Aero Rims (Zipp 404)

[Keith]

A heads-up for The Shadow, Sonic and other recent Zipp 404 owners - and possibly other deep aero sections.

I'd suggest you remove the screws maked 15 "Tyre Guide" shown in the piccy below from your front and rear brake housings:
[img]http://i39.tinypic.com/15ft652.jpg[/img]
[taken from the [url=http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/BR/EV-BR-7900-2868_v1_m56577569830651588.pdf]Shimano Tech Docs site[/url]]
Of course this may all be in the Zipp manual that may come with the wheels?, but I bought mine 2nd hand so hadn't a clue.

When your brake pads get around 1/3 worn, the "Tyre Guide" screws touch the aero section of the wheel, making a hideous (expensive sounding!) noise, potentially trashing the wheels, and preventing your brakes working effectively.

It happened to me about half way through yesterday's race. I'd experienced it once before, and removed the screws, but forgot all about it when I changed my groupset a couple of months ago. Yesterday's rain, grit and $hit on the roads took their toll on the brake pads. The solution for the rest of the race was to be at the front of the bunch on the descents and to not bother touching the brakes.

By the way, does anyone know what the heck the "tyre guides" are meant to do? My tyres seem to go round and round quite happily without much need for guiding.

[-Adam-]

Ah, yes, I ought to have told you that, huh!