QR SkewR

Quick release skewers- Great for tool-free fitting your bike into the back of your two door's trunk, or easy flat fixin'. But with great convenience comes great responsibility (sorry, that was terrible). There's a right way (safety first!) and a number of wrong ways to use these babies. Using them the right way isn't rocket science, but they can be a little confusing, especially if they're new to you. If you only know and remember two things about quick release skewers let it be these two:

One! What the crap are those little tornado springs that fall off when you take the QR apart? Well...There are three parts to the QR skewer. 1). The skewer itself- A lever on one end, threaded for a nut on the other. 2). The nut- to go on the threaded end of the skewer. And 3). two tornado shaped springs.

The springs seem to be confusing to many folks. Their only job is to keep the QR centered inside the hub axle, to make installing the wheel easier (a QR can function just fine without them). If they aren't installed properly, they can make it difficult/impossible to get your wheel to line up in your bike's frame. The trick is the little end of the tornado has to be facing the center of the hub. Why? The big end covers up the end of the hub axle- which is the part that actually comes in contact with the frame, specifically the dropouts. If you cover up the end of the axle, it won't fully contact the dropouts and wonkiness occurs. Check it out:

Two! Most QR levers say "open" on one side and "closed" on the other. Look at your bike right now. If you can read "open" on the QR lever- don't ride that bike!

The lever is not designed to be used as a wingnut. You need to tighten the nut just enough to allow you to flip the lever to the "closed" side, with a little resistance. Take a look at this video (complete with sweet background jamz) if you'd like to see the QR in action.

Now you know.