It’s the last couple of days in my “early summer” vacation. Of course I haven’t been commuting on my bike, so I took the opportunity to get some new brakes for my Giant Seek. The bike has done well, but it was never a high-end bike. One part in particular that has given me problems is the brakes. It came with cable-actuated disc brakes, and they have never had much bite, even when freshly adjusted from the shop. When they weren’t well-adjusted, they were downright dangerous.
I had a discussion and email interchange with Kurt from Bowcycle, and decided to trust him that a good set of brakes would be much better. I dropped the bike off on the 29th, and Tammy picked it up yesterday. To get an idea of the upgrade, the bike was $620 in total new, and the brakes were $400 installed. So, with some trepidation, I climbed on and tried them out. They are amazing. Shimano Deore hydraulic brakes that have pistons pressing the pads on both sides of the rotor with fresh pads stop with a single finger squeeze. I will feel much safer going down the hills to work.
In other news, I didn’t have any big plans for the weekend, but with Tammy getting busy whipping the house into shape this morning, I popped around to Home Depot. I looked at the decorative/privacy lattice panels and spoke with the fellow there. I described how some individual slats had come free from their staples. He said that I should be able to repair rather than replace. So I got some 5/8″ brads for my nail gun and set about it after lunch. The work is done now, and only time will tell how effective the repair is.
We can’t see the repairs from where we are sitting!! Good job! Mom & Dad