Them's The Brakes (Do You See What I Did There?)

I was going to get all kids of stuff done today.  However, as I took my younger son to school this morning the braking on the WorkCycles (Magura hydraulic rim brakes) was simply too bad to ignore.  (Believe me, I've been doing my best to ignore it for months, but when both levers are bottoming out on the grips you cross that line between "sub-optimal braking" and "bad parenting.")

"No problem," I figured.  "I'll just change the brake pads."  Indeed, I already had a set of fresh brake pads ready to go, and in theory installing them was a simple matter of popping the old ones out and snapping the new ones in.  Just listen to this German man explain it to you:


The thing is, on the WorkCycles, it's not quite so straightforward.  See, the great thing about this bike is that it has fenders, skirt guards, a full chainguard, an internally geared hub...  What all that stuff means is that the bike can spend most of its life outside, and also that you can hop on it without having to worry about your pant cuffs or whatever.

The bad part, however, is that half that shit has to come off because you have to remove the wheels to replace the pads.

Still, I was feeling optimistic as I rolled the bike into the basement:

Indeed, the front brake was easy, since the only extra steps I had to perform to remove the front wheel were to move the front light out of the way of the brake's quick release, and to unplug the light's wire from the hub.

The back brake was another story.  I've removed the rear wheel on the WorkCycles a number of times now, and every time I have it's been a pain in the ass.  No doubt my own ineptitude has a lot to do with it, but even so there's no getting around the fact that you've got to undo a lot of shit--even with the handy removable dropout:

There's the axle nuts, and the dropout bolts, and the chain tensioners, and the chain guard, and the cable for the hub gear...  By the time I was actually able to access the brake pads I was pretty pissed off, and I reinstalled the rear wheel with the impatience and contempt of a cop shoving a perp into the back seat of a squad car.  Oh, also, the chain tensioners are directional.  See how the axle nut washer has a little tab that fits into a slot in the tensioner?

Well, if you flip the tensioner the slot's on the wrong side and you can't tighten down the axle nut:

Pretty much every time I remove the wheel on this bike I put the non-drive tensioner on there backwards, realize it when I'm just about done, and have to undo everything to put it back on the right way.

Anyway, two hours later and the bike finally stops like a dog outside of a veterinarian's office, but there goes half my day:

For some reason I insist on doing all my own bike work, but if I had any sense I'd just bring the WorkCycles to a shop.  In fact, I'd probably have given up long ago, except I have this (no doubt totally unfounded) fear that the shops in New York won't be sufficiently smug to service this bicycle.  Or else I'd move somewhere with a garage where I could set up a workshop, in which case at least I'd be able to spread out and take the time to do the job right.  Oh how I dream of hanging my tools on a wall instead of having to dig them out of a tiny storage space like a toddler rummaging through a toy chest every time I want to use them...

(Image stolen from Park Tool website)

Then again, if I moved somewhere with a garage I'd be in the suburbs, in which case might as well ditch the WorkCycles altogether and say "Fuck it, I'm leasing a Hyundai."

Anyway, at least I don't have to worry about it until the brake pads wear out again.

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