Brake shoes

[johnridley]

The brake shoes on my bike were looking very thin, but when I removed them to replace them yesterday, they still mic'd at just a hair over 3mm, which is the replacement point. I'll leave them in for a while longer. It looks like they went in somewhere around 11,800 miles, and I'm at 14,500 now, so probably 3000 miles on a set. Of course, the ones I'm replacing it with are generics, not Avids, so they may wear differently.

Comments

[c0nsumer.livejournal.com]

I'd just worry about the olds somehow allowing metal to rub on the caliper, although that probably wouldn't be a huge problem.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

I'm still in spec for the shoes, and the metal tab is missing the rotor by a millimeter or so; it was only missing by about 2 when new.

I do need to look at the alignment; they're wearing a bit wedge-shaped, I'll try to fix that when I put on the new pads so I should get a bit more life out of the next set. That invalidates my wear testing ($20 Avid versus $6 chinese knockoff pads) but I don't care that much. If I get 1000 or 5000 miles out of the next set, that's pretty clear anyway. If I get 2500 to 3500, then it's not.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

It's still about 0.1mm over 3mm, and they were only 4mm when new, so I think I've got a while.
I'm sure not overly impressed with the factory pads. They're spalled and uneven and look horrendous. Of course, they're in a very dirty, salty environment, but they haven't been magic.

OTOH, these brakes are great, very responsive and crisp.

[c0nsumer.livejournal.com]

I'm finding that the newer design BB7 that I have feels better than the one I got on clearance at REI. I may just need to crank the tension / return up on them, but now that they are bedded in (well, they are almost there) they feel really nice. Last Saturday I only needed to do one panic stop, and it was no problem at all.