Weight Weenies

apologies if this has been discussed before, if it has please link me. I was speaking to my RBS mechanic and he said that my titanium skewers aren't tight enough. When he showed me how tight it should be, It was WAY tighter than what my alloy skewers get done up to. Can anyone tell me how tight I should do up my QRs?

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Are the clamping mechanisms different on the skewers?

Ti has more elasticity (stretch) than regular skewers. Ti is way stronger also. So you have to clamp very tightly with Ti because you still want your wheel held very firmly in the dropouts. I do my Ti skewers as tight as my hand will allow.

yourdaguy wrote:Ti has more elasticity (stretch) than regular skewers. Ti is way stronger also. So you have to clamp very tightly with Ti because you still want your wheel held very firmly in the dropouts. I do my Ti skewers as tight as my hand will allow.

Ti has ~60% of the elastic modulus of steel, so if the shafts are the same dimensions Ti will be 60% of the stiffness.

But what you want on a skewer is clamping force. So if the mechanism was also the same, then they would feel the same at closure... but you'd need to start the Ti one with tension earlier on the cam to achieve the same clamping force.

BTW, Ti is *not* stronger than steel used in skewers, but it's about as good.

You don't need to over-clamp Ti-skewers. A little, and I mean a LITTLE, tighter than steel skewers, but by no means full force that leaves an imprint on your palm.

What really matters is that everything is lined up properly, the grooves on the nuts lined up with the grooves in the frame from previous clamping, and the skewer handle sitting perfectly in the concave plastic bit, and the springs not fouling the outside of the dropouts.

DMF wrote:You don't need to over-clamp Ti-skewers. A little, and I mean a LITTLE, tighter than steel skewers, but by no means full force that leaves an imprint on your palm.

What really matters is that everything is lined up properly, the grooves on the nuts lined up with the grooves in the frame from previous clamping, and the skewer handle sitting perfectly in the concave plastic bit, and the springs not fouling the outside of the dropouts.

Agree with this -- overtightening the skewers could also put stress on the hub bearings. I keep mine just fairly snug.

The length of the skewer lever will also effect how tight it "feels" for the same clamping force.

On my Ebay Ti skewers I tighten them, perhaps just a touch tighter than I would otherwise.

When I first put them on I had read "Oh, you need to REALLY tighten them down". But after experimenting for ~two years, Ive yet to have anything shift on me when tightened down just snug.

How is with carbon fibre skewers then? Like Tune U20. carbon fibre, alu and ti-axles

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watch out for the end cap, its aluminium even you have a titanium rod. over tighten will damage the end cap tread. I damage my carbon ti end cap before.