More maintenance

The old brakes, with two loose washers from somewhere

For a few days, a week or so ago, I had been getting unpleasant squeaking noises from my bicycle brakes, particularly when starting out. A quick peek did not reveal anything wrong and I carried on. But eventually I decided that something should be done and bought two pairs of brake blocks from the cycle shop up Upper High Street. A new to me brand called Aztec and at around two inches long, rather longer than I was used to. In the days of caliper brakes and wobbling wheels, brake blocks used to be not much more than an inch. Where by wobbling, I mean rims which were out of true; usable, but emitting a beat as you went along. Used to put up with it for months. Maybe eventually going so far as to have one's rims straightened. Do bicycle shops still offer such a service?

Furthermore, a brake block came with one washer and one nut. Uncomplicated, if a bit fiddly to fit, unless you happened to have just the right spanner. Whereas these new blocks came with half a dozen washers of various shapes and sizes and a nut which took an Allen key rather than a spanner. This last was an improvement, as poking an Allen key into the brake was a lot easier than poking a spanner. And mine comes with a handle for ease of turning. 

Washers though were more of a problem. If one dropped them, as was all too likely, you had to work out in what order to put them back on. Get out one of the blocks that one had not opened up and hope that one doesn't drop that one too while trying to see their order of the washers. All this in the uncertain light of a winter afternoon in a badly lit garage.

But I got there, eventually working out which was the front of the blocks, eventually replacing both front and back sets of brake blocks, learning on the way that the two old sets were not the same, so must have been last changed at different times. I also found some unpleasant looking scores on the rim of the back wheel, suggesting that something hard in the brake block had been doing it - although I could not see what it might have been. Maybe that was last time, when the blocks were worn down to the metal. Metal which is absent from these Aztec blocks, moulded out of single pieces of some kind of hard black rubbery stuff. Blocks which are more like the ones above right than those above left.

Now had two outings on the new blocks and all seems to be well.

PS 1: I ought to say, that I think you do get a good grip with all those washers. A much better grip than one got of old. A good grip which is necessary, given the length of the blocks and the millimetre or so gap between block and rim.

PS 2: Aztec cunningly distance themselves from any problems one might have or accidents which might follow by saying on the packet that the blocks should be fitted by a qualified bicycle mechanic, knowing full well that few males are going to admit to needing such a person, rather than doing it themselves. And if push came to shove, learned counsel could always explain to the judge that forensic mechanical examination of the complainant's bicycle clearly showed that washers 4b and 4c of the front offside block had been switched, destabilising the whole assembly. Case dismissed.

Reference 1: pumpkinstrokemarrow: Engineering affairs. Was it really ten years since I last did this?

Reference 2: FudgesCycleStore Brompton Electric Bikes Repairs. Fudges of Epsom.