Major Taylor brakes for bike maintenance

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Class number two of our Earn-a-Bike program at Global Connections High in SeaTac took place last week: Brakes. We went over simple things like positioning brake pads and making small adjustments, and then moved onto bigger topics such as replacing brake cables and cable housing.

Most of the bikes had a few minor adjustments needed, as pictured, and maybe one larger thing that needed to be fixed. This worked out perfectly; everyone had a project they needed to work on, but got hands-on practice for multiple different problems.

There was one exception: Mauricio’s bike needed major work on every single part of the brake system. The break arms were jammed, cable rusted and frayed, barrel adjusters stripped, and many other minor tune-ups were needed. Needless to say, it took him longer than the others to fix his brake system. On the bright side: he is an expert at brake maintenance now.