Carrera Subway Brakes written 3 years ago
You may remember that I got a new bike at the beginning of this year. I made a comment about the being brakes being about as effective as holding a green stick against the wheel? I thought the brakes would get much better over time, and they did slightly, but the rear brake was never very good.
I played around with it, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get the rear wheel to lock up, no matter how hard I pulled on the brakes. I pulled it apart to find out what was wrong, thinking maybe I could replace the brake pads or something. The brake pads however had a circular groove running along them, and showing it to the man in the bike shop, he didn’t know why it was there.
Some further poking with the brakes revealed that they had been lovingly set up for 180mm rotors. The problem? I had 160mm rotors, meaning that only half of the brake pad was touching the disk. This was causing the grooves along the pads, and also the piss-poor braking.
Now I’ve set up the brake properly it works great. And the brakes in general are much better than V-brakes, something I was beginning to wonder.
My biggest regret with this bike is getting it from Halfords. The cheap prices are nice, but they’ll never replace service from a LBS.
Comments 7 comments made
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saysThats slightly dodgy! I thought Halfords were a good place for a bike? But having the wrong size is kinda dangerous, good thing you fixed it before that dodgy looking dip you put yourself down didn’t end up with you in traction!
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saysDear lord no. They’re usually cheaper than most bike shops, but their staff are usually teenagers using hand-me-down training from the previous teenage bike mechanic.
Your Local Bike Store (LBS) will probably be more expensive, but they’ll give you a lot more for your money — they have to, it’s their livelihood, rather than a part time job to earn some pennies.
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saysNot as bad as Woolworths, who display these lovely bikes then neglect to tell you the reason they are so cheap is because you have to construct them yourselves! But I’m not spending ?200 when the longest I’ve owned a bike before it getting stolen was 6 months!
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saysCycle Insurance
I wouldn’t own a bike nowadays without it.
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saysSod that, I’m walking, getting the bus is getting too expensive as well
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saysThanks so much for informative comments people - I picked one up on E-bay, having had a bike stolen, at the right money and the only problem has been the brakes - will check out the set up following people’s comments
Neil
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saysI got this bike from Halfords, flying machine and well worth the money, never had anything like it, but when I took it in for the six week check up or tune up, i went back the next day to collect it and found the best gear i liked it on was broke, from the teenage sillybums rallying it around the back of the shop. Also they won’t fix it up for you without demanding a fortune apparently, they’ll just say it’s been abused and it’s your own fault. Great bike but Halfords has poor form. Sillybum corperations.