various Shimano ones where the lever angles in quite a bit when fully closed (though it's a design which can actually make it awkward or plain impractical to align between the stays on some frames), but it's less ideal with some skewer designs.

For the front I generally have the lever parallel with, and in front of (pointing upwards), the fork blade but even there that doesn't always work depending on the QR design (e.g. is the lever in line with the skewer e.g. Mavic composite skewers, or offset from it e.g. Shimano Ultegra/XT/otheres) and even the width and angle of the fork blade.

My primary aim though is always to avoid the lever being in a position that puts it at risk of being snagged and opened by the pedal/wheel/whatever of another rider. That aim generally results in a lever position which poses less risk to those around me too.

It's a risk that quite a few riders seem unaware of. Arguably worse still, some people seem unaware of the risk of a skewer not being fully closed even. On my commute I often see skewers where the lever isn't fully closed so it sticks out at an odd angle, which is a problem for so many reasons (I also sometimes see levers which are not closed at all, but where presumably they relied entirely on threading the open skewer as tightly as possible, in compete ignorance of how a QR lever works, and in the vain hope/expectation that this makes it tight enough). More worryingly I've seen bikes in races with skewers only partly closed.

It's also worth noting that not all skewers are created equal. Some designs are inherently "better" than others, by which I mean that some designs are far more reliable and consistent at applying locking force to the wheel over time. Over time I've replaced more and more of my skewers with either Mavic or Shimano ones because I find their design significantly better in this respect than any other skewers I've used.