For a long time now the front brakes on my mountain bike have been very squeeky, squeeling would be a better description. In two ways this is good:
- I could play tunes on them
- people could hear me coming without me ringing the bell
but ultimately it was embarrasing.
So I went into the cycle shop and asked for some new brake shoes, ones that wouldn't squeek. The man sold me some quite reasonably priced pads (£3 a pair) and told me that when I fit them I should toe them in, otherwise they will squeek like hell.
This evening I got around to adjusting the old pads: just the front, loosening them and adjusting them so that only the front edges touched the wheel.
It has made all the difference: the brakes don't squeek and because of the smaller contact area the brakes are more effective than they were before. They don't feel strong enough to pull stoppies but they are better than they were before.
Peter's Moblog
