Mick F wrote:Defacing the Queen's coinage eh? That's a hanging offence I believe.
Yes, chrome is a hard metal, and the QRs won't bite into it to make a good grip. Copper washers is a good idea, but as a good citizen and faithful subject of HMQ, I'd buy the washers.
Chromium is indeed a hard metal. Chromium plating is however so thin that the underlying metal takes ll of the strain and will deform under a point load almost exactly as if not chromed. Chrome has of course a good polish and an unusually smooth surface. This will make slipping more likely.
To answer an earlier query, the springs on the skewer are designed to centre the axle in the hub thus making it easier to fit the wheel. They do this very effectively.
I've suffered this slipping wheel problem - with a new Ambrosio Zenith hub - and my plain steel dropouts. Never had a problem with my other hubs in that frame - Campag or Shimano. The knurling(?) on the nuts on the drive side was just flattened to nothing. I seem to have solved the problem by putting the old Campag skewer in instead - fingers crossed - but I'll avoid these Ambrosio things in the future
Came across this thread which has really useful suggestions. Like others, having problems with rear horizontal dropouts on 90's Colnago. Have tried 3 different skewers to no avail, all enclosed cams. Put skewer on from my 80's Harry Quinn and it seems to be holding. However I can't have a French skewer (Maillard) on an Italian bike . Will look for a Campagnolo old school skewer on Ebay maybe with copper washers . Also my hubs are Ambrosia??
I had this problem on my wife's bike when we had to buy a new wheel and the only one we could get at the time was the QR type. I tried adjusting the cam, making it so tight I thought it would break but it would still move. I ended up changing the axle to a solid one. I've not had any problems since so expect the force exerted by the nuts is far greater than the QR. I'm sure Brucey will comment
if axle sticks out past the locknuts a long way, but the frame has thinnish dropouts, the QR can 'bottom out' before it tightens on the frame. Often removing the springs from the QR helps but sometimes the axle needs to be shortened.
Solid axles can give a higher clamping force (if you tighten the nuts enough), but they cannot bottom out in the same way as a QR axle can.
Used to use two pence pieces on top of the springs inside MZ two-stroke front forks to fine tune the pre-load as they were a perfect fit. Joke was this doubled the value of the bike.
teh wrote:Chromed horizontal rear dropouts are a stupid idea. I'd get the angle-grinder out and roughen them up, or if I could afford it, get the dropouts replaced with vertical ones. Otherwise, you simply have one of the most stupid cycling ideas ever conceived, and you will be struggling to cope with it. With chromed dropouts you can't go uphill, and with the ridiculous head-angle of some of these 90's frames, you can't go downhill either!
While he's at it he could perhaps put a bead of weld down each side of the drop out with a stick welder that'd provide plenty of grip for the QR.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Used to use two pence pieces on top of the springs inside MZ two-stroke front forks to fine tune the pre-load as they were a perfect fit. Joke was this doubled the value of the bike.
I've still got an MZ TS 250 and had did masses of miles on one in the late seventies/early eighties. Fine machines and certainly not a joke....
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Used to use two pence pieces on top of the springs inside MZ two-stroke front forks to fine tune the pre-load as they were a perfect fit. Joke was this doubled the value of the bike.
I've still got an MZ TS 250 and had did masses of miles on one in the late seventies/early eighties. Fine machines and certainly not a joke....
As an ex owner of several two stroke MZs who also did masses of miles on them including touring Ireland on a Supa 5 which later seized on the A30 at 70mph I reserve the right to make jokes about them.
Used to use two pence pieces on top of the springs inside MZ two-stroke front forks to fine tune the pre-load as they were a perfect fit. Joke was this doubled the value of the bike.
I've still got an MZ TS 250 and had did masses of miles on one in the late seventies/early eighties. Fine machines and certainly not a joke....
As an ex owner of several two stroke MZs who also did masses of miles on them including touring Ireland on a Supa 5 which later seized on the A30 at 70mph I reserve the right to make jokes about them.
Seized? What oil mix were you using? Always thought the SUpa 5 ran very cool for a two stroke with that massive finning. Never had any real problems with mine - maybe because I didn't joke about them....
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
My ETZ250 has 6p per fork too - a very inexpensive modification I think mine are heads up. Probably breaking another law. As for MZ's seizing, this is almost always due to the timing slipping or incorrect 2T premix. My experience of MZ's (since 1996) are that mine is most definitely appreciating £££ and that they can turn from an asset to a liability in the twinkling of an eye. Easily (and cheaply) fixed though and spares back-up is still good after all these years.
As for the OP's wheel slipping problem - try some decent branded Campag/Shimano/Suntour/Mavic internal cam skewers. Sheldon is no fan of external cam 'boutique' skewers! http://www.sheldonbrown.com/skewers.html
. Will look for a Campagnolo old school skewer on Ebay maybe with copper washers 
. Also my hubs are Ambrosia??
