[alee]

I'm talking about those bumps on the bottom of forks that make you unscrew your skewers an extra 4 or 5 turns to take your wheel off. I'm sure there are other names for them. Was there a bunch of tires falling off, or just a few greedy and litigious bikers that made bike companies start putting them on?
Also, would it weaken a fork (say a Reba Race 29'er shock) if there were carefully ground off? I carry my bike in the back of my truck under a tonneau (yes, that's a real word) and have to take my front tire off to make it fit. Did I mention I am lazy and hate all those extra skewer turns?

 

[RickC5]

I've been grinding them off for years.

Takes only a couple of minutes with a Dremel tool - longer with a file. Just remove the nibs - no need to remove any "extra" material from the fork end.

Just so you know, I don't know if this is true, but I've been told that removing the nibs usually voids your factory warranty on the fork, if that's of any concern to you.

I've been riding bikes with Q-R skewers since 1969, and like you, these things irritate me to no end.

I believe the manufacturers added them in the 1980s because of multiple lawsuits resulting from injuries when riders had no idea how skewers worked (mechanically challenged?) and front wheels were coming off while these folks were just riding along. I don't blame the manufacturers given our culture where everyone sues everyone else. Madness.

 

[FlatFender]

my rigid ATB fors does not have them. Neither does my road bike fork.
I have never, ever had a wheel come loose or fall off. Will I file them off of my sus Fork? no, im lazy, and they dont bother me a bit.

 

[Nat]

They're not that big of a deal.

Go ahead, file them off, void your warranty, tell us when your disc brakes yank the hub out of the dropouts.

 

[El Kabong]

Nat, you're kidding yourself if you think that lawyer tabs are going to keep your disk wheel in the dropouts. Learn how to tighten your skewers properly and you won't have a problem, with or without tabs.

El K.

 

[Nat]

Nat, you're kidding yourself if you think that lawyer tabs are going to keep your disk wheel in the dropouts. Learn how to tighten your skewers properly and you won't have a problem, with or without tabs.

El K.

Blah blah blah. I know how to use a QR. With or without tabs.

 

[bmrwrld7]

(mechanically challenged?)

:lol::lol: ahahahaha

 

[GuruAtma]

It seems that since many people transport their bikes with the front wheel off, it's just a matter of time until you don't tighten the qr correctly. I'd rather do a few more turns with the qr and keep my teeth.

 

[DeeEight]

Lawyer tabs were invented for morons basically, of which fork makers feared there were a lot of in america (looking at the current president, I think they were right). The kinds of people who can't handle simple tasks yet somehow make it into positions of authority in government and corporations. Ya know, like all the idiots in line ahead of you at the airport metal detector with the pockets full of quarters for the laundrymat and the massive keychains that janitors might carry, who keep setting off the detector and holding up the line. Gee... what does a metal detector detect? Metal?

 

[jeffscott]

Well, mine are staying on, I have had two quick releases open up on downhill's (Shimano's and not the recalled ones).

I noticed the slop in the front pretty quickly, but still believe I would have been hurt pretty bad if I had endo'd.

There is another thread about a fatigue failure on of a different quick release.

To date some 6000 km my Mavic quick realease hasn't opened up.

 

[ToddM]

You will void your warranty if you grind them off, that said I've done it before and now I just don't bother.

However I can say that even the smartest people with the most common sense can make a mistake, which evidentially isn't true for canadians. How many times have you been getting ready for a ride with your buddies, chatting having fun and forgot something at the car, or almost forgot something. Leaving a quick release open is no different. I've also seen a quick release or two in my riding days open up during a ride. Now this might be because the owner didn't have them set tight enough or they had the lever facing the wrong way. However the bottom line was the tabs kept the wheel in place.

Several years ago (I run the hex bolt skewers) I ran almost a half lap of a course with a loose front wheel with tabs on it, it was a smooth course and I doing a very easy pace and didn't notice it until the front end went off a small ledge and I could feel it in the front end. I think it might be easier to forget to tighten the hex skewers because once you install the front wheel you have to go grab a hex wrench come back and tighten it. With a QR skewer you just tighten it when you install it, you don't have to make sure you come back a second time and tighten it. You also have no visual indication if a hex bolt skewer is tight unlike a open QR lever.

I've also seen the threads on the nut side strip out over time esp. on some of the older cheap AL threaded models or those that are not long enough to get a lot of threads into the nut.

All in all I don't think it's a big deal, and I've yet to ever see anyone loose a front wheel while riding. That said I don't see any reason for grinding them off. I suppose a racer could make a point that they can change a front flat faster without them.

Besides, lets just get rid of QR all together, they suck, build in 12 and 20mm bolt through axles front and rear on everything, it clearly gives superior stiffness which is an advantage for light and heavy bikes, and you don't forget to close your quick release. None of that QR bolt through stuff either.

 

[El Kabong]

Sorry, Nat, didn't mean to imply you don't know how to use a QR. I just don't think a little lawyer tab is going to save you from braking or other forces pulling the wheel out of the dropout.

El K.

 

[Nat]

Sorry, guess I should have known you were a superior being because you're "29 and single" and thus at the forefront of today's biking fashion scene.

Oh for crying out loud...

 

[shiggy]

It seems that since many people transport their bikes with the front wheel off, it's just a matter of time until you don't tighten the qr correctly. I'd rather do a few more turns with the qr and keep my teeth.

Pre-laywer tabs or with them removed the QR skewer does not need to be adjusted to remove and reinstall a wheel. I have a road bike (with several sets of wheels) that I have not touched the QR skewer adjustment in 10+ years.

 

[shiggy]

I'm talking about those bumps on the bottom of forks that make you unscrew your skewers an extra 4 or 5 turns to take your wheel off. I'm sure there are other names for them. Was there a bunch of tires falling off, or just a few greedy and litigious bikers that made bike companies start putting them on?
Also, would it weaken a fork (say a Reba Race 29'er shock) if there were carefully ground off? I carry my bike in the back of my truck under a tonneau (yes, that's a real word) and have to take my front tire off to make it fit. Did I mention I am lazy and hate all those extra skewer turns?

Personally I would be concerned only because the Reba does not have forward facing dropouts. If you choose to remove the tabs be sure to use a strong clamping/holding skewer (Shimano) to reduce the chance of the axle slipping in the fork under hard braking (with discs). The tabs do help retain the wheel in this case as the skewer is not opening, it is just letting the hub slip a bit.

I have had to reset wheels that were caught by the tabs. I have seen wheels come out on forks with the tabs removed. I have had a wheel slip in a fork on which I removed the tabs (switched to a Shimano skewer and now check it often).

Many forks now have forward facing dropouts so the axle is pulled into the dropout rather than out of it.

 

[meloh1]

Had a buddy watch his wheel bounce down the freeway and into the median. He had filed off his lawyer tabs and either his skewer wasn't tightened enough, or at all, when he put the bike on the roof rack. Forgot to attach the wheel strap, too. Could just as easily been lost on the trail with possibly worse results. People make mistakes. 5 seconds extra isn't much of a bother.

 

[FlatFender]

lol...29er, single speed?

 

[kingbozo]

"Takes only a couple of minutes with a Dremel tool"

Takes about 5 seconds to turn your skewer a couple of more times.

 

[Plim]

They'd always annoyed me. Then on Sunday I was going down a babyhead section and it started to feel really sketchy. I stopped and turns out my QR had come open. If it wasn't for the tabs my wheel probably would have come out. I was shocked and mystified as to how it happened. Prior to that ride I would have sworn I've got mad wheel-attaching skilz and the tabs were just dumb. Now I'm quite happy to have them.

 

[4212darren]

When I was a kid, me and a buddy were riding home from school and he pops a wheelie and his front wheel falls off. He held it for a long time and picked up some nice speed until his forks dug into the road and he went over the bar. His wheel rolled downhill for a block. It was a bolt on wheel but I always think of that incident when I'm tempted to file off the bumps on a fork. It's funny when it happens to someone else.