On Thu, 15 Jun 2017 16:51:04 -0700, sms
wrote:

My son was saying that the brakes on the road bike that he expropriated
from my wife were not working well. They are properly adjusted but I
think that the pad material has hardened with age. My cyclist friend
said that when this happens you just have to sand off a little of the
surface which has hardened and the material underneath will be fine.

Has anyone else done this? New pads aren't expensive, but if the old
ones are still okay there's no benefit in buying new ones. The pads are
the original pads from when my wife bought the bicycle, a Raleigh
Technium, in 1986.

I've done it but more in the nature of removing a surface that is
glazed, probably from grease or oil getting on the pads. In my case it
did improve the braking.

In any event it is cheap to try it.
--
Cheers,

John B.