You're just bitter. I scrub my rims like that when I replace the shoes. That takes quite a long time to wear out the shoes. And I always carry a pocketknife anyway. I haven't had to dig any glass or metal out of my pads for half a year.
Even if you get some, it will be quite a while before it scores a rim so bad you'd have to worry about it. You could ride it home.
I sand every wheel I buy, besides ceramic rims, which have a rough coating.
It only takes a few minutes, when you get the bike. BFD!
But millions of users the world over use cheaper pads, and lesser v brakes, and ride with dirty rims coated in rubber residue, road grime, and with bits embedded in their pads, and can still do stoppies like crazy and tire skids!
But their brakes probably squeel when its wet outside.
I've seen one of my high school friends knock a wheel out of round (flat spot) and out of true pretty bad, and the v-brakes were still useful to "controllably stop the bike". The wheel dragged a little each revolution, and the arms moved with the rim when applied. We built it with another rim, eventually. He rode it like that for months because he didn't care.
When the thin rotors on cable discs warp, what do you do?
PS you can get a set of powerful v-brakes, with new pads, cables, levers, adjusters, and fastening hardware for a couple hundred bucks. And they will come with a whole bike! hahaha.
I don't think v-brakes are a waste of time at all. I built a nice mountain bike a few years ago and I'm still running it. I don't want disc brakes. Esp cable brakes! V brakes are great and useful and and easy for me, lightweight and durable.
Happycheapskate,
quote: Have you tried taking one of those green kitchen scouring pads and some Dawn dish soap to your rims? Sandpaper also works well to machine the track and get the optimal braking surface. You don't need to take much off but just clean them and give it a little texture.
Giving your v-brakes "toe in" also helps. Make sure your v-brakes are lubricated properly at the rotation points, and the mounting nuts are tight.
It pays to keep some Wet/Dry paper and a small cheap knife, to get any metal/grit/rock out of your brake shoes, no matter what type you use. Eventually you'll get something in your brake shoe(s).
My goodness Happycheapskate, with all the above fraternisation of a system that requires so much adjustment and effort to have some semblance of reliability, you should just bite the bullet and admit that any form of brakes other than a reasonably priced set disk brakes is a waste of time.
Just bolt on a BB7 caliper and 8" rotor and be done with all the headaches, not to mention the ability to bring the bike to a controllable stop, even with light damage to the rim surface; the most critical safety factor, especially on a motorised bicycle.
If your bike doesn't have mounting lugs for disk brakes, get yourself another bike or disk brake forks.
Fabian