So, what are some obvious signs that it's time (or past time) to put on new brake pads on V-brakes? Is there a "minimum pad thickness" to watch for, or is it something more obvious, like what I may be experiencing:
I recently noticed that, no matter how hard I squeeze on the rear brake lever, the bike doesn't really stop when I try it only using the rear brake, and I was having trouble slowing down in left turns with my left arm extended to signal. I tried adjusting the cable length, to no avail... then I noticed that when I squeeze the brake, the point of the cable where the rubber grommet is just beyond the little metal bracket that goes over the rounded metal thingy is
meeting the other arm -- as in, THERE IS NO MORE TRAVEL TO BE HAD -- the brakes are squeezing as far as they can go!
I realized at this point that, perhaps after two years and 12,000+ miles, it MIGHT be time to put new pads on... there's not much thickness left of those original pads!!!
PB