Jon,

The problem is that Kool Stops have a definite lack of compatibility (sound-wise, anyway) with grey, hard-anodized rims.

Case in point, my '61 Paramount is presently running the Kool Stops I had installed on it when I was running a pair of polished and clear anodized Araya box-section rims on it - I recently swapped those wobble-prone Arayas out for my Phil Wood wheelset equipped with hard anodized Mavic GP-4 rims.

The resulting squeal from the mix is virtually intolerable (and shock-inducing) to anyone within 300 feet of the bike, while the sound is audible for at least a mile. Works good to scare the **** out of the cagers when they try to blow stop signs, but I am still wary of the legality of the sound these brakes emit.

I do not know if the Kool Stop black compound is any different, but give me a shout if it works.

As for the red compound, unless someone is in want of VERY noisy brakes, don't use them on hard-anodized rims.

Take care,

-Kurt