Now I have decided to do a 58 Km ride on my birthday this year. That would be better with the roadie. So it is imperative that I instal the new pads. I had bought these Kool Stop in February 2021 off Happy Earth. You can read the post about it here . The two pairs for the front and rear had cost me Rs 3000. They are super premium by Indian standards. The oridnary ones cost Rs 250 or so. Incidentally, now I find they cost Rs 2000 each pair. Of course the exchange rate of dollar has also gone up.
Before I get into the nitty gritties of how I changed, I must say the test ride last night was super smooth in terms of rear braking performance. I never realised what I was missing with those hideous Merida OE brakes. I will need to tighten the brake levers just a bit. Right now I am reading up on the subject of how to do that.
There is nothing hi-fi about changing a brake pad. In fact I had changed them in my Surly before my Darjeeling trip (from Tektro to Kool Stop). The main challenge is to know what type of brake you have and then buy the correct ones accordingly. After that it's a matter of just using the allen keys properly. Remember to fit them in the correct direction. An arrow is shown on the rubber.
But my case was slightly complicated. I had to increase the gap between the brake caliper and the rim marginally. Otherwise the pads wouldn't fit. After much brain racking I decided to slacken the brake cable a bit. Possibly it got slackened a wee bit too much.
These brake shoes have two washers and a spacer. I kept the spacer and one of the washers on the other side of the caliper. On this side I have just one washer. It's working fine.
Before signing off, I must once again state that the new brake shoes or pads are simply excellent. Kool Stop really makes your bike stop very cool.
