Maintenance

Front brake pads can be changed in under five minutes by anyone still able to fog a mirror. Well, almost anyone.

It's likely your chain has enough miles on it to warrant replacement. A shop can measure it for wear with a gauge or you can buy a gauge and use it, yourself. Alternatively, you can use a scale/rule to measure the stretch. .75% to 1% stretch/wear seems to be the replacement point. I prefer early replacement as this saves the chainrings and cassette gears a bit of wear. I change out chains around 1500 miles. Some folks do it sooner and some get many more miles out of a chain due to terrain, riding style, etc.

Cassette gears and chainrings should be good at 2500 miles if you've kept the chain properly lubricated.

Check your tires for wear. Cables for lubrication and fraying. Wheels for truing. Clean and lubricate any non-sealed bearings.

Now, let the long, idiotic diatribes on chain gauges commence!

The skill level for changing Brake Pads which are held in "holders" for Shimano & Tektro/etc. brakes requires a skill level of 0.5 out of 10, where 10 is the most difficult. Depending on the holder, the pad is secured with either a Philips headed screw or Allen headed bolt.

Campagnolo Brake Pads held in holders are a bit tougher ... definitely a 1+ out of 10 ...

• some people may-or-may-not have noticed that I swapped the holders & pads on my OLMO's Campagnolo Brakes with non-Campagnolo holders ...
  

SOLID BLOCK Brake Pads require a little more effort since they are completely removed & need to be repositioned with some care during installation ... still, probably only a 1 out of 10.

Regardless of the brand of brake calipers which your bike has, it is definitely a DIY project.

Great, thanks. One more question on brake pads. Do I have to purchase what came on the bike or can I use aftermarket?

Depending on the model/make of brake, you can use OEM pads or aftermarket (depending on availability). Your LBS or online shopping should fix you right up. Pads are expendable items and usually easy to procure. Unless I'm using carbon rims, I generally just use OEM pads.

Alf, You're cracking me up!

Please publish your full table of skill set levels of difficulty! Much more graduated than my "fog a mirror to BSME Required" sliding scale!

Watch a few videos...drink a few beers...read a few 'How to's'...drink a few more beers...change out pads: google.comsearchOpen ↗

jwroubaix said:

Great, thanks.  One more question on brake pads.  Do I have to purchase what came on the bike or can I use aftermarket?

You can use whatever brake pads you want so long as they're appropriate for your rims and brake pad holders. Do you want to change your brake pads, or are you just curious about options in the future? IMHO, if your wheels have alloy rims, I'd highly recommend you consider either SwissStop (green or black pads, with the green providing better braking in the rain or muck) or Kool Stop pads (salmon for all weather braking, black if you rarely ride in the rain).