I had the opportunity to discuss these with Harlan in about '89-'90 or so. He designed these to put less side-load stress on the bearings and increase bearing life. Using a cam type QR voided the warranty on the bearings. There is a spacer between the bearings, but it's pretty light and the leverage of a cam type QR will compress it easily. So only use these if you've got your lawyer tabs intact.............
Never had a pair of the plastic ones, but my impression is Harlan was much more interested in weight and function than esthetics.
An aside............
Life-span of the bearings may be no small matter as you have to remove the hub flanges to replace them. Still looking for someone that knows how to do this. Or, I may be able to come up with a doaner hub (cracked flange) if anyone in the 'hood has the presses and such and wants to perform a dissection.................
On Jul 13, 2005, at 11:00 AM, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos wrote:
> Kind of ironic. One presumes, to the extent anyone can ever presume
> to understand Harlan's thought process, that he designed these because
> he considered them to provide more positive attachment than QR's. Yet
> from your experience, the opposite is true. I have a few Hi-E
> hubs/wheels but really haven't ridden them much. No problem with the
> alloy-nut skewers yet, but also very few miles. I thought the plastic
> ones were ugly and cheap-looking, so I never installed them.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
>
> Eugene Powell <radfin@SpiritOne.com> wrote:
> All of the above..................
>
> And the little sheer pin used as a handle on the nut tended to fall
> off if you put enough pressure on it to do the job.
>
> They sure were pretty though....................
>
> On Jul 13, 2005, at 10:03 AM, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos wrote:
>
>> Was the skewer problem with the later plastic-nut version, or the
>> original alloy-nut version, or both?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Jerry Moos
>> Houston, TX
>>
>> Eugene Powell wrote:
>>> First off, those were called "Hi-E Death Skewers" for a reason. A
>>> friend had many opportunities to chase his own wheel down the road
>>> and trail before switching out for a pair of American Classic QRs.
>>> Your dissatisfaction may have saved your
>>> life..............................
>>>
>>> A friend and housemate in college (que Tom Lehrer) was raised in
>>> Nashville TN, and went home to work at a local shop in the summers.
>>> He knew Harlan's son through the shop, he even went out to the shop
>>> a few times. I've been at him to find out what's become of Hi-E for
>>> several years now, and if old inventory, drawings, etc. could be had
>>> to keep all this fun stuff on the road. No luck so far, these folks
>>> seem to have dropped of the face of the earth.
>>>
>>> Anybody from Nashville?
Gene Powell
Rad Finishes
Portland, OR