Fixing my bike – why do I get all the fun?

Well – my bike works finally.

I bought the thing last year, didn’t ride it at all last year, and this year found that it somehow got oil on the pads. Nice. Took it to the shop, tech said that he “cleaned” the pads and for me to take it into some mud. Really…. use mud to mask the squealing from the oil in the pads hey?

So, I went home, cleaned everything myself and used this site to do the work:

SingleTracks Hydraulic Disk Brake Servicing

If you need info on how to fix your bikes hydraulic brakes, go here – it’s got pics and you can figure it out quickly.

I did the big no-no and heated the pads in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 Fahrenheit. My pads didn’t delaminate and it burnt all the mineral oil out. I soaked them in Isopropanol (99%) for a bit, scrubbed them, heated them again and then I sanded the pads using fine grit emery paper and cleaned them using Isopropanol again. I’m not going to pay those guys $30 for a pair of stock Shimano pads after riding my bike once. I’d rather go to the MEC and buy aftermarket ones there!

I will get some mineral oil and try to bleed them soon also – guess it still is the same with bikes too – you gotta just teach yourself. I can’t seem to trust anyone in servicing within Calgary.

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