Fixing

Some weekends end up being less about riding and more about fixing bikes. This was one of them.

By the end of Saturday morning I had fitted new brake blocks to one end of each bike and a new back tyre to the mountain bike. This should mean I can both go and stop better, which is good.

It’s always interesting replacing parts and seeing just how worn the old ones were. In this case I took off a tyre I knew was worn but was practically bald when compared to the new one. That might have explained the level of sliding about in the mud I did on the Mendips. The brake blocks were even worse. The ones for the v-brakes were just worn, but the disc brake pads for the mountain bike were so worn that at least one of the metal backing plates for the pads was about half the thickness it should have been. It seems various grinding muddy pastes and a bit of fast and hard braking will eventually wreck pads beyond what you can imagine.

I’m looking forward to getting out there again and riding the new bits and pieces.

A