Last Friday I bought a new pair of cycle-shorts. I tried to wear them the first time this morning but I discovered that, despite having tried on the shorts in the shop, I’d come home with a child-size pair that wouldn’t go even halfway up my legs. Fortunately, I’d not taken the labels off and so was able to swap them for a pair that would fit my flabby anatomy.

I also checked on the date for Lev Davidovitch’s brake-swap – it’s due on the 28th. Dad had warned me Lev would need new disks, as well as new brake-callipers: apparently it’s impossible to properly flatten a disk once it’s been bent out of shape. (He used to make brake disks for Ford and Austin Rover so has more knowledge of this area than I do about anything!) So I spent a while drawing reasons why friction would imply a distorted or damaged disk.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to argue my case – they new brakes will come with new disks anyway, so it’s all good apart from the wait and cycling to Napier not being as easy as it could be.

Despite the friction, I’m still very pleased I chose disk-brakes. I appreciated their inclement-weather-unimpaired stopping capacity when a car-moron jumped some traffic lights lights on Lothian Road today. Even in good conditions, disk-brakes are better stoppers than rim-brakes, and won’t wear the rims away.

Also, cycling Lev for just a couple of weeks on Edinburgh’s rubbish road surfaces has already affected his wheels so much that if Lev had rim-brakes, they’d be rubbing without any chance of getting them fixed for free.