A shout out to Velo-Orange

    I've been using Velo-Orange products for a long time and have been really happy with most of them.  I like the design of their anti-theft skewers and put them on both of my Rivendell's since I use those bikes for so many things.  Just recently I discovered that they really work!   

    The skewers are a really simple design with a freely rotating nut around a bolt that requires a special hollow allen wrench tighten or remove.   Using them, I feel pretty comfortable leaving my bikes with nothing but the frame locked up or using a ring lock on the rear to prevent the snatch and grab ride off.  If a frustrated thief tries to take off with the front wheel, he gets a more frustrating surprise.

Normally the nuts for the skewer look like this.  A simple knurled nut.

    When I got back from  a couple of days at the Lake shore, I noticed my front bearings seemed a little out of whack.  When I took a good look at the hub I realized that somebody had really worked it over with a Vise Grip or pliers.  You can see how the nut is pretty severely flattened out in several places.  It probably happened when I stopped outside a grocery or a convenience store for a few moments.

A big HOORAY to Velo-Orange.