On 7/20/2020 10:41 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
Monday, 20 July 2020

I tried to ride more slowly than is possible at a red light, and
collected an assortment of road rash, a bruise, and a sore rotator
cuff. I laid it to dividing my attention between handling the bike
and the traffic, but after measuring my forehead temperature at 100F,
we concluded that the real cause was heat exhaustion.

I got up just before the light changed, and dashed over to the
sidewalk to walk for a while. I heard something scraping. Lifting
the front of the bike and spinning the front wheel verified that the
noise was coming from there. It wasn't the fender; must be the brake,
but the fit was so fine that pulling this side made the other side
scrape. I tried to loosen the cable, but the adjusting barrel is
screwed all the way down.

Nothing for it but to ride home with the brake dragging. It was only
two and a half miles, but I was tired and this was not pleasant.

Yesterday I typed a note for the repairman; this morning I dressed in
walking clothes upon rising, and set out for the Trailhouse right
after eating a Toaster Scramble. I paused on the way out of the
garage to tell Dave what was wrong, and pushed the bike along watching
the gap between the right brake block and the rim. Clear air gap all
the way. Same on the left.

Spun the wheel again; when it stopped, one glance showed where the
fender was rubbing. That glance also showed that there was a very
conspicuous blob of asphalt on the head of the screw I needed to turn.

I scraped the asphalt off with a knife we keep on top of the
floor-pump cupboard with the other box-opening tools, went out to the
shop, looked at the wrenches & didn't feel like hunting out the
correct one, got my adjustable wrench out of my tool bag, loosened the
screw, fetched the kitchen pliers, got the fender adjusted on the
second try.

I always carry several knives, there's a pair of pliers in my wallet,
and the adjustable wrench I used *was* the wrench that I carry with
me.

What I didn't have with me was a cool head.

Although it ultimately wouldn't have fixed your problem, I dislike the
fact that (AFAIK) every bike mechanic around here installs brakes and
cables with the cable adjusting barrel turned all the way in. One of
them told me "The brake shoes are only going to get thinner, so you only
have to tighten the cable."

I disagreed. I've had to loosen cables for people who hit bad bumps on
rides and had rims knocked out of true. Adjustments should be possible
in both directions.


--
- Frank Krygowski