Lightly grinding a rim

Anthony

Retrobike Rider
If somebody said they had lightly ground a rim to improve the braking for trials use, would you say that was a rim to avoid? It's a beefy enough rim, so I'm not suggesting it would have a serious impact on strength, but what about the longer-term effects on the surface/wear rate etc?
 
depends who's done it. my mates kids did it themselves and there's no way i'd want it on my bike.

pro stuff i have seen looks better but i bet it rips brake pads apart.
 
if you are also going to use it for trials it's a bonus, if you plan on using it for XC etc then I would stay clear as it will munch your brake pads.

You grind rims to help with the bite and grip, normal 'draggy' rather than 'clampy' braking will cause it to eat right through your pads very quickly and might also give you a jerky feeling when braking.

Matt
 
Rim grinding is very common with trials bikes. Only use if you want your brakes to be on or off, like STOP or off. For any use other than trials it has rendered the rim useless for rim brakes.

Pip
 
At the Isle of Man TT races a few years back I saw a bloke attacking his disc brakes with a hand-held electric sander to de-glaze them. I've used a bit of wet and dry or very fine sandpaper on bicycle rims and discs to de-glaze them.

Back in the day when I were a nipper, we had to content with a brake booster for the Vs and pouring Coke (not Diet) on the rims for trials :D Them were the days, riding off bottle banks 'n' stuff......

SP (in a rosy haze of trials nostalgia)
 
Sounds like when he says he lightly ground this rim, he means he's gone a bit further than de-glazing it! What I can't yet fathom is why lightly grinding the surface off the rim makes it super-sharp in braking and super-destructive to pads, and yet a rim with the surface worn to a concave shape gives feeble braking and does nothing to the pads. Has the concave surface been super-polished as well as worn away?

If you persevere with a lightly-ground rim for a while, do the pads gradually polish the surface back into a less ferocious state?
 
Back
Top