torger

Our Cannondale tandem uses 145mm quick release in the rear. We need to remove/attach wheel quite often so we prefer some sort of quick release, but still with safe and tight fastening. The DT Swiss RWS is what we like the best so far, we use it both front and rear, and indeed they have a (rare) 145mm version. The wrench design of the RWS makes it less quick than a normal lever, but easier to get it really tight.

However when we use a burley trailer hitch it adds 5mm to the spacing, and the beefy dropouts are about 9mm wide so we end up with 145+2x9+5 = 168mm spacing between the nuts, and while the 145mm RWS (the measurement is for the droupout inside spacing, not overall length) is sort of long enough the rod is still too short to engage all threads so it doesn't feel as safe as I'd like. So then we are using a random extra long trailer quick release, but the clamp is horrible, there's just no distinct close position and it feels like it could swing open at any time.

I've tried to find alternative quick releases and I've found a few but the clamps look like they could be just as bad as on our current, so if anyone has and tips I'd like to hear about it. It's also quite hard to search as some quick releases are measured as overall length, some as intended dropout spacing. As dropout width varies there is also an adjustability range on the quick release itself which rarely if ever is mentioned in the specification.

There is a workaround with the burley trailer hitch, there is an adapter so you can replace the nut of the quick release with the adapter and attach the trailer hitch to that, and thus not add those extra 5mm, and then we can safely use the 145mm DT Swiss RWS. However in that case the quick release handle must go in on the drive side, which works but makes it a bit cumbersome to install and remove the wheel as the derailleur parts and quick release handle easily gets tangled. So ideally we'd like to have a longer quick release with a clamp that actually works well.

DCwom

Have you checked with Mel at Tandems East?

Tandems East - Tandem Bicycles, Tours, Custom Wheels and More

WheelsNT

The skewer for a Thule Chariot bike trailer should work. We used to have several and used them on our 145mm tandems, worked great. Just sold the trailer and the skewers, so unfortunately I don’t have any here. But I don’t think they have a separate tandem-length skewer, I think the normal one is long enough to fit 145mm. Here’s the link to Thule, but you might be able to find one locally: https://www.thule.com/en-us/accessor...-kit-_-1663666

PS one of our tandems is a Cannondale, so the dropout thickness wasn’t an issue.

torger

Should have said I'm located in Europe so importing from the US is a last resort (I have had to do that a couple of times though, the stoker handlebar for example). I looked on Tandem East's website and they seem to have some Salsa QR that could work, but I'm a bit skeptical about the external cam design, I'd prefer internal cam. If it must be external I prefer the concave shaped washer to be brass rather than plastic/rubber compound as on my current and the Salsa I have too.

A shimano skewer would be a dream, but I don't think they have made any of that length.

torger

The Thule one will indeed work length-wise (easy to get here in Sweden too, Thule is a Swedish company :-) ), and actually the one labelled "CTS" we have look exactly the same, as most trailer quick releases I've found, so I guess it's the same OEM producer somewhere and then branded for different companies. Maybe I'll just get a new one and it will work nicely. The problem with ours, fair to say it is quite old, is that the concave washer under the lever is plastic/rubber and it seems to be out of shape or something as there is no good lever feel at all, there's no "locked" position it just gets progressively stiffer and it's much easier to open than close it, a bit too easy to open.

WheelsNT

Chariot was an independent trailer company that was bought by Thule. The ones marked CTS are old stock before the Thule purchase. But they should be exactly the same.

torger

This is how it looks now, what I don't like about it is that it goes past 90 degrees with no real stop. The good ones have maximum pressure just before the stop (to avoid the release getting loose), and the stop is 90 degrees firm stop in the lever. This one also lacks that pressure peak to make the stop position distinct and safe. Since it goes past 90 degrees I need to point it back or else it will collide with the frame. Otherwise I usually point the handle between seatstays and chainstays.


CTS / thule quick release

Paul J

Sounds like you have a solution which I hope will work for you. If not, I wonder if you could get a Santana skewer and have it threaded further down and then cut off for your desired length?

torger

<br /><br />Yeah it works, I guess it's just that I've become a quick release nerd, I've spent a silly amount of money on quick releases on my single bikes through out the years, and finding the perfect one for the tandem became a bit of a challenge.<br /><br />I actually tried to trim and thread a long quick release, if that would work the Hope Fatsno fatbike 190 and 170 mm quick release could work, but it seems like the steel rod is usually hardened so it doesn't really want to be threaded, my threading tool didn't manage to make any threads on the rod. I've heard that some quick releases are threaded in both ends (ie the lever is threaded on too), but I haven't really come across that. With such a quick release one could replace the rod with a new cut to a custom length.

JanMM

We were having a problem with our rear wheel moving in the dropouts on starts from a stop. (Because of our immense power - not!) Found some opinions online that B.O.B. trailer skewers close very tightly so we got one and have used it for several years with no further problems. Enclosed mechanism design. Since we don't pull a trailer, the threaded end stuck out longer than needed so I cut off a bit. Ours is a 145mm. One U.S. source: https://bobparts.com/trailer-parts/quick-release-nutz/
Oops! Out of stock. More info from B.O.B. https://www.bobgear.com/quick-release Seems out of stock at REI and Walmart.com Perhaps some available in Europe??

torger

Thanks for the tip. Did som research on the BOB quick release, they exist(ed) in three versions, short, 145mm tandem and Santana 160mm tandem. The outside adjustment dimensions are 145 - 164 for the 145 mm version, and 165 - 180 mm for the Santana version. Our Cannondale is 145 mm, but with its 9 mm dropout width plus the 5 mm Burley steel hitch we end up at 168 mm outside dimension so it would be the 160 mm Santana version. The BOB has indeed som special nuts made for their trailer, but they don't need to be used.

The lever is internal cam design (which I like), so it's probably very good. SJS Cycles here in Europe actually has one in stock :-)

JanMM

Good to hear there is at least one available on your side of the pond!

torger

We just got the BOB quick release, the long Santana version. To be noted is that the shortest 165 mm outer width as speced in the manual can only be achieved if either cutting the rod a bit or removing the trailer nuts. We removed the trailer nuts as we do not need them. The quick release is high quality and with nice secure and distinct closed position, just as we wanted, much better than the Thule trailer quick release. Problem solved

JanMM

Good to hear. Carry on!