Weight Weenies

I know I might get my WW card revoked for saying this, but I no longer ride ti skewers - I want my wheels as stiff as possible, and I want my wheels clamped down as securely as possible. So all I use now are DT Swiss RWS skewers - steel with aluminum lever. Front weighs 51g and rear comes in at 55g. Nothing clamps as strongly as these suckers.

I'm using Tune Dc-14's and love them. I'm 200 lbs, ride out of the saddle often, and am on non-stop large hills here in VT. The only issue I have is that I need to make sure the rear wheel is tight in the drop-out before every ride. On a couple rare occasions, the rear wheel has shifted ever so slightly - just enough for me to notice a decrease in shifting crispness. But checking the QR before every ride is no big deal to me. I feel no real flex; and certainly I'm not having the wheels rub the brakes at any point in time. Unlike other super lightweight QR's which you may have to be careful with the amount of force you clamp down with - Tune states in the instructions that you may clamp down as hard as your heart desires - and that the skewer can take it..!

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I've found a happy "middle ground" with Tune AC14 skewers. At 48g you're only taking a tiny 15g hit over the DC14s but gaining an internal cam clamping mechanism (like Shimano/Campy) which holds the wheels in very securely. I am 220lb and race and train on these with no issues.

IME the internal clamping mechanism is much more reliable and consistent than the external mechanism of the POP or tune DC14. I broke a POP external clamp trying to get decent clamping force. No issues with the AC14, over 10000km trouble free. The wheels never move no matter how hard I ride/corner. As VTBike indicates, I too noticed the rear wheel could move slightly sometimes when using external mechanism shewers. With the AC14s, the clamping force is maintained until you release it. I have checked many times and there is no loss of force with use.

Even at my weight I have had no issues for the last 5 years using skewers as light as 48 grams for the pair. They are perhaps a bit more fussy in use. These days I mostly just use the Campy skewers, my average speed has not gone down BTW

So are people complaining about the cam design of lightweight skewers causing the rear wheel to move relative to the dropout under load or flex in the ti axle causing the wheel to move relative to the dropout under load?

Campy skewers for me too. I like a solid connection in that spot.

I've run most decent QRs. never had any problems.

I currently have a pair of mt zoom ti and a pair of kcnc ti on road and MTb and had no problems at all. If the QR doesn't have a cam, then you need to tighten them up a little more.

Really quite supprised there is some much negative about light QR, unless in general either I always do my QRs up too tight, or those that have experienced problems have in general not been doing theirs up enough.....

I wanted to order some titanium ENVE skewers (steel is not available), but after reading something about titanium rods stretching very easily and external cam skewers not clamping as good as internal ones.. are 'fancy' skewers worth it? or should i just check my lbs for some Shimano skewers which have always worked fine. Zipp (steel) skewers are easily available as well but are external.

Couldn't find any threat regarding this.

Depends on your needs. And on the skewers. I have used both internal and external cam skewers that did not work very well. But the external cam design tends to make skewers that don't clamp as well as internal cam.

I've not noticed any of my Ti skewers stretching.

I've had good luck with Kcnc Ti external cam skewers. But the levers on those are short so you need to keep that in mind and really crank them down. I've also had some Chinese external cam Ti skewers work well... and some not so well.

But if it's not a WW bike, Dura Ace skewers are the gold standard. Heavier than the WW skewers but they do clamp well.

i have Enve skewers on both bikes with no noticeable stretching on titanium rods. besides, i take my wheel off and on all the time and readjust tightness then, so no issues.

refthimos wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 21, 2012 1:32 am

I know I might get my WW card revoked for saying this, but I no longer ride ti skewers - I want my wheels as stiff as possible, and I want my wheels clamped down as securely as possible. So all I use now are DT Swiss RWS skewers - steel with aluminum lever. Front weighs 51g and rear comes in at 55g. Nothing clamps as strongly as these suckers.

Second this.
I tried multiple QRs: Reynolds, Zipp steel/titan, Vision, DA 9000, Mavic steel, Cannondale Hollowgram and bunch of others;
they all don't come even close to sequrity and ease if use of RWS.
They just work, never came loose, never creak, always easy to center (no need to adjust brakes). And if you climb a lot you'll feel difference in stiffness. The ultimate axle for road bike with traditional dropouts, rim or disc.
Weight was dead on 100g so much lighter than DA also.

refthimos wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 21, 2012 1:32 am

I know I might get my WW card revoked for saying this, but I no longer ride ti skewers - I want my wheels as stiff as possible, and I want my wheels clamped down as securely as possible. So all I use now are DT Swiss RWS skewers - steel with aluminum lever. Front weighs 51g and rear comes in at 55g. Nothing clamps as strongly as these suckers.

Second this.
I tried multiple QRs: Reynolds, Zipp steel/titan, Vision, DA 9000, Mavic steel, Cannondale Hollowgram and bunch of others;
they all don't come even close to sequrity and ease if use of RWS.
They just work, never came loose, never creak, always easy to center (no need to adjust brakes). And if you climb a lot you'll feel difference in stiffness. The ultimate axle for road bike with traditional dropouts, rim or disc.
Weight was dead on 100g so much lighter than DA also.

This thread brought back from the dead got my attention. I put on some heavy steel internal cam skewers, I felt zero difference. Put my generic Farsports ti skewers back on.

charirider wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:04 am

refthimos wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 21, 2012 1:32 am

I know I might get my WW card revoked for saying this, but I no longer ride ti skewers - I want my wheels as stiff as possible, and I want my wheels clamped down as securely as possible. So all I use now are DT Swiss RWS skewers - steel with aluminum lever. Front weighs 51g and rear comes in at 55g. Nothing clamps as strongly as these suckers.

Second this.
I tried multiple QRs: Reynolds, Zipp steel/titan, Vision, DA 9000, Mavic steel, Cannondale Hollowgram and bunch of others;
they all don't come even close to sequrity and ease if use of RWS.
They just work, never came loose, never creak, always easy to center (no need to adjust brakes). And if you climb a lot you'll feel difference in stiffness. The ultimate axle for road bike with traditional dropouts, rim or disc.
Weight was dead on 100g so much lighter than DA also.

Then again there's the ti version of RWS, at *2 the price. Do you think you could tell them apart (Steel VS Ti RWS) in a blind test?

No, I can't. It is 10g weight difference, though... for double the price I'll be ok with steel ones;)

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