From: jbrandt@hpl.hp.com (Jobst Brandt)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
Subject: Re: Quick release failure
Date: 22 Jan 1998 22:19:16 GMT

Garry Jones writes:

> I have heard that is wrong on the rear wheel. There is a supposed
> chance of your rear wheel being removed by someone's front so a near
> crash becomes a crash. Tip from Bicycling I seem to recall. Has this
> ever happened to anyone.

It happened to me in a bike race where two riders caught up to me, far
from the pack, and crossed my wheel to knock me down.  My front wheel
caught the QR of the second guy's bike with a spoke and opened it.
Had this not been one of my early races, I would have run up there and
kicked his wheel in.  As it was I lay on the ground in stunned
disbelief.  My front wheel was toast and he put his wheel back in and
left before the chasers arrived.

This is unusual, because a QR is usually not loose enough to flip open
this way.  I am sure mine wouldn't and I doubt that a wheel could get
close enough to hook it anyway.  This guy was using Simplex QR's on a
fully French bike in the late 1950's.  The story probably spread from
that incident because Bob Tetzlaff, the perpetrator (together with
Jack Disney), was an Olympian and national coach for years after much
ABLofA (USCF) racing.

> And the same tip said some rival might bend down and release it for
> you by hand. Has that ever happened?

Don't worry about it.  I think the convenience of use to the rider is
far more important.  If your QR is properly closed, it can't be opened
at arm's length anyway.

Jobst Brandt      <jbrandt@hpl.hp.com>