Machined vs non-machined brake track

[Michael Williams]

I also had a question regarding machined vs non-machined braking surfaces. Do people ride both on the list? Do they stop/ feel the same? Any pros/ cons of one vs. the other? I’ve only ridden machined so I don’t know any different. They stop great, crisp. Non- machined seems to be a little less expensive?. Thanks. -Mike

[Patrick Moore]

I've used both, and I can't tell the difference in braking effectiveness, though perhaps machined tracks means slightly smoother braking, since you don't have those protruding rim joints -- "thump-thump-thump" -- that appear, say, on some of my Sun rims. But I'd trade smoothness for a bit more rim wall thickness.

I was riding the 1999 Joe Starck yestiddy, which has a single, front, single-pivot Dia Comp Royal Grand Comp caliper with the statutory salmon pads, pads probably as old as the bike. The brake, activated by 74xx-series Dura Ace levers, is very powerful, modulates very well, and has a nice ("nice") feel. It also maximizes clearance for a front fender, if fenders were things I'd put on this bike. The Tektro 559 or whatever that I used on another Riv were palid and consumptive by comparison and crowded the fenders.

Point (yes! there is a point!) The quality of your brake is far more important that the machining of your brake track.

On Wed, Aug 12, 2020 at 2:09 PM Michael Williams <mkernan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I also had a question regarding machined vs non-machined braking surfaces.   Do people ride both on the list?   Do they stop/ feel the same? Any pros/ cons of one vs. the other?   I’ve only ridden machined so I don’t know any different.   They stop great, crisp.  Non- machined seems to be a little less expensive?.   Thanks.   -Mike

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[Garth]

  I've used both and frankly I prefer the non-machined. It's all that used to be and to me it's "normal". Isn't that the way it goes !!!

[Kainalu V. -Brooklyn NY]

I've had good non-machined and I've had bad non-machined, I've only had good machined, and so I took a few hours of my life and machined my non machined with some sand paper and elbow grease. I broke my collarbone last November and I've come to blame the non machined brake tracks I was wearing in at the time, so yeah, machined for me.
-Kai

[Sam Perez]

I've used both I can't tell the difference 

On Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 1:08 PM Michael Williams <mkernan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I also had a question regarding machined vs non-machined braking surfaces.   Do people ride both on the list?   Do they stop/ feel the same? Any pros/ cons of one vs. the other?   I’ve only ridden machined so I don’t know any different.   They stop great, crisp.  Non- machined seems to be a little less expensive?.   Thanks.   -Mike

[Nick Payne]

I prefer non-machined - the rims will last longer before needing replacing as the machining a) decreases the thickness of the rim wall at the brake track, and b) leads to variations in the thickness of the brake track around the circumference of the rim. Velocity offer quite a few of their rims in either machined or non-machined versions - I always choose the non-machined ones if they are available.

Jobst Brandt's take on machined rims was this: "What you hear and read is mostly marketing hyperbole, but machining rims has its reason, and it isn't for your benefit. If you inspect a machined rim closely, you'll find a surface that looks as though made by a thread-cutting tool. The purpose is not to get a flat braking surface, but rather to produce a series of fine grooves to prevent brake squeal on new bicycle test rides."

Nick