I am currently really bored and tapering and was thinking about this during my swim the other day…what is the most “aero” position of the quick release wheel skewer? Both front and rear. Thanks for helping me during this madness.
I would expect it would depend on your skewer. There are several low-drag QR options out there. The Bontrager skewers, which I use, are aeroshaped on both the lever and endcap. I think they shave 10g of drag as compared with standard skewers…
I was thinking more along the lines of…front - placed along the fork line…or front - parallel to the ground…or rear - along chain stay (and parallel to ground)…rear - opposite chain stay parallel the ground…etc.
Did you consider taking a dump before you race?
Spin Stix… www.use1.com. They spin on and off (as opposed to a cam lever). So you can set the teardrop-shaped lever up dead level with the ground, and spin it off and back on pretty quickly in case of wheel/tire change.
Well, that would obviously depend on the skewer. The skewers I recommended, it is quite obvious how they should be oriented - parrallel to the ground - but I’m not saying that is universally fastest…
I reckon if you’re going for the aero effect at all costs, swept back has the least exposure… and that USE skewer has a wicked aero design… I have two pair I save for race day. But my shop days teach me that for safety reasons, putting the skewer levers “inside the frame” (that is, the front skewer pointing back and tucked behind the front fork and the rear skewer lever set between the chainstay and seatstay) is best. If you go down and the bike is flying around, it means less exposed pointy metal bits that can puncture your skin… chainring puncture scars would be bad enough.
I just use bolt on skewers. Nashbar sells them for $15 or something. Light, small FA, 100% secure, everyone carries a 5mm wrench, takes 10s to take them off. Hard to argue with that… I am sure the 30g weight savings and 0.0000001 m^2 savings nets me at least 30W at…er…500mph.