NYNJrider

brand new bike (well, rode it maybe 100 miles so far)

was coming up hill and felt the tire becoming super wobbly. pulled over and realized the lever was not engaged.

super concerning and a lesson learned in terms of checking the bike before riding.

i'm curious though, is this a common occurrence? how could this happen?

aggiegrads

Not common. Incorrect assembly.

The lever is a cam lever, not a wing-nut. Did you purchase the bike at a bike shop or another retailer?

shelbyfv

Agreed. Not common, in fact improbable w/o faulty installation or outside interference after installation. Plenty of how-to instructions online. That said, I've had the rear wheel shift when cranking hard on a climb. Some QRs work better than others and drop outs vary as well.

fietsbob

Bet you did not tighten it properly in the 1st place.

dsbrantjr

https://www.alsbicycles.com/articles...ctly-pg314.htm
https://www.bicycling.com/repair/a20...quick-release/
Closing the QR should need enough force to leave a mark on your palm. Make certain that the lever is not facing forward when tightened, so that a passing object does not flip it open.

alcjphil

Answers so far are pretty much par for the course. Very often new riders have no idea how to tighten a quick release. If the lever had the concave side facing out, it was your fault if you didn't flip the lever to tighten the wheel. It is very common for new riders to do this wrong

NYNJrider

a bike shop. it's a month old. i'm sort of pissed. if you look at my history i've already had some issues with the bike including a bent FD cage (which i refuse to believe i did - though i guess it's possible).

NYNJrider

i should have been more clear. i never once touched the front wheel or the QR in my month of ownership.

Iride01 

If you never touched them after a month of riding, then you aren't exercising good judgement either. You need to be constantly checking things. QR's, spokes, tire pressure, shifters and derailleurs working correctly in all gears, BRAKES, and other things.

Don't leave your life and safety to others.

Miele Man

I FAR prefer the older closed-cam quick release skewers to the newer open cam ones. I bought a number of the old-style ones at a bike shop where they were very inexpensive. I put them on wheels friends have if the wheels have the newer open-cam ones. The old style closed-cam are much more secure in my opinion.

Cheers

Miele Man

Oh, it's a good idea to check quick-releases on wheels and brakes if the bike has been out of your sight for any length of time. Some sick individuals think its fun to open them, or loosen them.

Cheers

billridesbikes

I have two rules for QRs.

1) Never put a wheel on the bike without properly securing the QR as if you where going to ride it immediately. I have stuck a wheel on and thought I would come back and use a different wheel for tomorrow and not tighten the QR , forget the wheel was not secure and causing ensuing hilarity the next day. Leads to rule #2 ...

2) Before every ride “Quickly do your ABCs”. Check Air in the tires, check the Brake function, visually check all the Cables, check that the quick release is correctly engaged on both wheels.

blamester

Always leave the skewers in the same position and side so if it's not in that position something is wrong. Everytime you look down you know where the skewers should be.
I point mine backwards parallel to the road non drive side.

NYNJrider

what's the best course of action now? when i retightened the QR it was quite hard to push the lever down. i assume it's probably locked in a bit too tight at the moment. i'm guessing it might make sense to loosen the lever and nut and retighten?

sweeks

Agreed, but the "open cam" variety will generally work well enough if they're properly closed. I bought a bike that came with Ultegra components but an option was titanium skewers that had the bike's brand etched on the levers. Yes, a silly thing. My point is that in 20 years a wheel has never come loose. And I still have the original skewers to admire, or use as I see fit!

Barry2 

+1
Even if I valet, I check em!

mtnbud

Does it happen to have a Maxle quick release? The rear Maxle on my new bike has loosened a couple of times during a ride. I caught it fairly quickly both times as the shifting gets slightly off. I did some research and it seems quite a few people have been having issues with Maxles. I plan to ask my bike shop if there are any solutions other than checking them before each ride.

(If it is a Maxle, I read there's a small Allen bolt you tighten to adjust the tension)

smashndash

You need to clean and lube those open cam skewers REALLY often unless they’re brass. Otherwise they seize in place. At least, mine did.

Upgraded to Shimano 105 skewers. They don’t “snap” into place as nicely but I don’t have to maintain my f****** skewers.

OP, wanna post a pic of your skewer as it is on the wheel?

dabac

That’s the Kona Rove DL you’ve posted about earlier?
A quick pic search shows a disc brake bike with a regular q/r hub.
Due to the bike industries unfortunate decision to put the brake caliper on the rear of the fork, braking forces can push the axle downwards hard enough to overcome the force from the weight of the rider.
So unless you have your q/r on real tight, it will happily work itself loose by the repeated motion from braking.
You should be using a good-quality internal-cam q/r and close it HARD.
And check regularly.
Failure to do so may introduce you to the marginal joys of front wheel ejection.

Amt0571

I had a Fulcrum skewer that gradually came loose on my mountain bike rear tire unless I tightened it really hard. If I tightened it with "normal" force, it started loosening. Usually it started creaking before nothing too serious happened.

In the end I replaced it with another skewer and problem went away.

pdlamb

Sounds like it's about right. You need to have an impression on your hand after you tighten the quick release. As long as you can get it flipped, it's not too tight.

phughes

Sounds like you should be fine. For future reference, you can get wheel installation information here: https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...d-installation