Show Your Rims Some Love 💗
Caress your braking surfaces
Braking Surfaces Need Love Too
One simple thing you can do to keep your bike (and wallet) happier is to clean your braking surfaces. For those of you with rim brakes, that's gonna be the rim of your wheel. And for those of you with disc brakes, that's gonna be your discs.
You see, these are both consumables. They will wear down, whether you like it or not. Your job is to extend the life of said braking surface, and all you have to do is wipe it down. Takes about 30 seconds per wheel/disc.
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Why do braking surfaces wear down?
The short answer is because the industry wants them to. The long answer is that dirt/crap/road dust builds up on the braking surfaces and each time you squeeze your brake levers, that build up becomes a gentle exfoliant, expediting wear on poor quality metals that the industry chooses on purpose so that they wear down faster and you have to buy more stuff. So by cleaning the surfaces, the exfoliant is kept at bay, and your rims will live to see another day. Huzzah!
(I could wax lyrical about vintage alloy rims, they genuinely don’t make ‘em like they used to…😻)
What happens if I don't look after my braking surfaces?
They wear down to thin slivers of metal, and for wheel rims this means explosions due to the high pressure of tyres. For disc brakes, the rotors get warped, they probably start honking, and braking is compromised. But this is an area where disc brakes one up rim brakes, thanks to the no-exploding rims feature. Once your rotors get worn, you just pop on a new one, and leave the o.g. wheel alone. Much cheaper than replacing the entire thing.
How do I clean them?
For rim brakes, just get a damp old rag, and wipe the rims down. That's it.
For disc brakes, use an ultra clean old rag, and 99% pure isopropyl alcohol/isopropanol/rubbing alcohol, and wipe down your disks. (70% is good for anti-bacterial cleaning, but that’s not what we’re doing here, we need that gunk stripped.) DO NOT TOUCH DISCS with your hands/gloves as there will be oils that will contaminate your discs and ruin all your hard work. Also, do not use white spirit or surgical spirit or heaven forbid WD-40 (and before you ask, yes, this has happened multiple times), as these contain oils that will undo your braking completely.
Wanna Learn More?
Here’s a vintage episode of the Wheel Suckers Podcast I recorded with my old pal Alex from Look Mum No Hands, where I go deeper into rim brakes.
Wanna Get Your Hands Dirty?
Mechanic Amie is teaching our How to Change Rim Brake Pads lunchtime class. Caliper, cantilever, or V - all are welcome. Get your tickets here.
And Mechanic Silvi is teaching Disc Brake Home Maintenance, where you'll learn how to clean AND change your pads and rotors. Cable and hydraulic disc brakes both welcome.
New class dates are now up for March, check them out here!
Boycott Barclays Bank
From the Palestine Solidarity Campaign:
Barclays is bankrolling Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians through its financial ties with arms companies that sell weapons to Israel.
We’re calling on all concerned people to boycott all Barclays services until the bank ends its complicity in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians. On our first collective account closure day, 9 February, over 1500 people closed their bank accounts.
We’re asking everyone who still holds a Barclays account to pledge to close it on the 2nd mass account closure day, Thursday 21 March, to have the most impact. Barclays NEEDS TO KNOW that you are boycotting it, and to know why, so we’ve set up a simple way for you to inform the bank.
I have an account with Barclays: Click here to pledge to close your Barclays account on 21 March 2024.
You can use the Current Account Switch website to easily move your money. Sadly most banks have some sort of ties to weapons manufacturers, but for personal banking Triodos is probably the most ethical.
Boycotting is an effective way to make a statement. Hit them where it hurts.
That’s all for this week friends. Sending you some love.
Ride on,
Jenni x
