When I pulled on the brake lever for my front wheel, I was getting nothing. I could see brake mechanism moving towards the wheel rim, but the brake pads were so badly worn that they no longer gripped the wheel at all.
It was clear that I couldn’t stop the bike safely, so it was time to replace the brake pads!
My Gazelle uses a hydraulic rim brake that I’m not that familiar with. When I investigated further, I found out it uses the Magura HS11 brake system which doesn’t use the same brake pads I’m familiar with from other bikes.
The Magura compatible brake pads simply clip in and out of housing. So in theory they were pretty simple to replace. Thankfully there’s also a bunch of YouTube videos like this one below that help demonstrate the process.
My bike doesn’t have the quick release function shown in the video. Instead there’s a single bolt securing the brake mechanism on each side.
I ordered some of the new brake pads online, as I wasn’t convinced that my local bike shop would carry them. And when they arrived a few days later I set to work.
Unfortunately I ran into a self-inflicted problem when I only just started the job. I had accidentally dropped one of the bolts that secures the brake to the bike, and it fell down the drain by the side of my house.
I had no means to retrieving it, and didn’t fancy sticking my hand down into the murky water to try and find it. Instead, I looked through the box of bike bits to find a replacement, but I couldn’t find any similar bolts.
And so I had to stop work and make an unplanned visit to my local hardware store to try and find a replacement bolt. I wasn’t sure of the exact size I needed so I took one from my bike (that I hadn’t lost) for comparison. I did find a pack of bolts that tuned out to be the right size – which was an M6 x 20mm.
So with the replacement bolt secured – and my bike moved well away from the drain – I was able to carry on installing the new brake pads. And if you ignore the trip to the hardware store, it took less than 5 minutes from beginning to end.
It’s a very simple process – so long as you don’t lose any of the key pieces that hold the brakes on!
It’s been around 3 months since I replaced the brake pads, and it feels like they might need replacing again soon. I’ve been using the bike a lot lately, but they seem to have worn down quite quickly.