While I did a good amount of riding during the week--a little more than usual, actually--I did not get to do much riding this weekend. My rear brake pads were worn to the point where I began to feel a little unsafe on faster rides, so I bought a set of pads, found some instructional videos on the internet, and replaced them.
This isn't the end of the story, however, as I noticed, while checking the alignment of my new brake pads, that the brake cable wasn't sticking out past the pinch bolt. It was broken inside it, yet was still being held in place. Yeah, I know, I should have noticed this before. Anyway, this made me nervous. I envisioned nightmare scenarios of me speeding down a hill and suddenly losing my rear brake because of the cable coming loose altogether.
I went to the closest LBS (local bicycle store--see, I'm even learning some cycling jargon), Downtown Bike Hounds, and found it closed. They'd changed their summer hours without updating them on their website. So I scooted over, with less than half an hour left, to the next one I could think of to buy a new brake cable. I asked the guy at Pieriks how much they'd charge to install it. Fifteen bucks! And the cable itself was only four.
Having just learned how to install new brake pads, I thought I'd just buy the cable and do it myself. The guy at the shop, I think mainly because they were about to close, was very encouraging. So I went home and removed my old brake cable, noting where everything was, and threaded my new cable in. Well, it wasn't actually quite that straightforward. For some reason I thought I'd have to unscrew part of the housing on my Shimano® EZ-Fire Plus shifter/brake lever. So I watched another little instructional video and figured it out. Duh! Removing and replacing the cable is so simple!
Once the new cable was installed, I noticed that one of the brake pads was leaning right against the rim while the other had some space. I thought it must have something to do with the spring. Every time I unhooked the cable, both brake arms seemed to spring back nicely. Once I discovered what I needed to do to loosen or tighten the arms, I thought both had to be equally tight. This is where symetry does not apply. I kept adjusting both sides equally. If I tightened one side, I'd similarly tighten the other. I got so damn frustrated that I could not stop the left pad from rubbing against the rim that I wanted to punch or kick something. I thought there might actually be something broken and, given my meagre budget, I'd end up being without a functional bike for a few days.
Fortunately, after making dinner and taking a break from the bike a little while, I took another look at it and decided to tighten the left arm and loosening the right. This worked. It then occurred to me that, since a v-brake is designed with the cable coming through one side to operate the brakes, the tension in the brake arms must necessarily be different to create balance.
While I feel silly for having become so frustrated with a matter so simple, in retrospect, I am happy to now know how to replace and adjust my own brakes. And Jihan will now stop laughing at me for the extent of my earlier frustration.
