I've been rocking an old Schwinn Suburban that I've refurbished as a singlespeed, and the only wheel I had available to me were old steel ones. I live in Eugene, OR (RAIN); and the front wheel which has a perforated surface brakes reasonably well when wet, but the rear has next to no stopping power as soon as any moisture touches it. Does anyone have any ideas how to improve stopping power for my smooth steel wheel? I was wondering if maybe marring it with steel wool would improve the situation? Any suggestions are appreciated.

This is a historic problem with steel wheels. You can try a different set of brake pads. Your LBS should have some good advice on what works for rain. Other than that, get a new rim or wheel. Steel wool will just make it smoother.

Steel rims are terrible. I guess Eugene doesn't have bike stores, but there's a lot of places on teh internetz that sell aluminum ones, that would probably ship them to you if you have an address.

don't listen to these jokers, steel is real.

how in the world can you not get anything but steel in eugene? Thats bogus! Fixed wheels go on CL daily, and you can get cheap al wheels at just about every shop in town. your solution is to get new wheels! If it's a budget issue I don't buy it since I know you can get a set for next to nothing. If I had a set I'd sell ya one but the only set I have left isn't cheap.

Yeah, real heavy.

don't worry, as a rule I never listen to anyone who replaces the letter "s" with the letter "z"

Sorry, I'm being jerky today.

You said you've 'been rocking' it, implying you've had it set up with steel wheels for a while.

If you want to keep it SS, I'd put a WTB ad on craigslist for cheap old aluminum road bike wheels. Say you don't want to spend much. See who responds. I can't imagine you'd have to pay more than $40 for a pair, probably less.

I could buy a new aluminum wheel; I only had steel wheels in my possession. Also, it's not a fixed. A Suburban would make a terrible conversion; it's a singlespeed. My Rush is my fixed.

right, well get rid of those wheels and buy/build some al ones ASAP. Props on having a SS too it's a blast around here to have both ss and fixed.

In time. I'm in the middle of a pricey wheel build right now and not getting many hours at work, so it'll have to wait. The front wheel actually stops just fine, I had a cheapo alum rear wheel until about a week ago when I stripped the hub on the ped bridge, in between Wash and Jef, over the train. Now the rear wheel pretty much sucks in the rain, but I can get by with just a front brake until funds free up. And yeah, it's def nice to have a SS that won't get wrecked or stolen at the bars.

Oh man that sux. I live just up the road from that bridge. What wheels are you building up?

New wheels for the Rush. Somax blue hubs (fixed/fixed in the rear), black Velocity Aerohead rims and some good old silver double butted spokes. What're you riding?

No worries, sometimes I get jerky in response as it can be difficult to get serious responses on this forum.

you can crush things better with steel rims, like small animals and cars. keep em, and just glue sand paper or pieces of gravel to your brake pads. Or coat the rims with honey. totally works

I'm rolling around on a while kilo frame with lf phils to OP's, rb21 horns, and a white Flite. Also my ss is a black dawes with nitto 617's and a CETMA rack. those are the two steeds in my barn right now but it's constantly changing and adapting. You around the Whittaker area too?

Fibrax raincheater brake pads.

I'm about 5 blocks north of the Whit, in West Eugene.

nice me too. 8th and jeff. We should catch a pint sometime!

for sure, PM me, and we'll grab a Ninkasi somewhere

You know you can just remove the rear brake...problem solved

Yea, the only thing that's worse is when someone is "rocking" something.

maybe not for these guys:

awww... is so adorable when people find true love on the internetz.

THere is nothing you can do to improve steel wheels in the rain. You can perhaps try scott mathhauser or salmon koolstops but really you're only realistic solution is rims that are made of aluminum.