There are loads of quick-release skewers available, but very few are anywhere near as good as the ones you get with any Shimano hubs or wheels. These skewers from Crank Brothers have a genuine low leverage advantage though.
The two half-levers close securely as one piece in the conventional way, with a nice broad platform to stop the bruising your hand. The cunning bit is that you can open each lever sequentially, effectively halving the effort needed – not essential, but you appreciate them when you’re knackered.
The fact they open so easily makes them good for triathletes as well as mountain bikers – they're easy to use with numb, cold or post-swim fingers.
They’re within 10g of most normal quick releasers too (124g), so no weight worries, and we’ve had no loosening or rattle trouble even when we’ve used them for some pretty extreme riding.
Corrosion-resistant black, orange, green, red or blue (or iodine, sage, opium and cobalt as Crank Brothers would have it) colours mean easy co-ordination for fashionistas.
