It appears in my haste to get back on the road again, I have neglected one very critical part of the process.
Brakes are very useful things if you want to survive the open road. I had set the brakes up so they apparently worked well (with shiny new cables), but it appears that the life expectancy of a almost new (in terms of ware), but 14 year old set of brake blocks is about two days - or 8 miles, before they are turned to dust. Fortunately my carelessness did not result in finding this out while at high speed and was drama free.
It seems there is not a whole lot of choice when it comes to replacement cantilever brake blocks. After checking a few suppliers online, I found that the actual shops in my area only stocked one type of block that would fit my somewhat antique set up. Furnished with new front and rear braking power from a set of Aztec Control Canti B Blocks - the bike stops properly again.
The bike may stop, but now it is refusing to go!
Believing I was now in possession of a fully functional bike once more, I set out on my first proper ride in over a decade. Half way through my 18 mile loop I noticed the pedal was grinding a bit. A few miles (and hills) later it seized completely. Cue a new and interesting riding style that involved a constantly fluctuating foot position, some strange looks and a bit of pushing for safeties sake once I hit heavier traffic.
On closer inspection once home and dry, I can see that my freshly serviced pedals have a problem that I had missed. Two almost inperceptable ball bearing shaped dents in the inner side of the bearing race are causing all sorts of two at a time issues.
The pedal is a lost cause (the inner race is part of the pedal body), so a new set have been sourced and fitted. Hopefully this time I will manage more than 26 miles before something else falls off or decides it would rather be a static object than a moving component. Such are the joys of getting long term unloved machinery in working order again.
No comments:
Post a Comment