Skewers - Road

[ChrisMCoupe]

I know this isn't the most exciting of topics, but I need some skewers for my new wheels and wanted some opinions.

Now I'm not really fussed about saving a few grams on these, so they need not be titanium superlight, fancy colour etc, just up to the job of keeping the wheels fixed to the bike. Having done a little research, people seem to bang on about Shimano and Campag being the ones to go for, but the DA ones seem to be around £100 a set, which is a bit more than I planned.

Any recommendations welcome.

[rhinochopig]

KCNC. Beautifully made and very very light and well priced. Importantly they're brass bushed unlike a lot of skewers which use crappy plastic.

46 quid for the Ti version and much less than that for the steel versions - and not a lot in it weight wise.

http://clee-cycles.co.uk/esite/P965/product

[IroningMan]

I read a piece somewhere which explained why the side lever design that Shimano use is fundamentally better than the end lever used by Mavic and many others - blowed if I can find it, though.

[IroningMan]

It was Sheldon, of course.

On purely practical grounds I'd opt for Shimano skewers.

[rhinochopig]

IroningMan said:

It was Sheldon, of course.

On purely practical grounds I'd opt for Shimano skewers.

What he fails to discuss of coure is the issue of contamination in a closed skewer. If you get grit in them they are a pig - if not impossible - to clean. He's also talking about issues with those skewers that use a plastic bush, whereas the likes of Hope and KCNC use a self lubricating brass bush.

I've been mountain biking for 20 years and have never had a open skewer come undone so I don't agree with his argument. And as for them being harder to close. If you're that weak of hand then you really shouldn't be on bike.

Price wise a set of Dura-Ace skewers are 45 quid each and weigh in at 123g for the pair according weight weenies. The KCNC are 42 grams and 45 quid for the pair.

[IroningMan]

Isn't it heresy to dispute the wisdom of Sheldon Brown?

The KCNC ones look very nice, but they're twice the price of Planet-X skewers, which weigh more or less the same...

[ChrisMCoupe]

Thanks for the input chaps. I think I started this to basically convince myself to spend the extra and do for the Shimano ones. However why do most places either sell the DA ones, or the cheapest of the cheap ones. Are there no such thing as ultegra or 105 skewers?

[IroningMan]

Somewhere like CRC ought to have Ultegra - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Categories.aspx...

About halfway down the page for £12.99 apiece?

[SkinnyBoy]

I boughts me some Woodman Titanium precious ones recently, ultra lovely, brass bushed, titanium shafted to the tune of 60grams

Got them on eBay, I think they were 40 oz dollars so about 30 quid.

[rhinochopig]

IroningMan said:

Isn't it heresy to dispute the wisdom of Sheldon Brown?

The KCNC ones look very nice, but they're twice the price of Planet-X skewers, which weigh more or less the same...

Probably materil differences. The PX ones use a plastic bush and are probably 6000 series alloy whereas the KCNCs are brass and are 7075 which is a stronger alloy.

For comparison I have a set of A2Z Ti skewers which are a similar price and weight to the PX ones and the quality difference between the KCNC ones is night and day. Think of them as the Hong Kong Hope in terms of quality.

KCNC stuff is really really nice kit, for those not fussed about the badge. My road bike is fitted with their scandium stem which is 98g and cost me about 60 quid. You can pay double that for a carbon one and not get anywhere near that in weight terms. Same goes for their scandium bars: third the price of carbon and lighter too.

[IroningMan]

Just had a shufty - nice looking stuff.