Cleaning carbon rim brake tracks

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  • Had a bit of a nightmare on (what should have been) a long ride yesterday. It was wet when I went out but not raining, however a torrential downpour started and my LB carbon rims (ultegra rim brakes, black prince pads a couple of months old) didn't stop me at all. Anything over 3% downward slope meant the bike wouldn't slow and more than that it accelerated with brakes on full. The rims feel very shiny, what can I do to clean them?

  • Clean with something like Mucoff (or favourite bike cleaning product) rinse well, rub pads and brake track with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol to be thorough

  • I think unfortunately braking in these conditions is just a bit shit. I'm too prissy to plan a ride in the rain, but when it's happened rim brakes/carbon rims braking power is way down. On top of the above, inspect the pads to check there's no grit stuck in them. Had this recently and scored a nice channel in one of my wheels :/

  • Accelerating while you had the brakes on full sounds pretty scary. Has anything like this happened before, and what is the braking like in the dry?

  • Braking is fine in the dry usually; we're not talking disc brake level obviously but enough power to lock the wheels up. Never experienced it before but the conditions were genuinely awful; the rain was as heavy as anything I've ever ridden in before.

    Going to clean up the rims and pads and go for a ride at lunch time to see how it all feels. I think the alloy wheelset will go back on for winter though.

  • Sounds like every carbon wheelset I've ever ridden in the rain. Once the rim warms up a bit, they work better, but generally all carbon rims are shit in the wet

  • Carbon = disc brakes. Tried to moderate speed going down Gravel Pit Hill (Oxted) on a fixed bike with single front brake, on was a hot day, ended up SQUEAAALING down the hill. Rubbish. Generally it's been fine, but always have enjoyed the fact that as it's a fixed bike I have an alternative way to scrub speed, or even stop at a push.

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Cleaning carbon rim brake tracks

Posted by Avatar for atz @atz

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