Bicycle Mechanics - removing tubular glue

I was given a pair of nice Mavic Gel330 rims with some really nasty
glue caked on them. What would you suggest to aid in removing it?
Assume here that I really don't want anything too toxic....

thanks in advance,
Marty

Mineral Spirits or Paint Thinner if you're non-eco.

Citrus Solvent for the environmental astute!

Well, the mineral spirits will work, but Acetone will work even better. It will also remove clear coat, base tape, decals, etc., so be real careful using it.

Scrape off what you can with a chisel, knife, wire brush etc.
I've tried MANY different solvents, most often plain old car gasoline works best, strange but true.

Ride with less glue
Pat

3m adhesive remover is the best stuff i've found. apply liberally to wheel. wait 10-15 minutes. start again to apply liberal amounts of cleaner and work your way around wheel. I've found that towels work best at grabbing glue.

You could skip all harsh solvents and just attach a wire wheel to cordless screwdriver. I had to two wheelsets with Mavic GP4's and both had layers of old glue. The wheel took it off like nothing and just old glue powder to sweep up afterwards.

I use a scotchbrite wheel mounted on a drill press. Allows very gentle pressure and I just go around the wheel. Also, I wouldn't worry about getting every last bit off, a little old glue does no harm. Just hit the big lumps and leave the rest.

Be careful when you use solvents and the rim is already mounted. Some of it can get trapped in the rim and around the spokes, then seep out after you've re glued your tires and soften the new glue with bad results. .As awful as the old glue looks, scrape off the big chunks and the remaining will assisted in giving a coarse surface for the new glue to adhere to. If you must use a solvent, I found Parks ChainBrite will attack it quite well.

Ditto on the Acetone (aka nail polish remover, available everywhere)

If the glue is really old and hard, most chemicals will not be effective and will take literally days and lots of elbow grease to remove it.
Use a Dremel with a brass wire wheel tip. I did this on a set of GL330s (after being unsuccessful with various recommended chemicals and thinners) with 25+ year old glue on it that was hard as amber and it took only a few minutes to do the two rims. Don't worry about the dark anodizing on the rims as it will not be affected/damaged. Just don't dig in too hard with too much pressure. Make sure you have a dust mask on too as the Dremel will throw up glue dust in clouds if you have enough glue on there.
Oops forgot to mention,...Use eye protection as the small brass brush wires and glue particles do fly off the dremel bit.

Chombi

What Chombi said is probably the easiest and safest method. If you're going to use solvent acetone is probably the best bet as OMS and other thinners can often be too non-polar to dissolve most adhesives. Don't use gasoline, gasoline often leave behind a residue that can interfere with the tire mounting later on, not to mention it stinks. Acetone will evaporate cleanly.

hey guys, this is a 10 year old thread!!!!
I managed to get the glue off, in fact I have a nice
collection of GP4, Gel330s and other tubular rims all
glue free.

:lol:
Haha, wow I didn't even realize that when I commented. Glad to hear everything worked out for you.