While changing a flat on yesterday's ride, Dave noticed that my brake pads were almost completely worn through. I also had a lot of play in the cables, so I tighened the brake cable tension, finished up the ride, and headed in to Performance for some new brake pads (I chose the Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 Brake Pads since I already have Shimano rims and know they're a reliable brand).

They were $9.99 per wheel set, which is a small price to pay for being able to safely brake for traffic, other riders, or debris on the road.

You can see from the photo that the old brake pad was not only worn through, but there's a ridge on the outer edge where it wasn't as worn. This was because I didn't have the pads aligned properly with the wheel rim, so only about 75% of the pad was actually touching the rims. There's an adjustment screw on the brake pad bracket that I loosened up and then re-aligned the brake pad with the rim.

I had to loosen the cable tension considerably in order to allow the thick new pads to fit around the wheel. It was also easier for the front set to just pop the wheel off. The brake pads pull out of the bracket towards the bike rather than out the front, which happens to be right where the front fork reaches down over the wheel.

The whole job took about 10 minutes and the only tool required was a small hex wrench... probably a 2mm.

I noticed a huge difference on today's ride with the new brakes. In fact, I almost went over the handle bars the first time I braked - I was so used to squeezing hard with the worn out brake pads.