For my rim brake wheels, I have always had steel skewers. No issues.
Anyone have feedback, positive or negative, on the use of titanium skewers for standard QR wheels? Saves only a few grams, I know. But do they work ok, or is the stretch of the skewer rod (vs steel) a bit of a pain? Safety (of the front wheel especially) is of course a super high priority.
Thanks.
They are generally just fine and plenty strong. I used to have a set on a hardtail MTB and I’ve had a pair on my road tandems for 15+ years (I actually moved them to a new tandem when we upgraded). Can’t say I’ve noticed any problem with them ever, but I’ve rarely broken any bike part (with the exception of car accident/crash).
Think it depends how heavy / powerful you are. I had nothing but problems with Zipp, Xtralight and some other very expensive set I got with my Enves from Fairwheel Bikes. Couldn’t get them tight enough to stop the back wheel from shifting in sprints or the front wheel creaking (and making me think it was my BB). Summary: no benefit and many drawbacks.
Am not very heavy, I am a decent rider, but no way would I call myself a sprinter.
Good feedback, but, so far it is, 1 for, and 1 against …
I have had two different ones shift in a horizontal dropout QR bike. Steel only on that bike.
Fantastic on vertical dropouts and an easy way to save grams for not too much money.
My ex and a girl I currently ride with used ti skewers with no issue. Just another data point!
I have had two different ones shift in a horizontal dropout QR bike. Steel only on that bike. Fantastic on vertical dropouts and an easy way to save grams for not too much money.
Interesting, good to know as well.
This would be for an older rim-brake P3 with very short horizontal dropouts, but it has those tiny adjuster screws. So, tough call …
Anybody use ti skewers to good (or bad) effect on a P3 of 2012 vintage?
I have had two different ones shift in a horizontal dropout QR bike. Steel only on that bike. Fantastic on vertical dropouts and an easy way to save grams for not too much money.
Interesting, good to know as well.
This would be for an older rim-brake P3 with very short horizontal dropouts, but it has those tiny adjuster screws. So, tough call …
Anybody use ti skewers to good (or bad) effect on a P3 of 2012 vintage?
I use a pair of old Control Tech slow release ti skewers on my P2K, although I got them for the aero benefits rather than the weight savings. You should be fine on anything with vertical or rear facing dropouts.
As already noted elsewhere on the thread, most ti skewers will be just fine for most bikes with vertical dropouts, can be problematic with horizontal (or semi-horizontal) drops. I have had problems using them with vertical dropouts on a couple of occasions, most notably on a carbon cyclocross fork with poorly aligned dropouts that I made the mistake of removing the lawyer tabs from. During a race, the skewer “walked” itself loose and ejected the wheel, and I crashed. Assuming I must have neglected to tighten the skewer correctly, I replaced the wheel in the frame, tightened the hell out of it, and then proceeded to get lawn darted on the next lap when the failure recurred.
Personally, I will no longer use ti skewers on dropouts without lawyer tabs, and I won’t use forks that I haven’t personally checked alignment on if they don’t have tabs. YMMV.
Some powerful advice there. Damn, good thing you were going (relatively) slow on a CX bike on dirt and not screaming down a paved hill on a road bike.
Warning heeded.
Thanks to all for the input.
Greg at dsw
What’s a lawyer’s tab?
Given other’s feedback and your use scenario, it seems like steel is the right choice. I do wonder if the different experiences aren’t just about use case (horizontal) and material of skewer, but also design/material of nut/cam/washer which might differ by brand. Both sets I have used were Salsa Flip-Offs, although looking now, it appears the Ti ones have been discontinued (likely the decline in MTB QR use due to through axles). They do have the standard Salsa lever/cam/nut/washers so that might have provided enough bite to work.
All that being said, it’s some apparent risk and only a few grams different. I wouldn’t.
What’s a lawyer’s tab?
The little nubs on the end of the dropout tips that make you unscrew the quick release after you release it. They were put there because people didn’t know how to operate a QR correctly.
I used the Zipp titanium aero skewers on a 2012 P3 with no issues.
Skewers aren’t the place to save weight. They will never be as strong or do the job as well as a good steel skewer. I bent my front it skewer. I had the rear to skewer on mt hardal MTb for a while, combined with a light hub I used to get a weird wobble under hard efforts. Figured out the hub was under built when the freehub exploded. Replaced freehub, wobble came back. Replaced skewer with solid steel and wobble is much reduced.
You might ‘get away’ with it skewers if you use a really solid and well designed fork and rear end. If it’s less than perfect, bad things can happen. Simply not the place to try to save weight or get away with anything. Cost of failure is too big.
I used the Zipp titanium aero skewers on a 2012 P3 with no issues.
X2
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I have Zipp Aero-style Ti skewers and KCNC ti skewers.
Both work with no issues, though the Zipp “seems” a bit easier to clamp down and release the rod.
Edited to add: I’m 165 lbs and max out around 1400w and haven’t had issues, but this is on road bikes with vertical dropouts.
I used the Zipp titanium aero skewers on a 2012 P3 with no issues.
Good to know, as this will be a P3 race bike.
It sure is interesting to see the wide range of success and failure with titanium skewers. Even zipp ti aero QR skewers seem to do fine with some riders and not so fine with others.
Is it all based on the bike, or more based on the size of the rider, or … ? In any case, it is all good to learn.
I used the Zipp titanium aero skewers on a 2012 P3 with no issues.
Good to know, as this will be a P3 race bike.
It sure is interesting to see the wide range of success and failure with titanium skewers. Even zipp ti aero QR skewers seem to do fine with some riders and not so fine with others.
Is it all based on the bike, or more based on the size of the rider, or … ? In any case, it is all good to learn.
Actually, if this is a race bike, ever considered the TriRig Styx aero bolt on skewers?
My road bike normally wears a pair of Dura Ace skewers. Compared to external cam skewers, it is so easy to close the DAs and get adequate clamping force, plus they look really classy. I could easily save 50g on a pair of skewers, but even on a race bike, 50g isn’t a gain worth sacrificing function for. But the Styx skewers are really light plus I would guess they’d save you 2W or higher at race speeds. I actually have those for my race wheels on my road bike.
I’ve had no issues with steel or titanium ever. Wheels stay on and I feel faster because of a strong placebo. Works every time.