Real Geeks Ride » brakes http://www.realgeeksride.com 2 Geeks biking across the USA to make a point Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:48:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 What’s that part? Brake pads. http://www.realgeeksride.com/2009/03/14/whats-that-part-brake-pads/ http://www.realgeeksride.com/2009/03/14/whats-that-part-brake-pads/#comments Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:04:06 +0000 carlos http://www.realgeeksride.com/?p=186 In our ‘What’s that part?‘ posts, we will be showing a part, what it is, where it goes on a bike, what it does, and things you should know about it. Simple as that. 

We are training ourselves to not assume when posting about bikes and our ride. We know our readers and future commuters come from all walks of knowledge and experience. 

If you learn something from the posts, yippee! If you already know about the parts, make sure to comment!

brakepads-1

What’s that part?

These are Brake Pads. They are the reason you are able to stop using your hands. After squeezing the brake levers which attach to your handlebars, the brake pads push against rim on both sides, causing you to slow.

Where does it go?

The brake pads attach to bike brakes, shown below.  Fancy time road bike brakes on your left, and ‘classic’ brakes on the right.

brakepads
The brakes above attach to the bike where the pink arrows are pointing. The green arrows indicate the mentioned hand levers which activate the brakes.
brakepads-2

What should I know?

  • They wear down and need to be replaced.
  • As a commuter, have your brakes and brake pads checked roughly every 6 months.
  • ‘Good’ brake pads range from $10 – $20. Don’t try to save money when buying pads.
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