Bike bug fixing

Yesterday and today, I was busy with some “bug fixing.” Not on computer code, but on my beloved bike – the one from that incident last month that sent me to the hospital for an X-ray.

Since the brake lever for my rear hydraulic disc brake broke, I took the bike to a repair shop. After almost two weeks, I finally got it back. The brake lever was replaced and the rear brake was fixed, but unfortunately, a new problem popped up: the front brake squeaked terribly loud every time I tried to use it. A very unpleasant sound!

As soon as I noticed it, I went straight back to the shop, but they told me I had to book a new appointment for next week. They weren’t willing to take a quick look right then to see what the issue was.

But that gave me an idea: maybe I could fix it myself and finally learn something new. I often feel pretty incompetent when it comes to manual work, so this was a chance.

Many YouTube tutorials, a lot of trying, sweating, swearing, and feeling desperate later, I finally managed to fix it! I had to dismount the lowrider luggage rack, the front wheel, the brake caliper, and the brake pads. The brake pads and the brake disc needed a thorough cleaning with some brake cleaner I had to buy from a hardware store first.

After doing all that and putting everything back together, I wanted to see if the squeaking was gone. It wasn’t. Not as bad as before, but still there. Feeling a bit desperate, I did more research and found out it was probably because I hadn’t “braked in” the front brake yet after lightly sanding the brake pads. For that, I had to ride a bit and gently press the brake repeatedly.

After I did that, the sound finally vanished! I had such a great feeling of competence. I didn’t give up; I kept trying to find the cause and a solution. It was just like fixing code, but with hardware instead of software.

Now, I can cancel my repair shop appointment and try a different place for my next bike inspection or repair.

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