[CR] Re: Hi-E - Still in Business???

Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
Subject: [CR] Re: Hi-E - Still in Business???
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 22:25:45 -0700
Thread-Topic: [CR] Re: Hi-E - Still in Business???
Thread-Index: AcWIDtFlal7PEBxHQ3OOXqGep2NpXgAH7NrA
From: "Mark Bulgier" <Mark@bulgier.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>

Joe B-Z wrote:
>
> Hi-E made a cutting tool for this notching of the dropout. I
> have one somewhere.
>

Here's a picture of the cutting tool: http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Parts/Wheels/Hi-E_spotfacer.jpg It threads onto the skewer and is meant to be rotated with a wrench, tightening onto the skewer a little bit at a time. Then you back up, clear the chip and repeat, until you have a v-shaped groove in a circle that matches the lip of the slow-release skewers. Gives you a positive locking connection (albeit a shallow one), so you're not relying on friction anymore.

This clean circular groove looks kinda nice if you notice it at all - on most bikes you wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking for it

Here's the accompanying instruction sheet - obviously kicked around in the bottom of my toolbox for awhile, it's a mess but readable. http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Parts/Wheels/Hi-E_spotfacer_instructions.jp g

I used Hi-E slow-release skewers on a mountain bike for a while, raced NORBA cross-country a number of times, even won one race in the Pro category (though I was decidedly amateur). With nothin' but Hi-E keeping my wheels on. (Off-topic, sorry, though the bike would almost make it - made before '85, lightweight road bike frame tubing, drop bars).

Hi-E rear skewers should only be used on vertical dropouts in my opinion, or (like my old MTB) Track ends with the wheel pulled all the way forward so it can't get pulled further forward by chain tension.

Mark Bulgier
Seattle WA USA