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A little light maintenance
Apr. 21st, 2011 07:14 pmThe rear left brakes on the Fusion have been chewing up pads. 3 pair in 60K miles, one pretty badly done in in only 6K miles. Last time I determined that something must have hit the pad bracket and made the pads bind, creating the equivalent of a stuck caliper (I replaced the caliper and it made no difference. Since the bracket is cast iron, I don't want to just start whacking on it, so I ground down the slide tab on the pads a little. Apparently not enough though, the pads went down to the metal in only about 10K miles. The other side is still on the original pads, and there's still life left in them.
So today both sides got new pads, the left side got enough ground off the pad guide tabs so that they glide smoothly (about the same as the other side, maybe a little easier), and also a new rotor since rotors are cheap and the original had pads go down to the metal on it twice. It still looks recoverable by turning, so I'll hang on to it if I ever need another.
I also washed the bike, relubed the chain (lots easier with the repair stand), and found that the power cable for the light system was frayed AGAIN. This time before putting on a new cable I'm putting on an experimental super-duty strain relief made from a couple inches of split vinyl hose wrapped around the tail of the connector and the wire and filled with epoxy. We'll see how that lasts. I also ordered another 3 cables from DealExtreme, they're $3 each there so if I have to just keep replacing them every 4 or 5 months I guess I can live with it.
Looks like the brake pads on the bike are probably good for another 1000 miles.
For some odd reason, I've seen a LOT of people I know in cars driving past me and giving friendly beeps. I'm having to refill the air horn canister weekly now. I did actually use it last week as intended, a car in Dexter was backing out of a parking spot right into my path, and I was doing about 25 (the speed limit there) at the time.
Odometer: bike 23829, car 58475
So today both sides got new pads, the left side got enough ground off the pad guide tabs so that they glide smoothly (about the same as the other side, maybe a little easier), and also a new rotor since rotors are cheap and the original had pads go down to the metal on it twice. It still looks recoverable by turning, so I'll hang on to it if I ever need another.
I also washed the bike, relubed the chain (lots easier with the repair stand), and found that the power cable for the light system was frayed AGAIN. This time before putting on a new cable I'm putting on an experimental super-duty strain relief made from a couple inches of split vinyl hose wrapped around the tail of the connector and the wire and filled with epoxy. We'll see how that lasts. I also ordered another 3 cables from DealExtreme, they're $3 each there so if I have to just keep replacing them every 4 or 5 months I guess I can live with it.
Looks like the brake pads on the bike are probably good for another 1000 miles.
For some odd reason, I've seen a LOT of people I know in cars driving past me and giving friendly beeps. I'm having to refill the air horn canister weekly now. I did actually use it last week as intended, a car in Dexter was backing out of a parking spot right into my path, and I was doing about 25 (the speed limit there) at the time.
Odometer: bike 23829, car 58475
