Mundane Bike Repairs

My poor, poor bike brakes have been getting worse and worse of late. A few weeks ago, some an old woman in a in a tiny car passed me, swerved in front of me, then stopped suddenly so she could s-l-o-w-l-y turn into the parking lot. I had a garbage truck approaching on my right, and a curb that I was at too shallow of an angle at to jump onto, and you can't safely stop even a bike with good brakes in three feet, but you can at least slow down the impact.

I was fine and only left a trail of tire-smudge across her bright white back bumper. She was almost kind enough to roll down her window and ask if I was okay, but not quite.

Anyway, after ten or so trips up near Kinkaku and back, plus my two-three times daily commute to the school and back, my poor V-brakes were not so much braking anymore as much as slowing. More useful than a kick in the pants, but not nearly as useful as working brakes.

The mechanic was a little confused about why I wanted my old brakes, but I managed to wrest them away from him and flee. Anyway, you can see them at right.

Learned today that the mechanic that usually does work on my bike worked for five years as a racing pit mechanic and spent most of his life working for Nissan as an engineer. Can't remember his name, though.