New Brake Pads For My Touring Bicycle

Two days before I was to leave Cape Town on my 2-month long bicycle tour across South Africa, I went into the yard of my tiny Observatory home and washed off my bicycle with the house and a bucket filled with warm, soapy water. After the bike was all cleaned up, I decided to take the bike out for a quick spin… and that’s when my bike started making a horrible clicking sound every time I tried to press the brakes. I quickly discovered that the rear brakes were totally shot and needed to be replaced.

Realizing that it was Easter weekend and all of the local bike shops would be closed for the weekend, I knew I needed to act fast, so I called a couple bike shops in Cape Town and found one just a few kilometers from my home that had the spare brake pads that I needed. So I dashed over to the shop on my bicycle, picked up the new pads, and then installed them on my bike as soon as I got home.