A quick release skewer is a mechanism for attaching a wheel to a bicycle. It consists of a rod threaded on one end and with a lever operated cam assembly on the other. The rod is inserted into the hollow axle of the wheel, a nut is threaded on, and the lever is closed to tighten the cam and secure the wheel to the fork. Wheels equipped with quick release mechanisms can be removed from the bicycle frame and replaced without using tools by opening and closing the cam lever, thus more quickly than wheels with solid axles and nuts. On the negative side, a quick-release hub renders a wheel more vulnerable to theft and care must be taken to ensure that the mechanism is properly tightened.
Similar quick-release mechanisms are also used to operate seatpost clamps, and the collapsing stem of folding bicycles and kick scooters.
Read more about Quick Release Skewer: History, Usage, Variations
Famous quotes containing the words quick and/or release:
“Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound’s mouth; it catches.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
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—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)