Bicycle Mechanics - Braking Surface

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TriDevil
07-20-03, 01:56 PM
How often do you guys clean the surface where the brake comes in contact with the wheel? I just recently cleaned it just for the heck of it and my braking power is greatly increased. should I do this after every ride or maybe just add it to the things I do once a week during lubing/wipedown?

khuon
07-20-03, 02:26 PM
I clean mine everytime I do a thorough cleaning of my bike which is about every couple of hundred miles or once a week or if there's a lot of buildup.
fujibike
07-20-03, 02:43 PM
And how do you clean them? Wipe with a damp cloth?

khuon
07-20-03, 02:56 PM
I scrub them with with a kitchen scrub brush/pad (Scotch-Brite) and some degreaser. WARNING - Do not use degreaser if you have sewups! You may also want to take some sandpaper to the pads themselves.
John E
07-20-03, 06:40 PM
Originally posted by khuon
... You may also want to take some sandpaper to the pads themselves.

Yes!
John E
07-20-03, 06:44 PM
Originally posted by khuon


Khuon -- What is the significance of your "deadbeef" signature? That happens to be the hexadecimal value we use to flag a particular type of error (read from an empty stack) in the communications system we are building. It's fun to see how many words one can spell using only the letters A through F, plus perhaps o and i, since the base-16 number system uses the numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, a, b, c, d, e, f.
khuon
07-20-03, 06:53 PM
Originally posted by John E
Khuon -- What is the significance of your "deadbeef" signature?

Well, the tradition back in the old IBM mainframe days... and this practice still exists on the RS/6000 platforms... was to fill/initialise memory with DEADBEEF for lack of a better fill pattern. Thus when a program crashed and the OS went to clean up, it will refill that space with DEADBEEF and if you poked at it, that's the pattern you'd find. The term, "looks like your code is DEADBEEF" has surpassed beyond the IBM world and into the general realm of computing... or at least it seems well known to "oldschool coders". I tend to crash a lot when I'm mountain biking so I thought it appropriate for me. :)
Trouble
07-20-03, 08:00 PM
Originally posted by fujibike
And how do you clean them? Wipe with a damp cloth?

Spray a cotton rag with brake cleaner and wipe em until there is no more black crap.
If the tire is still on the wheel avoid contact with the rubber.

If you ride under a 100 miles a week, twice a month and lightly scuff the brake pads each time as well.