Was cleaning the wheel (braking surface) with some rubbing alcohol and decided to do the hub with same rag, took the anodizing right off! Kind of a joke for wheels that cost that much. If want some silver hubs, give it a whirl!

Was cleaning the wheel (braking surface) with some rubbing alcohol and decided to do the hub with same rag, took the anodizing right off! Kind of a joke for wheels that cost that much. If want some silver hubs, give it a whirl!

Wow!... rubbing alcohol? Sure you didn't have something else in there? I'd send them back...

Was cleaning the wheel (braking surface) with some rubbing alcohol and decided to do the hub with same rag, took the anodizing right off! Kind of a joke for wheels that cost that much. If want some silver hubs, give it a whirl!


what's a bigger joke? that they cost so much and are a total gimmick or that you bought into the gimmick?

what's a bigger joke? that they cost so much and are a total gimmick or that you bought into the gimmick?

Ouch...thats a little rough. Not a nice way to welcome new members! :hand:

Was cleaning the wheel (braking surface) with some rubbing alcohol and decided to do the hub with same rag, took the anodizing right off! Kind of a joke for wheels that cost that much. If want some silver hubs, give it a whirl!

FYI, the best way to clean braking surfaces is with a green scotchbrite pad. That really stinks about the hubs. I've never been a big Mavic fan since I don't think they are that great for the money. My .02 centavos.

what's a bigger joke? that they cost so much and are a total gimmick or that you bought into the gimmick?


Give it up already! How many people here really need anything more than a $1000 105 level bike? Who among us really needs CF? I could go on and on and on.... carbon stems are a gimmick. Biking is nothing but gimmicks.

FYI, the best way to clean braking surfaces is with a green scotchbrite pad. That really stinks about the hubs. I've never been a big Mavic fan since I don't think they are that great for the money. My .02 centavos.

Scotchbrite pad will not remove chain spatter from the braking surface - some sort of cleaner is needed for that.

BTW, rubbing alcohol will not touch anodizing so maybe they are painted?

simple green degreaser or cheaper degreasers work really well, and don't damage the finishes on parts and frames.
Rubbing Alcohol is really useless, throw it out.

Rubbing alcohol should not affect anodizing, the hubs must have some type of painted finish?

Mavic Softstone Block Rim Cleaner. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.....fourth
item from the bottom. It works great!


http://www.chickencycles.co.uk/products/wheels/pg_road_rims.html


Veni Vidi Vici

Give it up already! How many people here really need anything more than a $1000 105 level bike? Who among us really needs CF? I could go on and on and on.... carbon stems are a gimmick. Biking is nothing but gimmicks.

I'm hoping to upgrade to 105 this year :) But that's kind of a gimmick for me. I've got 3700 miles on a Sora/Tiagra combination and can't really fault them other than I'd like a couple of more gears that I don't really need.

Yes, cycling is (almost) nothing but gimmicks- I only switched to indexed shifting and clipless pedals couple of years ago, but those are gimmicks I can live with. And it's unreasonably expensive for what it is, but if you look at the money you can spend in some other sports- like any of the auto or equestrian sports, and suddenly cycling is dirt cheap.

And it's unreasonably expensive for what it is, .


I just spent 50 bucks each for bike tires.... my car tires were only 39.00 each. Thats just wrong.

But hey, maybe im comparing high-end bike tires to low-end car tires.....but still.... jeez !

I agree that anodizing should not be affected by alcohol, not even by lacquer thinner. I have an automotive background and lacquer thinner is probably the strongest stuff I know (except methylene chloride). It contains multiple solvents like toluene, xylene, acetone, methanol and other alcohols, and maybe stuff like ethyl acetate. The first three really do the job. But what can you say? It happened.

I had a $120 Shimano fishing reel and I couldn't believe WD40 took off the lettering. I complained and they replaced it. Must have been defective paint. On the replacement reel, I coated it with automotive acrylic urethane to be sure.

What I use to remove brake pad gum from rims is use a Scotchbrite pad and some light petroleum distillate like WD40. After scrubbing a bit and dissolving it I remove the gunk with a paper towel, than go over it with a towel with rubbing alcohol to remove the oil completely. Lacquer thinner is the one-step best thing to use but it will swell rubber if you accidentally get it on the tires.

Be careful with Simple Green, which is 8% 2-butoxyethanol. I used it a lot on engine blocks, and I have seen it dull enamel paint! I won't let it get on critical paint jobs.

I just spent 50 bucks each for bike tires.... my car tires were only 39.00 each. Thats just wrong.

But hey, maybe im comparing high-end bike tires to low-end car tires.....but still.... jeez !

But ya need four of 'em for your car . . . so that's $160 :prrr:

Be glad you don't own tubulars. Been shopping for some for my Bora Ultras. Top of the line are $129 Contis which the pros use. My God! $260 for bike tires!

what's a bigger joke? that they cost so much and are a total gimmick or that you bought into the gimmick?

Don't know why people are so hard on Mavics. I believe they are used a lot for Paris Roublaix. I'm a Bora Ultra owner, but I really like the Mavic Elites that came stock on one of my bikes: stout and durable, if 1770 gms. Didn't LA ride SLs up the Alp D'Huez on one of his early tours until Discovery went with Bontragers all the way?

Give it up already! How many people here really need anything more than a $1000 105 level bike? Who among us really needs CF? I could go on and on and on.... carbon stems are a gimmick. Biking is nothing but gimmicks.

just like golf :rolleyes: ... but a nice bike is a nice bike.

PS. has anyone priced a baseball bat lately?

I just spent 50 bucks each for bike tires.... my car tires were only 39.00 each. Thats just wrong.

But hey, maybe im comparing high-end bike tires to low-end car tires.....but still.... jeez !

Apples to apples- it's not difficult to spend $500 per tire for a car, or $2000 for all its shoes. A lot more than $100 for bike tires? No. I get about 1500 miles on a rear tire, and to be generous let's say 3000 on a front. That comes to about 5 cents per mile for the pair. Now figure $2000 for car tires that last 30000 miles. That comes to about 6.6 cents per mile for the car tires. Do the math on the $39 El Cheapos? Figure they last 20000 miles, and it's less than a cent per mile. On the plus side, riding is a lot more fun that driving, so maybe we're paying for the grins :)

Was cleaning the wheel (braking surface) with some rubbing alcohol and decided to do the hub with same rag, took the anodizing right off! Kind of a joke for wheels that cost that much. If want some silver hubs, give it a whirl!

You know, if you didn't do too bad a job on them, a sharpie does wonders. If you really took a lot off, then a can of spray paint might be in order, but the masking will be horendous (use a low tack masking tape since you know the coatings aren't real good). If you use an epoxy paint it'll probably last longer than the bike.