Fat Ritchey QR skewer?

[moonlite]

Here's something unexpected: upgrading the standard wheels on my '99 Kona Explosif, I removed the front one -- with Ritchey hub -- for the first time and found it had a much fatter skewer than standard (see pics below). At first I thought the axle was coming loose, but it's definitely the skewer, which is effectively the same diameter as the axle (9mm I guess).

The rear is a standard Shimano LX.

I hadn't heard of this kind of skewer before and it raises a couple of questions -- such as, does this offer any advantages over the 'standard' old-fashioned skewer design, such as greater stiffness? And if so, why didn't it catch on instead of thru-axles becoming a thing? And finally, if this is better, would replacing it with a 'standard' old-fashioned version be an upgrade at all?

 

[grey-beard]

I have a set of fat skewers that I bought from superstar components a few years back. They were massively reduced and I just popped them in the basket whilst buying something else.
I presumed that I could pop the axle out of a standard hub and use these instead, but I failed to find any of my bikes that would accommodate them, so they're in a box in the garage somewhere.
I believe the idea is that they're stiffer, but I don't know why they didn't catch on, maybe thru axles just took over, maybe they came a bit late to the party.

 

[grey-beard]

Quick Releases - Superstar Components

Quick Releases

www.superstarcomponents.com

 

[moonlite]

I have a set of fat skewers that I bought from superstar components a few years back. They were massively reduced and I just popped them in the basket whilst buying something else.
I presumed that I could pop the axle out of a standard hub and use these instead, but I failed to find any of my bikes that would accommodate them, so they're in a box in the garage somewhere.
I believe the idea is that they're stiffer, but I don't know why they didn't catch on, maybe thru axles just took over, maybe they came a bit late to the party.

That's interesting -- I'm thinking that because the part that's in the dropouts is the same diameter as a standard 9mm axle, there wouldn't be much advantage to having this thickness all the way through the hub. But then maybe there are other factors I just don't get.