Cycling UK Forum

I confess this is not something I have done as a separate exercise. However with need to preserve my new rims as much as possible I thought I may just get into practice with it. Is it just a wipe down with a rag or is there some cleaner I need to use e.g white spirit to clean out road gunk.

Thanks

You'd be better off checking you brake block for bit of embedded gravel. Otherwise I find el cheapo baby wipes work perfectly well.

freeflow wrote:You'd be better off checking you brake block for bit of embedded gravel. .............

+1 for that

To wash the rims, I use a bucket with a bit of water in, and an old brush....washing-up brush, dustpan brush, that sort of thing. The brush (and water) never goes as high as the hub.

As per Colin. Old dustpan brush

Yes, but do clean the brake pads. They can harbour grit and act like sandpaper. I take the wheels out quite often to do this, not every time but about every second or third clean. It will prolong the life of your rims. I expect in the future most bikes will have disk brakes, which I'm sure will be an improvement.

When cleaning with a brush, it helps to have a brushig action across the rim (ie along the wheel radius) rather than along the rim. It's slightly more awkward to do this, but it's more likely to tease out small particles caught in micro-scratches caused by grit in the brake blocks. Brushing round the circumference could embed them further.
Incidentally I also use a narrow plastic trough, such as those sold in garden centres for window boxes etc, filled with a couple of inches of soapy water and put the bottom of the wheel in this while cleaning. Saves having to take the wheel out to do a thorough job. (But make sure it's one without drainage holes!)

thanks all, nothing to it then!

I am sure that you could make something more of it.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=7126

but I havent reached that level of OCD ........ yet.

Moodyman1 wrote:As per Colin. Old dustpan brush

I use a new one!

Hi,
White spirit leaves a residue.
Soap and water, let dry, dap of meths on rag sparingly, wipe the rim brake face, take a clean tissue fold it and rub the rim brake face all round the rim, look at tissue
The black deposit is what you get off aluminium (i dont know why, might be the oxide) handling aluminium in my job every day made my hands black and dry, orrible stuff with out gloves.

Hi,

meic wrote:I am sure that you could make something more of it.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=7126
but I havent reached that level of OCD ........ yet.

As aluminium shreds so easily I dont believe that any abrasive cleaner is going to do anything, but wear the rim The more open the metal the more friction for braking. Just my opinion. Ok so refacing rim might restore something but shorten the rim life too.
Whether the mavic is a foam then coated or solid block you can buy them from a hardware motor shop for restoring chrome finishes.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... CCwQrQMwAA

the black stuff on rims is a mixture of brake block, dirt, and wheel rim debris. All of this stuff (plus bigger chunks that get embedded in the brake block) is potentially abrasive to the metal in the rim.

Aluminium oxides on exposure to air, and aluminium oxide then hydrates readily, drying out anything that touches it. This probably explains NA's feelings about handling it on a daily basis. Finely divided aluminium oxide isn't known for being especially toxic, but it is a fair bet that it isn't very good for you, either.

Aluminium oxide is pretty abrasive stuff; it is (I think) the abrasive ingredient in many metal polishes; as soon as the particles are small enough, the polish (+ debris of course) will look black in colour.

I have mentioned this before, but of my clubmate, years ago, would clean his rims with WD40. I thought he was nuts, but his brakes worked pretty well, so what did I know?

cheers

Brucey wrote:I have mentioned this before, but of my clubmate, years ago, would clean his rims with WD40. I thought he was nuts, but his brakes worked pretty well, so what did I know?

As a callow yoof, I would clean my bike with a soft rag with 3in1 oil on it. I'd do the rims too and it was great for getting the rubber residue off the braking surface.

Other than having chrome rims, I had no problem braking.

Hi,

Brucey wrote:the black stuff on rims is a mixture of brake block, dirt, and wheel rim debris. All of this stuff (plus bigger chunks that get embedded in the brake block) is potentially abrasive to the metal in the rim.cheers

I am not a chemist or metalurgist but thats black, Aluminium oxide
As we know aluminium was thought once to be impossible to weld as it oxidises so quickly, my old welding teacher used to gas weld aluminium He always had a bottle of whiskey hanging out of his coat

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,

meic wrote:I am sure that you could make something more of it.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=7126
but I havent reached that level of OCD ........ yet.

As aluminium shreds so easily I dont believe that any abrasive cleaner is going to do anything, but wear the rim The more open the metal the more friction for braking. Just my opinion. Ok so refacing rim might restore something but shorten the rim life too.

Nah, not compared to using the brakes in the rain.

I've always used those green kitchen scourer pads (usually come in packs of 4 from Wilkos) - aided by soapy water and/or Muc-off type stuff. Sure they very lightly abraid the rim, but they get rid of most contaminants. Wear is not an issue.

After having cleaned up the rim and brake blocks, if you look closely at the rim you may see embedded deposits of alu swarf - I call it marbling. You can often feel them. The way to get rid of these is to carve them off with a sharp curved knife (eg, a scalpel). Leave this stuff on and it will continue to interact with the brake blocks, causing more damage.

I will also use the knife to smooth down any dents/nicks caused by stones etc. Better to do that than the brake blocks.