Changing Brake Pads on Roadie

Day before yesterday I changed the brake pads (I am not sure if they are to be called brake pads or shoes but I changed the entire housing and rubber) of my Red Roadie. I changed only the rear ones in the first go and will change the front ones tonight. The Roadie's odo says 4262 Km (after the 10 Km trial run last night). It had the original factory fitted brake pads from Merida which had worn off, to put it very mildly. In fact after my August 21 accident I had entirely taken off the rear pads  and installed the bike on my Elite (on a trainer you are not supposed to use the brakes) for rehab at home, complete with the training wheel. The training wheel being slightly wider than the Merida regular wheel, it made sense to the brake pads off.

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.

New Brakes For Roadie

 

I just got for myself two sets of brake pads for my Red Roadie. These came in from Happy Earth and cost me around Rs 3000 for the two pairs. These are arguably one of the best brake shoes available in this country, if not the world. 

The brake shoes that I have are there since the beginning. They came OE with the new bike and it never occurred to me that they might ever need to be replaced or might even need cleaning. After taking them off at around 2500 Kms the other day, (read about the cleaning here) I realised they were hopelessly damaged from use without maintenance. I am not sure if they require an immediate replacement (they are working fine as of now and the bike is indeed stopping pretty well, save for the hideous, gritty noise once in a while) but I went ahead and bought the new sets nevertheless. I don't want to wait for even a day if and when the current ones give way. Right now there is a terrible crisis of bicycle components and accessories.

I will keep a detailed note about how to replace and adjust the pads, when I do replace them. I know it's very simple but still I would like to keep a detailed record. 

Incidentally yesterday I did an adjustment to Mezda's rear brakes. He felt the brakes were not hard enough and asked me to ensure that it aligned perfectly with the rim on the left hand side, which I did. After getting back home he reported it was holding remarkably well. Seems like a happy customer. My only customer so far. 

Brake Pad Upgrade And How To

Just finished a mini upgrade of sorts for the brakes. I changed my OE Tektro brake pads with a pair of Kool Stops bought from BOTS Bangalore for Rs 2500 (two pairs). I don't know what the model is called precisely but it has V-type Holder written rather prominently on the packaging. I was advised this particular model by the BOTS team's Gautam.

The first thing that you notice about these pads is that they are quite large.  Much larger than the Tektros. This is supposed to be an advantage as it gives you more surface contact. Next, of course, is the dual colour. The black part of the brake is supposed to be more effective in dry weather while the salmon side is for wet conditions. We shall see how effective that is in real life in a few weeks from now. But the online reviews of these brake pads is very very good. Also, they are made in America, if that makes any difference. 

I am happy to inform that I did the installation or swap myself. I had watched a few videos some umpteen number of times. Incidentally there aren't too many of them on youtube. But finally realised that a basic swap is no rocket science. Anyone with a size 5 Allen key and a pinch of common sense can do it. I also chose to do it on the Friday night itself so that I could do a proper road test of my skill on Saturday and could seek Someswar's help over the weekend if things went out of control.

I first changed the front two brakes. Getting the pad to go behind the fork was a little tricky. They are seriously long and were fouling against the forks. But it can be overcome quite easily. Was reasonably satisfied with its stopping power inside the room and thought the pads were touching the rim more or less simultaneously and are equidistant from it. These are the two basic checks one needs to do after installation. Now it was time to test it out on the road. I went out despite the road being a little wet from the evening norwester. The excitement of the situation got the better of me. I had two things to test here. A. My mechanic skill. B. The stopping power of the new brakes.

I think I passed both the tests. On the road I engaged only the front brake a few times without engaging the rear brakes (so that I could understand the new brakes' stopping power). Of course, being only the front brake I didn't apply full force on them. But I think the stopping power is very adequate and much improved over the stock Tektros. It didn't squeal much. Will have to check this out more carefully tomorrow when I go for a full road test. 

Back home I mustered enough courage to now swap the pads on the rear wheel as well. It didn't take too long either. And from the room test it seemed they are working fine. Both are equidistant and are engaging on the rim simultaneously. I didn't go out for a road test to check both of them working together. That is being kept aside for tomorrow morning's ride. 

I have kept the Tektros nicely packed and marked. I intend to take them for the Darjeeling trip. It may not be entirely impossible to fry the brakes on the descent. I clubbed them together for rear and front wheels. I also put a thread between the spacers/washers exactly as they were separated on either side of the brake pad clamp (I am hoping that's the word). This is to counter my forgetfulness about such details.

Overall I am very satisfied with today's performance of mine as a mechanic. Actually it is important to know these basic roadside fixes if one aspires to be a serious tourer in future. I will now write a detailed how to. Although there are a couple of videos on the internet, they leave a lot of unanswered issues that you discover when you actually go to instal the pads. I shall address them in my how to.

How To Change A Cantilever Threaded Post Brake Pad

If you are reading this it is good to inform you that there are various types of brake systems in cycles. I am describing what I have. A rim brake (as opposed to disc brakes). And to be more specific a cantilever brake with threaded post (there is another type called smooth post).

The brake pad has three parts. A threaded post with a hex nut and several spacers, a metallic holder and a rubber shoe. The rubber shoes are generally changeable. That is, if the rubber shoe gets damaged or thinned out due to repeated friction then you can just change the rubber.

First you disengage the brake. After that I took off the existing Tektro brake pad. For this I used a long Allen key size 5 (on street side I may not have that long Allen key and must make do with the  smaller multitool). In fact that's all the tool you need. While taking off one has to be careful about all the spacers and washers attached to the post. They will come off the post as soon as you take off the nut. Depending on the brand, these spacers will vary in number. The Tektro had more number of spacers than the Kool Stop. Now these spacers will be on either side of the clamp to which the brake pad is attached. You should note how the spacers are arranged on the existing system and from there get an idea as to how to arrange them in your particular cycle.

After you decide how many spacers should be on which side, you take the correct pad for the particular side of the cycle (these are marked Left or Right and the direction is also shown with an arrow) and engage the threaded post to the clamp and tighten the bolt. That's all that is there to it. But ...........

There are quite a few buts. First you have to ensure that the rubber sits only on the rim. Particularly the top edge of the rubber should be in line with the top edge of the rim where it touches the tyre. The pad should not touch the tyre. What I did is, I did not tighten the nut all the way. I left about one rotation and adjusted the pad properly first ensuring it was parallel to the rim and then did the final tightening. I also used a rubber band at the back of the pad to ensure proper shoeing (so that the brakes don't squeal). While tightening the bolt one has to hold the pad tight with the other hand otherwise it will also move a little up or down forcing you to rearrange its precise position.

That's all there is to changing the brake pad. I am not sure if this makes sense to any newbie. I wrote it down so that I myself can refer to it next time when I need to change it.

Review After First Road Test

Today is Saturday. I had changed the pads last night. Missed the morning session but went out later during the day for a short test ride of about 3/4 kilometers. Went up the Lake Gardens flyover and came back. The brakes are working fine. Is there any improvement? Initially I thought so. But perhaps got used to it after a few stops. On very hard stops at high speeds there was some squealing. But that might be a new brake issue rather than shoeing in. I did not do any particular cleaning or rubbing of the new rubber before installation. And frankly I don't mind that very little squealing. But if it is a fault of fitment I will want to correct it. A mechanic should always strive for perfection. 

Ornaments for the LHT

List of various items purchased for the LHT

March 19, 2019 - In anticipation of the Darjeeling trip, I pulled the trigger on a pair of Kool Stop brake pads also.  The online reviews of the model are very reassuring. Bums on The Saddle, Bangalore is the preferred supplier at Rs 1200 each pair plus Rs 100 for shipping. So a total damage of Rs 2500. I was a little confused about which brake pads to opt for. I had thought I could just change the rubber on the stock Tektro that everyone online says are pretty useless. BOTS's Gautam told me the Kool Stop upgrade demands you change the holder and the rubber both. Kool Stop rubber may not fit the Tektro holder (I am assuming they are called holders).

Kool Stop has various types of brake pads. My brakes are called Cantilever Threaded Post type. Gautam advised me to go for Kool Stop V-Type Holder W/Dual Compound Inserts. That's the official name of the model I opted for. The dual compound is supposed to work great in both dry and wet conditions. We shall see how true that is in the hills. But they are certainly bigger than the Tektros.

I intend to carry the Tektro brakes that came stock with my bike as a back up. Jyotisko Biswas, who has done a marathon trans-Himalayan bike ride last year told me that it is possible to burn the brake pads if you don't stop frequently during the sharp descents.

I have to see how good I am at changing the brake pads. Have seen all the videos that are there on youtube on the subject. Let the pads arrive and then I shall see how good they are. Otherwise will have to call Someswar.

March 18, 2019 - Pulled the trigger on the Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour tyres. Two of them. For the front and the back. From Bums on The Saddle, Bangalore Size 26x175. Supplier is BOTS at Rs 4020 each. So a straight Rs 8040 debited from the credit card. Actually I always aspired to have them, given the rave reviews I have read about them from actual users and world tourers. But I deferred the decision so far thinking they are too expensive for me. They are practically puncture proof, with a special coating inside. These are perhaps heavier and slower than normal tyres. But I would prefer not to replace a tyre on the roadside in the mountains over going a bit slower than the others.

I don't mind replacing tyres. It takes a few minutes and a little dirtied hands. But inflating a 26x1.75 tube on the roadside with a small pump is a punishment that I would hate to go through. Even after pumping for half an hour I would be damned if I could reach 30 psi. Perhaps a better pump would be a good upgrade to make some time in future.

The more the journey date for the Darjeeling trip comes forward the more I am getting worried about various thing. Somehow, Monisha said, if you think they are necessary you should go for them. So I did.

Let's see when they arrive. Will fit them to the bike and see how they feel. Will write a report after the journey.


March 3, 2019 - Rear carrier and Two Bottle Cages - Decathlon. Bought these to make my bike road trip worthy. Installed the bottle cages. They look fine on the bike, being black. More importantly, they can take in 1 litre water bottles. These are the really cheap bottle cages, if not the cheapest available in India. Decathlon had the other smarter looking ones like my Elite. But I am more than certain they wouldn't have been capable of holding the 1 lit bottles - a problem I have with the Elite cage as well. I think I will buy a third one too. The bottles fit in tight and I doubt if they will come off just like that due to road rattle.

I am yet to install the carrier. Possibly tonight. It's a small and compact carrier. But it should be able to do the job of carrying my 20 lit Deuter. As I realised, carrying the sack on the shoulder on mountain roads will not be feasible. It's a stupid thing to attempt really. I will have to do the assembly in Siliguri, which is fine. I don't think it's anything more than turning a few bolts. We have one full day in Siliguri.

February 14, 2019 - Bluemels SKS Commuter mudguards (26 1.6 to 2.1) and Axiom Elastic Cargo Net - Happy Earth -  Rs 2294 + Rs 4437. Bought these in preparation for the upcoming trip to Mirik. Was very disappointed with the way the box was packed and wrote a stinker to the shop. Lucky that nothing fell off. Also the fenders were imported (they are made in Germany) long ago and were obviously gathering dust on the shelves somewhere in their warehouse. I will try to install these on this Sunday and see how it goes. I found the fenders are imported by a company called Ozone Ventures in Pune.

The mudguards are made of a combination of materials - aluminium and plastic. It's a shiny black in colour and are very very light.


February 6, 2019 - Trek n Ride Cycle Carrying Sack (MTB version with wheels) - Amazon (Cloudtail) - Rs 3990. I bought this cycle carrying bag for the upcoming, planned tour to the Darjeeling hills with Rana. Our plan is to go to Siliguri by bus (ticket booked already). This will be needed for the journey to and from Silguri. In Siliguri I plan to leave this at the Exide office, to be collected back when I return.

There are other similar soft bags available with Btwin. Perhaps a little cheaper. I found the reviews bad. This bag has a plastic stiffener for the three sides - basically a strip of plastic that you insert into the sleeve pockets on the three sides (the fourth side has the chain). There are two wheels in a corner for easy pulling on level roads. There are two pockets on either side of the bag for the wheels. However, there is no padding as such on those pockets. I will have to cover the delicate parts separately and use foam tubes for the frame.

The bag seems fairly large but the material may not be very strong. I think it's larger than the cardboard boxes in which my cycles came. Haven't measured it precisely. It can be somewhat rolled up to make it slightly smaller and compact for storage (pic on the right - the way it arrived from Amazon) but nothing so small that you could carry it with your cycle. I don't think I want to store it in my flat here. I would prefer to keep it in our house in Metro Park and bring it over before a trip. But then that has its own risks again.

I will add more once I have done a practise loading of the bike into the bag and then after I come back from the trip. I have half a mind to get a couple of bags, rather sleeves with foam padding inside, made for the wheels.

The bag's features can be described here. Two pockets on either side for the wheels. Large enough for even 29 inch wheels I guess. There is a large pocket inside for keeping this and that. Then there is that stiffener (which will need to be taken out if you want to roll it like the picture above). There are two wheels for pulling along. There are handles for hanging the bag on your shoulder.

December 17, 2018 - Ice Toolz Trousers Clip - Amazon - Rs 290 - if you want to cycle with full pants or trousers, as one has to in winter, you need these clips. They are a safety precaution. I remember my uncles in Shantiniketan used to use them. Those days, these things used to be made of thin steel.

This one is plastic with a nice 3M reflector pasted. I checked it out with my office trousers. They fit just fine. I love the orange colour of IceToolz. It's their signature colour it seems, much like the KTM brand. The plastic looks and feels sturdy. What is important, and it cannot be judged right away, is for how long it remains tight enough. It might eventually get loose and wide with use and then start slipping away. How soon or late that happens is the question and the real test.

November 27/2018 - Pro Bike Gear Griffon Anatomic Fit Saddle - BOTS - Rs 7650 - pulled the trigger on the Griffon. Yet to pay because I ordered cash on delivery. I had always wanted to get for myself a Brooks. But there are mixed reports on that. Also getting a Brooks in India is such a difficult task. The reports on Griffon seem good. The brand is owned by Shimano.

Buying a saddle without riding it is always going to be taking a chance. Let me see how it goes. I went to the saddle selector that they have on their site. I declared myself as less flexible and they suggested the Griffon. They define flexibility as the ability to touch your toes from a sitting position with the legs extended. I can quite easily do that. But I chose less flexible because on the bike I prefer a more upright position. But I also prefer resting the arms in the middle of the handlebar, like in triathlon events. For that you need flexibility and strength of the core. Let me see how the saddle turns out. I have a feeling I will adjust my bum to it.

Downloaded from the net without permission

The price is on the higher side for a saddle. But I found BOTS was charging us same as Amazon US. That is when I pulled the trigger. Brooks is more expensive than this. But then it is an iconic brand and is loved by many in the touring community. The reasons why I didn't choose the Brooks are like this a. price b. availability c. uncertainty about its suitability for me.

I have never consciously chosen a saddle. Whatever my cycle came with, I made do with it. In fact in our childhood we didn't know that there were options and the seat could be changed :-) Those were very innocent times.

The stock saddle from Surly is not comfortable at all. The Merida stock, in comparison, has never caused a problem for me. Let me see how this goes.

There aren't too many online reviews by independent users on the internet. Whatever little is there seems to be endorsing it for less flexible riders. I have to wait and see whether I am a flexible rider. I saw a review by a long distance tourer. He is heavily in favour of Specialised Phenom. That is also available on BOTS and in fact cheaper than Griffon.

Monday December 10, 2018 The saddle finally arrived today at office. Paid by cash on delivery. At home I fitted it to the bike and went for a short spin around the Southern Market block. Perhaps less than 500 meters. This is too short a distance to pass a judgement on a saddle but after overcoming the initial phase of getting adjusted to something new, I felt it somehow improved my speed. Here is a decent unboxing video from the internet. Everything is same except that this does not have a cut out in the middle of the saddle.

I will jot down my initial thoughts and reactions.

• Hey, how is this different from what I have except for the big cut out in the middle? Same softness/hardness, same width, same shape, almost same dimensions
• But it is incredibly light compared to my OE saddle. Possibly 200 gms. 
• The ride is a little uncomfortable with no brief underneath ;-) I doubt if this saddle can be ridden without my Pearl Izumi compression shorts. I had gone out casually in my Slazenger which has a basic brief inside. But today I realised it is no protection at all.
• Could it be a little wider?
• Is it money well spent? Only time will tell me. 

I was a little cheesed off with BOTS for the delayed shipment. I missed two weekends since ordering but I guess it is good that it arrived on a weekday. I will go for short rides during the week before going out on a big one over the weekend. 

There was a little confusion about "what's inside the box". The official website of Pro Bike Gear has a short video featuring the product where they show an attachment under the saddle where you can fix a GoPro camera. I didn't get this. I was mentally very upset about it with BOTS. As it is they were so late and now they send incomplete product. But later in a youtube video (shared earlier) I realised this attachment has to be separately purchased from Pro Bike Gear. In fact they sell three different types of attachments. One for a camera, another for holding a tube and a CO2 cartridge and a third for holding the race bib. I don't need any of these actually :-)

I should be able to give a proper assessment of the saddle only after riding it for at least 500 kilometers. Let me see how long that takes. 

As of now I have fitted the saddle perfectly level with a spirit level. I have a feeling I might want to make it ever so slightly tilted above, so that I can settle on the back of the saddle. I think tonight I will go for a slightly longer test ride to see how the saddle actually feels.

Nov 1/2018 - MKS Sylvan Tourer (Silver colour) - Happy Earth - Rs 2854 - pair of pedals for LHT - Arrived and installed by self on 8th November (you turn wrench on the left pedal clockwise, while holding the other crank arm stable, to loosen it and then move the pedal forward. The pedal comes off. Opposite with right pedal. Push it counter clockwise first and then pedal forward to release.)

The pedals are made in Japan. This was news to me. They look and feel robust and they actually are. Riding them in flip flops might be injurious to the foot. The edges are not sharp but I am just not used to such heavy duty metallic pedals. I hope I never injure myself. I am wondering what to do with the cheap, small, plastic pedals. Guess, will keep them as a pair of spares for one of those very rare occasions when I might need them.

A little warning. I just got a long cut on my skin yesterday (2nd December 2018) when I went cycling to New Town. On EMBypass I had stopped for tea at a stall. The bike was resting with its pedal against the base of a lamp post in front of the shop. When I tried to pull it out to go, it somehow slipped and the pedal brushed against my right food shin bone while the bike fell on its opposite side - a very normal thing to happen when you are cycling or handling a cycle a little casually. I found there was a 2/3 inch long gash. Just the top layer. Micro mili meter perhaps. The pink skin underneath got exposed. No bleeding. I have to be very very careful from now on. It has the potential to seriously injure anyone. 

Nov 5/2018 - SRAM Super Cork Bar Tape (Black) - BOTS - Rs 940 - Handlebar tape - Arrived on 8th November. Installed by Someswar on 9th November 2018.  

I just took it out of the paper box it came in. No idea what they look like on the front side because the side with the plastic tape is visible as they have rolled it with the outside in. I believe the SRAM branding is written all over the tape. Wonder if I would like that aesthetically. The tape is made in Taiwan, as usual. (Added later - the branding is very subtle and hardly visible).

The tape comes with two extra bits to cover the area behind the brake lever. It also has some finishing tape. Someswar will fix it because I am not too sure I can do it the first time. I would love to see how he does it and then take a chance the next time I have to redo the thing. Once it is installed I shall write my first impressions.

Nov 10/2018 - Paid Someswar Rs 500 for checking out the cycle, adjusting the brakes, pedals etc and fixing the bar tape.

Nov 10/2018 - Schawlbe 26" tube - Giant store on Bentinck Street - Rs 400

Nov 10/2018 - KMC master link for 10 speed chain - Giant store on Bentinck Street - Rs 159