# AQI 0! Who's taking advantage?



## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

Air quality finally back to excellent in Bay Area last couple days... time to ride before it swings back the other way!

Saw the stars clearly last night for the first time in forever.

Hoping for Diablo summit ride this week but work and kids likely to interfere.


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

I probably won't be able to get out until Sunday, so may be hot and hazy again. Waiting on some disc brake pads to come in so I can rebuild the calipers on Friday or Saturday.


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## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

Managed to get an hour in on trails with the CX bike... Blue sky!


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

4Crawler said:


> I probably won't be able to get out until Sunday, so may be hot and hazy again. Waiting on some disc brake pads to come in so I can rebuild the calipers on Friday or Saturday.


Now there's your problem:









Somehow my brake caliper must have moved and caused the pad to wear off center. From the outside, there seemed to be decent pad thickness but inside, the friction material was gone. Hopefully new pads show up on Friday so I can get the brakes built and get the caliper re-aligned.


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## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

Whoa! If cxwrench sees that he may shame you! Rotor seems okay?


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Yes, that rear rotor looks to be in good shape. My new pads came in today, ahead of schedule, so I need to get those installed and then get the rear caliper re-aligned. I had been wanting to move my rear wheel back about 3mm and would have needed to move the caliper for that, so time to jump in and do that as well.

And this all was prompted by a broken spoke 2 weeks ago that had me pulling the rear wheel to fix that. Then since the old rear tire was starting to show age cracks, I mounted up a new tubeless tire. That's when I saw the state of the brake pads. So I guess the broken spoke was a lucky break after all.

After moving the rear wheel back in the adjustable dropout, I was also able to fit a different caliper adapter in place and I think this will get the pads to line up better on the rotor. Still have to get the front brake pads changed out Sat. then get out for a ride on Sun.


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## duriel (Oct 10, 2013)

Suggestion: Install all the parts then use the brake lever to lock the disk, then tighten the brake mounting bolts, should be perfectly aligned then?


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

duriel said:


> Suggestion: Install all the parts then use the brake lever to lock the disk, then tighten the brake mounting bolts, should be perfectly aligned then?


Yes, that works for the side-side alignment but my issue is more with the front-back alignment of the pads to the rotor. I think I have it dialed in now. When I first built the bike, I didn't fully appreciate the interaction of the horizontal slotted dropout and the fore-aft adjustments and rotation of different adapters for the rear brake caliper. Its strange though that the first time I replaced pads about 4 years ago, the wear seemed more even, but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. I must have inadvertently changed something in the mean time that threw the pads off to one side of the rotor. 

With this frame, it has about 20mm horizontal adjustment of the rear axle position (chain stay 425-445mm) as well as the caliper location. But I found I also needed to rotate the caliper up/CCW a little as I moved the axle back to get the pads to line up with the rotor better. Once you figure that out, it's obvious. But this is my first frame with both that style dropout and disc brakes:


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Got out of a test ride on Sunday afternoon. Hot in the valley but fortunately the temperature inversion that's been hanging around most of the last month is gone. Back to the normal 15F cooler temps once you start climbing up in the Santa Cruz mtns. 

Rear brake is working great with the new pads and re-aligned caliper, totally silent. Also, I think I'm liking the 10mm longer wheelbase, front tire seems to stay planted easier on steep 30% ramps on the dirt trails. I think my RD is also working a little better with the new 11-45 cassette. I had been getting some chain skipping in the lower gears under heavy load but at least on a few tests, that seems to have gone. With the axle/cassette moved back, now the upper jockey wheel sits just in front of the large cog instead of right in line with the diameter. Maybe that bit of gap helps, time will tell. 

Update: And yes, the longer wheel base, along with re-indexing the RD, seems to have cured the ghost shifting issues. Moving the axle back gave 10mm more horizontal separation between the jockey wheel and the big cog. I guess when it comes to shifting, vertical separation via the B-tension screw is the same as horizontal separation. In other words, a gap is a gap, makes no difference if up-down or front-back. I've been working on climbing a 50% ramp on one of the local trails. Needs hero dirt conditions to make it with the 40C touring tires on the bike.

View from the Grizzly Flat parking area on Hwy. 35 looking SW towards the area of the CZU fire complex. Just a bit of haze in the air:


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## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

I managed the desired Diablo summit ride on Saturday although the top half was a disaster. Didn't realize I was riding that hard up to the junction and was dehydrated from previous day running shenanigans.










BTW great pic from your ride, I miss the views on Skyline which I got to ride more up until last year (would work in Palo Alto once a week until partner re-org moved all my contacts to Taiwan and Houston).


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Looks like a nice day to ride up Diablo. 

So much for the good air quality. Smoke rolled in today and we're sitting at 180+ right now.


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