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The Cranky Mechanic
Do you know what you want?
By Uncle Chad

How can such a simple sport sometimes be so confusing? All we have to do is put one leg in front of the other, and we go forward! The wheels puts out centrifugal force that keeps up upright, and we only need coffee for energy! That’s the easy part. Keeping the rig in good condition, well that is another.

While in the shop, I needed brakes for my mountain bike. Simple? I think not. There is the metric system and the English system for measurements. ISO standards for manufacturing. Tolerances. Pins and crap. And will they squeak?

Then there are the names! Kool Stop, Hope, Avid, Hayes. I don’t need to be “kool” while stopping, and I bet they get really hot anyway. I also “hope” I stop, for the price of the damn things. “Hayes” is what I wear under my jeans. I love mountain biking, so maybe I should go with “avid”. Oro is Italian, but they don’t say Campy on them, and therefore that cuts out 10 or so million potential snobby, but fat wallet customers. I should talk to their marketing department.

Then there is the packaging, this is the toughest part of all. I asked for 2 sets of pads. “They will be here in 3 days”, I was told. “That’s how long it takes to walk across the street to the storage room?” I asked bewildered. I was ushered out right onto my Hayes! When I returned to pick up, I was given a bill of over a hundred dollars. Wowza! Then the mechanic put 4 packages of brake pads on the counter, and said “2 sets”. I said I needed pads for the front and rear only. He said, “ok, but you ordered 2 sets!?” I told him, “that is 4 pairs of pads on the counter, not two”. “They sell them in pairs, but you wanted a set, and two of them”, he replied. “If they sold them in pairs, and I only wanted one, I would have half a set”, I angrily told him. “That’s right”, he said. “A pair of pads is both front and back, or they wouldn’t be a pair!!”, I screamed. “Exactly!” he said. “It says ‘set’ on the package!!!”, I jumped up and down. “But you said you didn’t want only a pair of pads, you wanted a set, and 2 of them”, he replied. “2 sets would be just the front and back brakes”, as I did a back flip off the counter. “You just said a pair of pads is both front and back!”, he fired back. “Look, in a package of brakes, what do you get?” sweat ball dripping off my nose. “A pair of pads”, he calmly replied. “A ‘pair” is plural! You can’t get a pair in one package, they don’t sell them like that!” I bellowed. “Then you should have ordered a pair and have been done with it”, he concluded.

A pair of pads, or just a set, that is the question.

Uncle Chad