RE: [CR]Is the real or imposter? - Skewer Maddness!

I believe, but could be wrong, that the early curved skewers were often used for fixed gear hubs. I have inded seen the early curved skewers with the open C so there is nothing off about the bike in question having them. I suppose it would be more correct to have flat skewers, but that is being quite picky. The ones in question appear to be period correct.

There was also a very large batch of curved skewers made in the early 1970's as well. Many Schwinn Paramounts had them if I recall. I think what happened then is that for a year or two, track racing rules allowed curved skewers, but then they were banned for track. I suspect Schwinn bought a bunch of them to equip their road bikes with. That was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Then in 1978 to meet CPSC requirements, Campy typically made all their skewers curved to meet the crazy regulations. Those late skewers can usually be identified as they typically, if I recall, have "locked" and "unlocked" written on them as well as other cosmetic changes.

Mike Kone in Boulder CO