# Campagnolo Quick Release Skewers



## Fignon's Barber (Mar 2, 2004)

Just completed the latest project, a campa equipped Merckx MX Leader. The build was pretty straight forward, however I have a small issue with the rear wheel clamping force of the Boyd qr skewer. The MXL has the old steel horizontal dropouts, and the modern lightweight skewers don't have the clamping force needed. A local mechanic recommended finding an old set of vintage campag skewers. My guess is that the reason he suggested them was the internal cam design, which is still used in today's campag skewers. Searching online finds three options: type 40,type 20, and the new one used on the bora/Bullet Ultras. Very little info about the differences is available, even on the Campagnolo site. Any insight would help.


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## kbwh (May 28, 2010)

I've used Campag QRs since 1995.
In my experience they all do the job properly. The most recent ones on my 2014 Shamal Ultras clamp just as strongly as the all 1995 steel ones on my wife's bike, a 1998 Colnago Technos with horizontal dropouts (and no lawyer tabs, yay!).


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## headloss (Mar 3, 2013)

These are definitely internal cam (type 20) Fulcrum Racing Road Bike Skewers | eBay

the 40 definitely isn't. There is another skewer that fits somewhere in the middle (it's what came on my Fulcrum Quattros) and it seems more like an open cam with some sheilding... I haven't had the wheelset on the road yet and can't comment beyond looks. 

Personally, skewers are one of those areas where I wouldn't personally hesitate to use Shimano (with Campy), they are strong and they aren't expensive.


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## joeyb1000 (Feb 15, 2011)

For me, the newer Campy skewers do not seem to have the same gripping power. I've had a MX Leader and also recommend a pair of steel Campy skewers.


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## CrankyCarbon (Dec 17, 2014)

On the old horizontal steel dropouts they are thinner than most modern dropouts (at least compared to my other bikes).
This seems to have an effect with the, not clamping force, but preventing the wheel from slipping.

if you look at an older wheel,
The hub has both outer nuts with ridges.
The quick releases both inside nuts have ridges
These effectively supposedly gets grip against the steel.

On my newer Campy stuff
only on the driveside of the rear hub are there any ridges
The non-driveside and both hub nuts and skewer for the front is smooth.

On my '86 tomasso My new Campy OS Record front hub ... you somewhat worry that it may get knocked out of the dropouts because they are so thin in comparison to modern dropouts - though the force would have to come from above. I've been thinking of rebuilding my front wheel with a set of Campy Record Titanium 9/10/11 hubs which still has all the ridges. The only problem is the rear hub outer cog is at a different measurement than the OS hubs (which is everything else that I have, thus causing an issue with a quick wheel replacement).

But in the rear, I've pulled a wheel out of alignment before on horizontals with smooth quick releases (which were Titanium axle). With ridged quick releases I didn't have the issue.

So you are not the only one that has noticed this problem.
But I don't know what the exact solution is for you. Maybe look for a set of used 130mm skewers that have the ridges which I think would the pre-Titanium generations.


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## thosj (Mar 24, 2010)

Those Boyd's will work, but you gotta wiggle the lever to get all the slack out while tightening the nut up almost tight to the right dropout, and THEN cam the lever up tight. But they ain't Camp skewers. $15 vs $100. You probably get what you pay for with these!!!! I have a few and they're OK on horizontal dropouts if you're careful getting them tight. On modern, vertical dropouts, not so much a problem


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## robt57 (Jul 23, 2011)

Having played with quite a few SS and fixies on older frames with horizontal dropouts before going ENO, I offer the following observations.

1st, as to slip, I got to the point where I was going to have a quick release work, which was a challenge for a few reasons. Mainly my 200 lb lowest weight, and that one of my strong points is power out of the saddle in sprint situations.

I noticed that some frames have harder steel in the drop outs, a few had flat steel which was the softest and slipped the least. Good forged assuming harder steel?

On my quick release setup after a few failed [slipping] varieties I used track nuts facing to the inner dropout surfaces as axle spacers, and an old steel QR with steel knurling, picking the most knurled ones in my stash. This setup never moved even playing/dicing it up with other nuts on spirited rides. The iterations prior to using the track nut facing out as spacer always moved sooner or later. 

I can say in my minds eye I would never put a Ti Skewer in service for this task, so I could not comment as to it being a good idea. In my minds eye it is a bad idea to the point I am not going to try it, touch it. I don't use Ti skewers on disc wheels either. When I did the front would not hold, not that it moved enough to cause more than disc rub issue after a few harder stops, but off it came and a forehead slap and DUH came out of me when I thought about it trying to figure out why the front rotor issues kept surfacing. Blaming everything but the skewer for a few of them until it dawned on me.

Hope some of that is helpful...


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## CrankyCarbon (Dec 17, 2014)

knurling .. that's it .. thanks robt57

It seems Campy going back to C-Rec has smooth non-knurled skewers.
Though my Dura Ace up through 7700 is knurled (I don't have anything newer).

You could get some Dura-Ace ones if you're okay with the blasphemy issue.


Or the many other brands out there.
I think a set of VeloMax ones I have are also knurled.


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## pmf (Feb 23, 2004)

I have a 1996 Merckx Corsa -- it has 130 mm horizontal drop outs. I find that I really have to crank the back wheel on to keep it from slipping. I broke a Salsa skewer after a while and got the same advice on the Campy or Shimano skewers. I found really cool set of Campy Super record skewers that work great and look even better. They were kind of pricey though.


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## mriddle (Nov 16, 2005)

Velo Orange sells some nice "old style" skewers for $30. they look like circa 2000 record style, clamp really well. Not light thou.


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