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Shimano qr levers are functionally fine
And anything which needs twisting as it tightens can never be as good; because you're winding it up and pulling it at the same time, the stresses get added up so they break at a much lower tension than skewers which are pulled tight by a cam. There isn't any magic by which somebody can make an M5 screw which can pull as hard as 5mm tie rod. There's a little wiggle room if you really had to avoid the lever by using higher strength steel, but Shimano skewers are already strong enough that no amount of material improvement will allow an Allen key skewer to catch up. I could design something which would have the appearance of an Allen key skewer which could be tightened to cam-QR levels of tension without applying any torque to the skewer, but it would require two tools to tighten/loosen. If your aesthetic objection to the lever is enough to make you spend £200 on a skewer, get back to me and we can talk :)
gbj_tester-
Splendid answer, thank you. My engineering mind won't allow an inferior solution at the expense of aesthetics; I had it in mind that the qr allen key skewers were failing due to thread stripping rather than failure of the skewer itself - not so?
I'll admit I hadn't thought about windup. I dare say a decent thread lube would limit this, but still it is a good point.
My £200 will likely be spent on a rear solid axle, a front qr Allen key skewer, and about £185 of wine gums, but I'm nevertheless curious about how you'd solve the problem given an unlimited budget...
(I take it the tap-axle-internally-to-receive-a-machine-screw mod isn't deemed sufficiently clampy for a horizontal dropout?)
Cupcakes
Does anyone make an Allen key skewer for a quick release hub (Shimano) that is burly enough for use on a bike with horizontal dropouts?
I fancied getting some halo skewers but quite a few reviews say they can't take adequate tension without snapping.
Shimano qr levers are functionally fine, but I'd like a more streamlined aesthetic.