Moisture

What do you guys think of them? Vintage single walled 27x1.25 goodness. I have since overhauled the rear hub, changed out the rear tire and replaced the front rim with a 700x38 setup.

I've found the rear rim to be extremely strong. I can ride as hard as i want (at 220lb) without worrying about anything more than some mild bending.

I've been thinking of polishing up the rim/hub and spokes with steel wool or something. Opinions?

jamesdak 

I've had Araya rims before and they seemed fine.

Using steel wool on the spokes and such is normal practice for me on any bike I've recently picked up. I like bringing the shine back. I also use Mother's aluminum polish a lot of hubs and sometimes the rim. It just get's to be a lot of work on a rim if doing it by hand. Can restore a grey, powderly looking rim to a mirror shine thought with some effort.

Mr. 66

I have some beauties on a Takara that are so nice clean. Unfortunately the Takara is not of my size.

Good hubs, strong builds.

randyjawa 

I have a lovely set of those wheels, fitted with new tires and a Regina freewheel, They came fitted to an early sixties Torpado Professional. Great wheels even though I have no bike to use them on. Anyway...


Alloy and steel wool are not a thing to mix, in my opinion. A plastic scrub pad, soap and hot water works well on alloy rims. As for dirty spokes, be they stainless steel or just galvanized, can be best cleaned by rubbing with a piece of crumpled up aluminum foil - give it a try on oxidized chrome plating also. Results always amaze me...

Kilroy1988 

Yes, don't rub aluminum with steel wool, as steel is harder than most alloys and will scratch it easily. As a rule, always use a material for scrubbing that will give way faster than the object that is being scrubbed! It takes longer, but it greatly reduces the risk of damage.

-Gregory

Mr. 66

I've been using auto wheel cleaner on wheel crud, it's not a degreaser but it does clean cranks and brakes that are encrusted rather quickly. One thing though, the cleaner can harm the tire branding, so one could be careful around the labels.

dddd

I've never had a problem with using medium or fine steel wool on ANODIZED aluminum surfaces, the steel wool seems not to affect typical satin anodized finishes at all.

I prefer not to use steel wool on galvanized spokes though, since it will effortlessly strip off whatever protective zinc that remains, and this zinc is what keeps the electrons flowing in the non-rusting direction in damp conditions. I vote for the nylon scrubbie pad on galvanized spokes.

Also, on rusted fasteners and other cheap hardware, soaking in oxalic acid or even vinegar can strip off some of the non-chrome platings faster than the rust will come off, so if you see any bubbles, then assume that's the plating foaming off.

I used some prolonged rubbing using steel wool to remove the logo from this Kalloy-made stem, and it left absolutely no evidence of abrasion on the presumably anodized finish:



Sandpaper and ScotchBrite pads are another story, because their abrasive media is much harder than any steel wool. Scotchbrite will strip anodizing with enough rubbing.

One more warning, steel wool rubbed over a dirty surface will take on whatever abrasive dirt/dust is present, so can really scratch up chrome in a hurry, yet I often use steel wool on clean chromed surfaces without any such damage.

JacobLee 

Totally off the original topic, but I spent a few minutes scrubbing one of those Kalloy stems with steel wool today, and was surprised by the result. The stem had a really cheesy chrome finish, and I thought I’d just take some shine out of it. Instead, the chrome came right off and I found a tan primer. Seems like a good candidate for some black rattle canning. Anybody come across this before?

RobbieTunes

Got a set right here, bronze hubs, too.
Smooth as silk.

Moisture

I'm loving my rear Araya rim. I've heard that suzue hubs are super durable.

I rehauled mine while replacing the bent axle recently. Smooth as butter.

Reynolds 

Araya rims from the '90s were quite good in my experience.

Kabuki12

Araya made quite a few wheels back in the seventies through the eighties and I’ve never had a problem with them . I’ve never run Suzue hubs but I’ve had Sunshine hubs that are very similar. Like any of those cone bearing type hubs , maintenance is key to longevity and performance. Be careful not to over tighten the cones , always check them after loading them with skewer tension on the frame. Most of my bikes have stainless steel spokes so I just wipe them with the same polish I use on the wheels and hubs, Mothers Polish .

Murray Missile 

Haven't encountered that but I repainted a badly scratched up black Nitto stem with black appliance epoxy. It was a near perfect match for the gloss and so far, so good on durabilty.

bOsscO

Not totally unrelated but Suzue are still making hubs. I have a nice chrome set of disc hubs laced to Pacenti rims which look sharp.

clubman 

Likely a homemade repaint and spray chrome finish. Better to buff it all out and see what surprises lay underneath.

Moisture

My suzue hub seems to be a little bit loose. At first it was perfect. Then it became pretty loose. Tightened the cones. There is now a tiny little bit of play but it doesn't seem to be getting worse this time around.
any suggestions?

dddd

Always better a little loose than tight!

Sounds like a very slight bearing cone adjustment is in order, just be sure that there is at least some play in the axle before flipping the quick-release lever or the resulting axle compression will leave your bearing over-tight and binding roughly (as felt through the bars with the wheel off the ground and turning).
It is usually impossible to detect a rear wheel bearing's roughness due to the ratchet turning unless the chain is held free of the sprocket while the wheel is turned.

Moisture

If I try to make it any tighter inwards, the bearings will start to bind.

JacobLee 

Yeah, that’s where I’m headed. If it was a home job, it was really pro. Weird that someone would go through all that trouble for a cheap stem. Of course, here I am going through the trouble to remove it!

dddd

Sounds like rough bearing surfaces, in which case you might see considerable improvement with new GR25 balls and fresh grease without replacing the cones.

I rotate pitted cone surfaces against the corner of a flexible "unitized" or "de-burring" wheel (essentially a grinding wheel made from compressed Scotchbrite).
This smooths pitted cones enough to improve my ability to achieve a serviceable adjustment, though perhaps good enough for only a few thousand miles before requiring additional attention. I make the cone turn opposite the wheel's turning direction and flip the cone on it's axis once during this procedure to let the abrasive attack the edges of surface defects in both directions.

fleslider 

Usually when i see that issue the Axle is bent. I usually will strip the axle bare and roll it on something nice and flat to see if there is movement . a slight bend can be hard to see but will cause the binding like you are describing.

Moisture

The original axle was very badly bent when I replaced it and regreased the hub/added in new bearings.

I've managed to accidentally bend my current axle a bit , but its not too bad. Im a little hesitant to replace the axle again.

Someone suggested to me to try using a chromoly axle. Other than stretching the frame apart and using a wheel with a cassette, not many other options.

dddd

I've switched to a 10mm solid axle with nuts to replace a hollow quick-release axle or 3/8" (9.5mm) solid axle. Much harder to bend these(!), even my WalMart MTB holds up to hard riding using a 7s freewheel since I replaced the 3/8" solid axle with a 10mm solid CrMo axle and cones.

Moisture

Don't you need to replace the entire hub to do this?

The freewheel design tends to place quite a lot of stress onto the axles and bearings, due to its design.

Might be a silly question, but how common is a cassette with a solid axle? Im going to search up how the inside of a cassette hub looks like.

John E

I still use a 1970 old school Array 27" rim on the rear wheel of the UO-8, and it has held up well over the years. These were pretty heavy for aluminum rims, and one had to be careful with the spoking pattern, because the spoke holes were forward-back and left-right bias-drilled, so only one spoke lacing pattern made sense. Unfortunately, on many of them, the valve hole came up between two same-direction holes, i.e., between left and right side spokes that run parallel instead of diverging apart.