Skewer sizing

[k0p4n]

Hi bicycle tutor board members!

I have a question for you all and the question is: how are the bicycle skewers measured?
I have some an old quick release set that broke, where the small nut holding the metal cap where the handle is came out.

In any case, I was planning on replacing the skewer but saw that there are so many sizes. I need about 110mm in the front and 145mm in the back but some of the skewers are like 130mm or 165mm. They're also on ebay so i dont know how reliable the sellers are at measuring their skewers.

So I was planning on going to the bicycle shop to see if they have any but even then, how would I know how big the skewers would have to be?
Where do I measure?

Thank you so much.

jeong

[nfmisso]

A bit of quick research on Amazon suggest that different manufacturers measure skewers differently, leading to a lot of confusion.

For example:
http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Ultegra-6700-skewer-rear-130mm/dp/B003RLFN3S/
http://www.amazon.com/Avenir-Quick-Release-Front-Skewer/dp/B003CGE6AE/
http://www.amazon.com/Avenir-Quick-Release-Skewer-Wheels/dp/B0039UZ7FQ/
http://www.amazon.com/Salsa-Stainless-Tandem-Black-Skewer/dp/B001C67K54/
the above Avenir, Salsa and Shimano are using the hub's OLD.

Where as this WheelMaster appears to use the overall length of the skewer
http://www.amazon.com/Wheel-Master-Replacement-Q-R-Skewer/dp/B000AO9PPM/ref=sr_1_21?s=cycling&ie=UTF8&qid=1306587425&sr=1-21

[Bill]

This is good information and yes I agree where it gets confusing. I asked a similar question here http://forums.bikeride.com/thread-884.html . Honestly to keep it simplistic I wish all of them would go with overall length.

[k0p4n]

exactly what im saying
thanks guys (: