stickboybike

I was servicing a road bike this week and this chap needed new pads. He had just finished a long ride in the mountains of Vermont and the descents got the best of the pads by the end of the ride. Aside from a wash, lube, and adjust to the bike I grabbed a full set of Shimano cartridge refill pads from the LBS.  In the photo to the left (rider's left side pad) you can see how caliper and pad flex affected the pad's wear and contact against the rim's braking surface. The pad would slightly pull away from the braking surface at the leading edge due to flex at the brake arm and some from deformation of the pad during hard braking. Some mechanics would say the pad was ducking out or toe-ing outward. Toe-ing in can reduce the chances of brake squeal and if the pad trys to toe outward, it self-corrects due to the intial toe-in; providing you with more pad contact against the braking surface of the rim.   I'm using  a penny, a dime will work as well, to toe-in the re

'Cross season is well under way in the USA. MARBRA Super8 Series has been getting plenty of action from all and last weekend's rain soaked race in Hyattsville, MD prompted me to do an entry on 'cross bike maintence.  Servicing your bike is an important job for any cyclist. I know, 'job' sounds like something you should loath but seriously folks, taking 45-60 minutes, to clean the bike could be the best thing to do besides eating a Nutella covered waffle and downing a doppio before your next training race. How often you  service  or clean your bike depends on your level of OCD, some of which I've throttled back on until recently when I moved to the eastern part of the county. Now I'm located near more farmlands and corn fields so the fact that every rainy/wet ride  I do  the road , leaves the bike with a wet film of cow poo from field run-off, has caused me to up my frequency of cleaning.  I love my Pedro Pro Brush Kit . It contains a ni

Last weekend was Hyattsville CX.  A big high five to In the Cross Hairs for making the most out of the size of the park we had to race at. It was wet, in the 50s, course layed out in the ghetto. Let's just say I did my best to race with my mouth closed, knowing that they hauled eight wheelbarrows full of beer bottles, trash and hypodermic needs out of the part before setting up the course... . ...RECAP!