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BRAKES

Many bikes today come with disc brakes, both mechanical and hydraulic.  These work by squeezing two pistons housed in a caliper against a pair of pads that pinch a hub-mounted rotor.

There are still many bikes that come with rim brakes.  These are the brakes that have been on bikes for over 100 years, wherein a caliper mounted to the frame pinches two rubber or cork pads against the braking surface of the rim.

disc brakes

rim brakes

Avoid Creating Brake Problems by Using Shims During Repair & Transport

What the what?!  This is one of those gremlins that crops up and bites even the well-versed on occasion. 

The brake pads in your disc brakes are driven by pistons activated when you squeeze the lever. When you’re riding and want to slow down, you squeeze the levers, which in turn squeeze the rotor, and slow your roll. 

But if that rotor is not between the pads – like when you have your front wheel off for repair or putting in a roof rack for transport – and you squeeze the lever, there’s nothing to stop the travel of the pads. They get pushed out too far and when you try to put the wheel back on the pads are like prison doors. 

The way to avoid this is to put a shim in there whenever you have a wheel off. We gave you a couple with your bike, they’re in the bag with your owner’s manual and other stuff.  See that red shim in between the pads? There ya go. 

brake bleeding

Bleeding hydraulic disc brakes is not as difficult as it may seem.  The reason your brake lever feels mushy is that there is air in the fluid.  You need to get those air bubbles out of there!

Here are a pair of handy videos that will show you how to bleed your SRAM or Shimano brakes. Follow along and get those brakes back in order: