My first real effort at cleaning a rim was 6 years ago, and worked quite well. I've since repeated it a couple of times. I put the wheel in a stand, went outside and spun the wheel slowly while spraying lightly with brake cleaner. I continued this for a few minutes, maintaining only a slight wetness to the concave surface, then wiped off all the jellified glue. I could hardly have been any easier. This works best in a cool environment since the cleaner doesn't evaporate as fast, so I do it at night. This isn't as bad, environmentally, as it sounds, if one uses the minimum of spray needed to soften the glue, but it takes a few minutes to soften the thickest deposits, which then come off with one wipe of a counter-rotating balled-up rag or paper towel. Often when re-mounting a tubular, I find no need to clean the rim other than picking out some glue pieces and later cleaning the sidewall with a WD40-dampened rag. WD40 seems to have no deleterious effect on braking, but it's diminutive residue actually seems to help the grip of some age-hardened brake shoes, for a short time anyway.
David Snyder Auburn, CA
From: "Steve Leitgen" <sleitgen@charter.net> Subject: [CR]Cleaning old tubular rims
> Any sugestions on cleaning the goo off old tube rims? Heat gun? Solvent?
> Belt sander?