Jon Senior wrote:

With quick-release, if you have the skewers too tight, they can make the hub
bearings bind. Giant's bike manual suggested that the levers were too loose
if closing them didn't leave an imprint in my palm. Doing so meant the
wheels stopped rotating within about 3/4 revolution, compared to around 20
when loose.

That's only true if the hub bearings are misadjusted. With properly
adjusted quick-release hubs, there's slight looseness in the axle
bearings when the skewer is not connected, and when the skewer is
properly tightened, this slack is taken up without causing the bearings
to bind.

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/cones

Sheldon "Insert Nickname Here" Brown
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