Mavic Softstone Rim Cleaner

David Waters said:

According to the blurb this is a rubber block designed to clean all the
cr*p off your rims supposedly improving braking. Does anybody here have
any experience of them or know of a cheaper equivalent. SJS cycles are
selling these at £19.99 but for a block of rubber this seems slightly
overpriced.

You need to ride on muddier roads!

David Waters said:

According to the blurb this is a rubber block designed to clean all the
cr*p off your rims supposedly improving braking. Does anybody here have
any experience of them or know of a cheaper equivalent. SJS cycles are
selling these at £19.99 but for a block of rubber this seems slightly
overpriced.

I am hoping that by cleaning the rims thoroughly I may be able to stop
the horrible squeal that I have never been able to get rid of and which
hugely dissuades me from using the front brake. I noticed the other day
that when it was p*ssing it down and the rims got wet the squealing
magically disappeared, and so the rims probably just need a good cleaning.

Any thoughts/comments/suggestions?

they do seem somewhat expensive for a chunk of gritty rubber. Try an
electronics shop like Maplin or RS and get a PCB cleaning rubber. They
are basically the same and gently abrade the copper on the PCB, so
should be kind on the rims.

Other than that try some '000' steel wool.

Me, I just wash the rims regularly when they become dirty.

Pete

On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 14:39:08 +0100, David Waters
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

I am hoping that by cleaning the rims thoroughly I may be able to stop
the horrible squeal that I have never been able to get rid of and which
hugely dissuades me from using the front brake. I noticed the other day
that when it was p*ssing it down and the rims got wet the squealing
magically disappeared, and so the rims probably just need a good cleaning.

Well, a quick wipe with citrus degreaser every now and then seems to
work OK for me, but I have found that the Kool-Stop dual compound pads
I've just fitted to the wedgie are both quieter and more effective
than the old Shimano blocks.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

in message <[email hidden]>, David Waters

(') said:

According to the blurb this is a rubber block designed to clean all
the cr*p off your rims supposedly improving braking. Does anybody here
have any experience of them or know of a cheaper equivalent. SJS
cycles are selling these at £19.99 but for a block of rubber this
seems slightly overpriced.

I am hoping that by cleaning the rims thoroughly I may be able to stop
the horrible squeal that I have never been able to get rid of and
which hugely dissuades me from using the front brake. I noticed the
other day that when it was p*ssing it down and the rims got wet the
squealing magically disappeared, and so the rims probably just need a
good cleaning.

Any thoughts/comments/suggestions?

Methylated spirits is very good for getting rid of oily contamination on
rims and disks.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; All in all you're just another hick in the mall
-- Drink C'lloid

David Waters said:

According to the blurb this is a rubber block designed to clean all
the cr*p off your rims supposedly improving braking. Does anybody
here have any experience of them or know of a cheaper equivalent. SJS
cycles are selling these at £19.99 but for a block of rubber this
seems slightly overpriced.

One here @ £14.95 + £2:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7105270888

I have heard of a cheaper version -- sorry I can't remember the brand.

Quoted message said:

I am hoping that by cleaning the rims thoroughly I may be able to stop
the horrible squeal that I have never been able to get rid of and
which hugely dissuades me from using the front brake. I noticed the
other day that when it was p*ssing it down and the rims got wet the
squealing magically disappeared, and so the rims probably just need a
good cleaning.

Maybe but not definitely.

There are other ways of thoroughly cleaning the rim. The Mavic thing is
just supposed to make the job more convenient. Try: water & scrubbing
brush, then fine wire wool (don't use this too often), then meths. Also
sand brake pads (don't do that too often either).

Try toeing in the pads, if possible, so the front contacts rim before
rear. Kool Stop pads won't necessarily help for v-brakes.

~PB

David Waters said:

Any thoughts/comments/suggestions?

I've got one and it works extremely well. Someone here posted a much cheaper
alternative:

<url:
http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/index.html?http%3A//www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Polishing_Equipment.html&CatalogBody /url>

Simonb said:

Someone here posted a much
cheaper
alternative:

<url:

http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/index.html?http%3A//www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Polishing_Equipment.html&CatalogBody

Quoted message said:

/url>

It's the Garryflex (Medium B120) BTW -- bottom of page.

Jan Wysocki said:

Although a squealing brake can be useful as an alert to other road
users:-), the solution is simple. 99% of brake squeals can be cured
by making sure that your brake blocks are correctly 'toed in'.

That's an optimistic percentage.

~PB

In article said:

According to the blurb this is a rubber block designed to clean all the
cr*p off your rims supposedly improving braking. Does anybody here have
any experience of them or know of a cheaper equivalent. SJS cycles are
selling these at £19.99 but for a block of rubber this seems slightly
overpriced.

I am hoping that by cleaning the rims thoroughly I may be able to stop
the horrible squeal that I have never been able to get rid of and which
hugely dissuades me from using the front brake. I noticed the other day
that when it was p*ssing it down and the rims got wet the squealing
magically disappeared, and so the rims probably just need a good cleaning.

Any thoughts/comments/suggestions?

Although a squealing brake can be useful as an alert to other road
users:-), the solution is simple. 99% of brake squeals can be cured
by making sure that your brake blocks are correctly 'toed in'. The
other 1% are cured by removing the oil that you have accidentally
splashed on to your rim:-) You must be confident of using you front
brake confidently as its the most powerful brake on your bike - as
explained recently in another thread.

'Toeing in' means making sure that the trailing edge of the block
touches the rim first. So the trailing edge is the one nearest the
front of the bike for any 'V' cantilever or centre pull brake that
is fitted above axle height. Most brakes have a device for adjusting
the toe in by means of circular cams with a projecting adjusting
tab while the block is loose. You will of course need a third hand
to juggle all the bits! The instructions that come with brakes
will show you how to do this and I'd guess that both the Park Tool
and Sheldon Brown websites will show you how to adjust any brake
block, but now you know what to look for. When the trailing edge
touches the rim, you want the leading edge to be 1.5 to 2mm away
from the rim. A pice of thin card can be used to get the gap the
same on both sides.

HTH
--
Jan

Simonb <[email hidden]> wrote:
: It's the Garryflex (Medium B120) BTW -- bottom of page.

Our local hardware emporium sells something like this that is by
all accounts totally idential to the Mavic one. Price, erm,
£1.99.....

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
"Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook