Bike Parts

There is something down to earth about making repairs to your bike yourself. What makes bikes (and old cars, for that matter) so great to own is that their systems are simple enough for someone without a post-graduate degree in engineering to understand. There’s no mystery in the workings of caliper brakes, and there are only a few parts in those, or any other bike system, that could possibly wear out and need replacing. However, to do repairs, you’ll need bike parts.

For the hypothetical brake repair, there are two main things that could bear replacing: the pads and the cables. The pads on caliper brakes sit to either side of the rim of your tire, and when you squeeze the brake lever, they grip the wheel between them and stop you. If you bike aggressively and stop (or slow down) suddenly on a regular basis, odds are good that you’ve already had to replace the pads once. They’re relatively inexpensive, and you can pick them up at any bike parts store.
Replacing the cables is a slightly more involved repair to make on your bike.

The cables are plastic coated wires that transmit the force of your hand squeezing the brake lever from the handlebars down to the brake pads. With repeated use, the cables stretch out, losing their effectiveness. To a certain point, they can be tightened and trimmed, but eventually they just lose the capacity to transmit the necessary force. At that point you’ll need the bike parts to run a new brake cable from the handlebars down to the wheels. On some bikes, the brake cables are simply zip-tied in place. Others feature internal routing or designated snaps to hold the brake lines. Investigate your bike’s architecture before embarking on a repair such as this.