Pete Cresswell writes:

One of my riding buddies (about 50 years of racing) had a crack up
one morning. He failed to adequately tighten the QR on his rear
wheel...

My point here is that these sort of accidents can and do happen.

I've never had an accident. I'm still trying to train myself to
check QR tension before getting on the bike. I do it sometimes and
when I remember that I forgot, I stop and do it right then and
there.

This sounds like poltergeists are at work. What sort of QR's are you
using? If the QR was tight when you put the wheel in, then it ought
to remain that way for a long time. Having ridden a QR equipped
bicycle for a long time, I am convinced that this is not a common
hazard of QR's. I've taken many 2000 mile rides in the Alps with
rough roads and hard braking, never once removing the wheel on many of
these where I had no flat front tire.

Having said that, one day I pulled the bike off the carrier on the
back of my car, got on it, and rode off: no check. First time I
applied the front brake it felt funny. Turned out front skewer was
*really* loose - i.e. just a little more and the wheel would have
come out. As it was, the lawyer lips probably saved me.

So how did it get loose and why? Besides, I have ridden substantial
distances that included hard braking with the QR open with no effect.
What did your wheel do that you could notice when braking?

I'll never know why it was loose - user error the night before? -
something about vibration on the rack?...

Sounds like poltergeists.

But the reason seems moot to me. The bottom line seems to be that
somebody of reasonable intelligence and reasonable diligence could
wind up having a wheel come out in use - all they would have to do
is forget to check the wheel before riding and have it loose at that
time.

You would have to have lift-off from the road for the wheel to come
out. I suppose that isn't so rare in off road riding but it isn't
common in road rides.

I still use skewers, but only because they're the only game in town
without replacing all 3 of my forks and building new wheels.

And why would you not want QR wheels unless you never get flat tires
and always carry wrenches in your patch kit?

Other than that, trading the extra 20 seconds I'd have to spend
changing a front tire for knowing that wheel isn't coming loose, I'd
go for through-axle in a heartbeat.

That sounds a lot like elastic waist band, belt and suspenders to make
sure your pants don't fall down. You make it sound like the QR is a
vestige of ancient professional road racers who changed their own
tubulars. I am glad to inherit the device, regardless of its origin.

Jobst Brandt