I've decided to give up on publicly anticipating and announcing WHEN (by time or mileage) I will need to do specific maintenance, like I have in the past. I think I said in December I would need to replace my pads by the new year..... and they are still on my bike. It seems they are wearing slower than they did at the start, which is likely mostly due to a little better braking technique as I learn and gain experience (more efficient engine braking now).
As most of you know, the manufacturer's service limit on the pads is 1mm. Back when I was arbitrarily "predicting" my service dates and milage, I didn't have a reliable way to measure the pads either.... I was just eye-balling them, guessing, holding up a ruler (that didn't have metric measurements), etc. Now my tool chest has a NEW member in the family.... a brand new caliper micro-meter thingy (I think that is what it is called). Here is a link if anyone is interested...
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...ctId=100651811
So, now I KNOW that my pads are actually currently at 2mm (average between them, they are pretty close though).
Sorry to be so long winded getting to my actual question, but here it is....
Since the bike is my daily commuter, and I do have to "time" maintenance since I can't take it out of service 15min. before I have to leave for work, should I start thinking about changing the pads anytime between now and 1mm if I have sufficient free time, or am I good to wait until 1mm and hope I have time and money that specific weekend?
I would like to go for a 100-200mi ride this Sat (if my visiting friend's bike isn't kaputt like we suspect), and assume I am still safe, but that just got me thinking about this.