I don’t do a ton of bike maintenance myself, but basic stuff like changing brake pads is easy. The other day when riding I noticed that my rear brakes weren’t engaging very hard. When I looked them over I discovered that one side was wearing VERY unevenly. I’m at a loss as to how I had it mounted wrong last year, that would have resulted in such an uneven wear pattern.

Today I decided to replace them again and make sure that I got them on straight. So far it looks like I managed to get it to work, but it also required some adjustment of the caliper tension wire. It seems like the posts on brake pads are all slightly different, which requires the tension to be reset when you put on a new brand. Needless to say this took a bit of putzing, but hopefully it’s good to go. I’ll take it out for a longer spin soon, but so far it seems to be OK.

It’s fun to be able to do some simple things like this, and maybe soon I’ll try something a bit harder, like changing out a derailleur or gear cassette.