In December 2006, I returned from a bike ride and decided to “touch-up” my rear wheel. After riding on the wheel for several hundred miles following the replacement of several spoke nipples, it had become slightly out of lateral true. While reinstalling the wheel on the bike, the skewer broke near the cam mechanism shooting the shaft across the garage. I had never seen a skewer fail before and considered myself very fortunate that the failure did not occur while riding.

 

The next day, a trip to the bike shop yielded two new skewers (Shimano Dura-Ace^®) to replace the failed rear skewer and the front skewer (both manufactured by Rolf), each having been ridden over 12K miles. I verified that the new skewers did not have any recall notices and installed them on the bike.

 

Less than two months later, I went on a very difficult 54-mile training ride that involved wind, cold, dirt roads, potholes, and rough pavement.  I recall at least one bunny hop during this appropriately named “Macabre” ride that almost sucked the last bit of energy from my aching body.  After driving home, I hung the bike from its two hooks in the ceiling and went inside to eat lunch, recover, and get on with the rest of the day. Later in the evening, I went back into the garage barefoot and stepped on a piece of metal. I looked down and immediately recognized the cam from the rear skewer! This was freaky; two skewer failures in two months on the same bike, same wheel, and both happened in the garage – Not on the road!

 

I carefully inspected and measured the bike frame, wheel, and dropout for misalignment or damage. I found that the dropout centering screws were uneven by about 3mm and the wheel was skewed significantly to the left. Was this the cause or a contributing factor to the failure? Determining the definitive answer is probably not possible. However, there is little doubt that the misalignment significantly increased stress on the skewer.

 

Shimano replaces failed parts under warranty through any authorized bike shop at no charge. If another failure occurs, it probably means that I missed the actual cause of the previous failures. However, I believe that this was one those odd events that happen ever so often in life and I will live out the rest of my days and never see another skewer fail. If I do witness another failure, what are the chances that it will be in a garage?

 

- David