Tires Good, brakes bad

I've finished the gluing process and the tires seem fairly well stuck to the rims. I will see how they are tomorrow night but I would be confident riding on them at the moment, I just can't imagine the tires rolling off the rims as the force required to move them with my thumbs is more than I can foresee occurring on a road.

The brakes, however, do not inspire confidence. Only the front brake is connected at the moment and on application the entire bike shudders. I will replace the pads when I can find a good replacement here (Such as the Kool Stop Salmon pads recommended by Sheldon Brown) in Melbourne but I am not convinced that will solve all the problems. The stray bits of tire glue would probably not be helping the braking either.

I've followed Sheldon's advice here and am trying the Shimano RX2000 levers that were already on the bike. Whilst I would like to get some Mafac levers for appearance's sake, if I am going to ride this thing down Mt. Dandenong then I want the best brakes I can get my hands on.

The wheels most certainly need to be trued and I guess the bike shop would need to take the tires off for that. That is a shame.

Anyway, I will head out on the bike for a cruise after work sometime this week when I've installed the rear brake and report back on how it felt.

Edit: I have ordered some Kool Stop Mafac/Campy replacement pads and will report on their usefulness shortly.

Tubular gluing has commenced.

Following Dave Moulton's procedure I have begun gluing my tires.

Major problems I will know about and document by the weekend, minor problems with my technique, however, I will probably only find out about when road starts to eat at my face and sides.

Off to buy some brake cables tomorrow to see if the Shimano levers currently aboard can at least get me out on the road.

This week I have mostly been: cleaning tubular glue

It is not necessary to remove old tubular glue unless it is old, uneven or cracked. I think this ancient adhesive is probably 3/3 there.


Paint thinner is one way to remove the old glue, however, I wouldn't trust myself with paint thinner anywhere near the timber in or around our house so I chose steel wool and 2 episodes of Top Gear instead.


I was pleased with the results and although it isn't a mirror finish my arms were sore and the surface will only be glued anyway.