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Can you run a quick release skewer with a SON dynamo hub?

Bicycles Asked on May 29, 2021

Regular SON dynamo hubs come with a hex key skewer rather than a QR. That’s not a big deal, but it’s probably simpler for the other 2 riders on the household who are running these hubs to deal with a QR skewer, since it’s easier for them to get a feel for a tight QR than for "8-10 Nm" on the hex key, especially using a crank brothers multitool by the side of the road.

I haven’t seen any admonition not to use a QR, and I doubt they could get a QR cam to put more tension on the skewer than 10 Nm on the hex skewer would pull, but I’m not sure.

I’m wondering if the hex skewer is supposed to just be a security thing, since it requires a thief to have a 5mm hex head rather than just fingers. I’m not sure that’s much in the way of security. I did get some pentagonal key skewers that would provide more security, since few people are carrying one of those around, but at present these bikes don’t get out of anyone’s sight.

2 Answers

Yes, they don't care, you can use any QR you want. I've used an early SON28 with the stock one, a Pitlock, an external cam light skewer, and various Shimano skewers, and a current SONdelux with the stock one and a Shimano QR. It doesn't matter.

I don't know the numbers but I believe internal cam skewers develop quite a bit more clamping force than bolt-down skewers, so in other words it's conceivable to make a hub that could care about this distinction. But Schmidt hubs don't.

Correct answer by Nathan Knutson on May 29, 2021

Dynamo hubs provide a little bit of resistance. Lights on, it's 6 watts. You are probably pedaling the bicycle forwards at 100 watts. When braking, at 25 km/h (6.94 m/s), a 100kg rider + bike with 0.5 g braking force requires 3400 watts to brake.

So even though the SON dynamo hub is "braking" you all the time a bit, its braking power is about 0.18% of the power a real brake needs.

Go ahead and use a QR skewer. However, for this you need an axle that supports using QR skewers. I'm not sure if all SON models have the hollow QR axle.

However, internal gear hubs and hub brakes (apart from disc brake that has a caliper attached to the frame or fork) require some separate mechanism to apply the reaction torque to the frame or fork.

Answered by juhist on May 29, 2021

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