Bike Repair Twosday

The Goat's rear brakes were grinding yesterday morning, and were worse last night, starting to chew up my rim. Upon inspection, I found that one of my rear pads had some aluminum built up in it. This isn't uncommon, and I've had the same problem with the OEM brakes on my road bike before I switched to the Swissstops. Furthermore, though, the pads were pretty much hosed anyways, so I set out to get some new ones.

My road bike has some issues as well, so I took it to Bike America while brake pad shopping. They offer free lifetime tune-ups on all new bikes purchased there, which is really a hell of a deal when you consider how much labor could potentially cost for tune-ups alone. If you need a wheel trued up, a new chain, or a complete overhaul, all you pay for is parts. I figured I'd let them work on my 1200 now when business is slow. While I found my brake pads, Tyler went to work.

The main thing that I noticed with my 1200 is that the spokes on my new Shimano R500 rear wheel were hitting the derailleur in its lowest gear. I rarely go down that low, but on the occasions that I did, I was greeted with "ping ping ping" and quickly shifted up again. My hanger was slightly bent. Tyler re-set it for me. My rear wheel was a bit out of true as well. He straightened it up. He also did a quick lube and overhaul of my front brake, which I didn't know was in dire need of attention.

With as bad as my brake cables were last time I checked them, I went ahead and picked up a good length of brake housing, two new brake cables, and the various ferrules and ends for them.

The brake pads I picked up for The Goat (shown above) are Gigapower brand replaceable pads and holders resold under the Bontrager label. I opted for replaceable brakes this time around. The Bontrager and Kool-Stop Linear-pull ATB brake pads will fit these holders, so finding replacements will not be an issue.

The Goat needed a lot more help than I'd initially thought. I ended up completely refurbishing all of the brake pivots. I mean I completely tore both cantilevers completely apart, cleaned them all up and re-lubed them before re-assembly. I gave the frame a good, thorough wipe-down as well, and half-ass cleaned the drivetrain. I started around 8pm and I didn't get finished until close to midnight. Granted, I took a break for supper in there somewhere, but still...

I need to take The Goat in to get the rear wheel tweaked. All the rest of the stuff I was going to have the bike shop do after winter's left us, I did on my own last night. I can true wheels, but I don't have a truing stand so I can't guarantee I'll get the rim centered properly and the rear wheel's out of true in several places making it hard for me to judge what part of the wheel is where it should be and what part is out of whack. I'd rather leave that to a pro.

I didn't have time for a shakedown, but at least I knew my 1200 would be in great shape.