Carry a Spare Skewer?
 

The skewer is probably an overlooked item to carry as a spare on tour but without one, a broken skewer on a lonely road could be pretty debilitating.

Anyone tour with a skewer as part of their spares/tool kit?

Is there a quick fix for a broken skewer that doesn't necessarily require a spare?

What would be a light and cheap option for a front wheel spare skewer?

For cooking Kabobs? :innocent:


the sort that screw on, allen bolt, are easy to stow, if the desire to carry 1 arises.

I must say, I don't think I've ever heard of a skewer failing. I tend to take the minimalist approach, but it seems like if you're ready for that to fail, you might as well carry an extra rim as well, just in case yours cracks in half, right? And don't forget the extra brake assembly. Oh, and a set of bars in case one side snaps off.

At best, I would see the need for an extra rear skewer on bikes with more inboard mounted bearing on the rear wheel. You know, the freewheel types where the bearing re closer to the hub of the wheel. That would be a situation where I could see one coming in handy. But for most bikes, I don't forsee that being a problem.

As for a quick fix, I would check out the local hardware store. I imagine you could cobble some sort of makeshift skewer together with a bit of allthread, nuts and washers.

I don't think I've ever broken a quick release skewer, and I've broken a lot of bike bits.

I would imagine that if something happened that actually damaged your skewer, it's going to take out your entire wheel and/or fork. In which case, replacing the skewer is probably the least of your worries....

I've only had a skewer break on me once, and then I later noticed that the axle had bent, so i would up having to change that too.

Yes I have a set of them.You never know what can and will happen.I have strip one before so I was glad to have one.And that did it for me I have them on hand they don't cost much and damn sure don't weight much either.I really don't care if people likes it or not I,m the one on my bicycle and if the part needs to be replace so be it.My 2 cents lol

Have never broken my wheel quick release skewer. I've managed, however, to brake the seatpost quick release before on an actual ride. Luckily, I wasn't too far away from my destination. My LBS said this happens more often than one may think. I do carry an extra one now as those may be more difficult to find depending on your seatpost size or if you're traveling in remote or third world countries.

If you carried a spare for everything that could go wrong, you wouldn't be able to carry any other gear.

What about a wheel? More likely you would break one of those.

Like this? http://www.mvermeulen.com/canada/fotox/jul12_04.jpg

The only skewer issue I've ever had was when fixing a flat, I lost the nut in a forest of leaves. Made it to a hardware store in the next town, sans skewer, and found a replacement nut that sufficed until I got to a bike shop a couple days later.

Discovered that a skewer is not absolutely required, as long as the road is smooth and you ride very carefully. It's only purpose is to tension the fork against the hub to keep the wheel from coming off when you hit a bump.

Point: Don't lose the skewer nut.

I am sure the O.P. is smart enought to draw the line somewhere. He's simply trying to gather info if this spare part makes sense... if it's an important little thing that could save him in the middle of nowhere. Just like one wouldn't leave without spare tubes, extra spokes, brakes pads, and things of that nature. If one is new to touring, it makes sense to ask other fellow tourists what their experience has been.

I have seen others doing this! :) Do you carry a front and rear?

I think it was Sonya and Aaldrick at http://www.tour.tk/ who broke a skewer. They ended up finding wire on the side of the road and finagling it til they got to a town. Not the best solution, but the likelihood of a skewer breaking is pretty slim...

Carry a spare
 

Technically no weight is carried on the skewer. I guess one could break but not any more likely than any other bolt. In 35 years of cycling I never broke one. I have wore out several sets of bearings, wheels, freewheels never a skewer.

I took a spare rear skewer on my year tour. It's the allen head bolt on type, so no big deal to have in my tool bag.

I also now carry a spare seat tube binder bolt on most rides (not just touring), because I've broken a whole bunch of them.

Skewers are critical if your bike has horizontal dropouts. For vertical dropouts, you can use a lashup of anything to get you to the next town, ie some brake cable, doubled up and tensioned like a tourniquet.

I bent my skewer at the base of the threads when using a cassette remover (NBT2). It held up for the rest of the long tour but has been weakened.

I haven't broken a skewer on any bike, but I have broken a rear horizonal dropout just before a 400kim randonnee, but didn't realise it (bike fell over on the right side during a big wind gust).

I rode the randonnee, but wondered why the shifting into the big cogs was off, and why the chain shifted off the biggest into the spokes a couple of times. I didn't find the break until I got home from the event. It goes to show how the skewers can keep things together.

The other skewer-related problem was a groove worn into the dropout on the same bike. This was before a 1200 randonnee and the wheel wouldn't stay straight, no matter how tight I did up the skewer. I bought a new one from the only MTB shop in town. I eventually understood the problem, and smoothed down the dropouts when I repaired the broken one.

So... based on my experience, no, a pair of skewers would not be on my list of spares.

In 35+ plus years of cycling over 80,000 miles on 10+ different bikes, I have never broken a skewer. Anything is possible, but I don't see the need to plan for every contingency. Besides, a skewer should be available at virtually any bike shop. Why not just haul a whole trailer full of spare bike parts?

It sounds like one of the least likely parts to need. In 50 years of cycling I never broke one. If touring in a first world country worst case you would have to hitch a ride to a bike shop.

In lieu of spare skewers, carry a couple of spare conical springs that go on skewers. I have inadvertently removed skewer nut from skewer when loosening to remove wheel; conical spring fell off and bounced away.

Good Idea would you do it for us???

If I ever broke a skewer, I would probably just run some 3mm cord through the axle and tie nuts, or sticks, or knots or something on the ends to hold it together. I've replaced a broken drive side spoke with some nylon cord, it's great stuff to have around.

That gives me another idea, if you have a spare spoke, just stick that through the axle and then tighten it by wrapping it around the bottom of the fork dropouts. Gotta be tight enough that the fork can't flex open and drop your wheel.

Either way, it's an unlikely fix. Might as well bring a spare frame with you, "just in case"

With a vertical rear dropout on your frame, neither skewer has to be very tight...
the load is of course supported by the axle, not the Qr skewer..

Actually I do carry a spare rear skewer.

That said, it's only because I pull a BOB trailer and it's not unheard of to thrash one.