norelec

Was out today on a ride and when I got back I noticed that my brake pads looked like they were melting. The back was worse there was a lot of rubber build up on the v-brake itself and my rims were coated in black rubber. Does anyone know what this could be and how it was caused and how to prevent it in the future?


Also I took a bunch of pictures of my friend going off some small jumps but they all came out really blurry. I've seen good pics of people taking jumps before. Does anyone have any tips for talking good pics of action shots?

gonesh9

for the pics of action shots, make sure you have higher numbered film (800 works for me). and if there is an adjustment on the camera, adjust to high shutter speed. try to keep the camera steady, too.

norelec

It's a digital camera sorry forgot to say that.

rashenup

Well as far as the camera goes, assuming that by blurry you mean that the rider is blurry, there are a few techniques that may help.
First, the steadier that you can hold the camera the better. When I need to keep my camera steady I put the hand that doesn't push the "take picutre" button on the bottom of the camera, and then rest my arm against my chest. It's a little awkward at first (well at least it was for me), but it does give you a more stable platform to work off of. Also holding your breath when you actually take the picture could help some. Lastly to help keep the camera steady you can try 'squeezing' the "take picture" button instead of 'hitting' it. You'll have to play with how slow you can go with your camera to get the timming right since no two cameras are the same.
Secondly you can try a technique called panning. What you need to do with this is move the camera with the subject, in this case the rider, in the same spot in the frame as the picture is being taken. You start following the rider before you actually want to take the picture, then as you're panning with the rider you take the picture, and continue panning along until the picture is done. Now this isn't the easiest idea to get right (it took me a while to get it down). But with the digital camera, just keep taking picutres and you can always delete the bad ones afterwards.
Also, the closer that the rider is coming straight at you, the less they will get blurred, since their apparent speed is slower than if they were at a right angle (think about looking straight ahead while driving, and looking out a side window. Again this will take some experimentation to find the right spot, but that's where digital cameras are great right?

Anyways that got longer than I thought it would, but I hope it will help you out some. And if you do get some good pics out of it post them here. I know that I (and others) would love to see them!

moabrider47

In reference to the brake pads.....

Was the ride a real muddy one? I would assume that it was one that required some real heavy use of the brakes. If the ride was muddy in any places, the "melted" brake pad material could be a mixture of mud and dust along with some brake pad material. Are you using softer material brake pads? This could also contribute to the buildup. I know what you are talking about - every once in a while on a real muddy ride with a ton of braking I end up cleaning a bunch of what looks like brake pad material off the pads. It may just be something you have to deal with on those types of rides......unless of course you wanted to spring for discs.

Can't help you with the picture problem - I'm taking notes from what these other guys are saying.


-Moab

norelec

Thanks for the tips on taking pics. I'll give some of the suggestions a try.

As for the brake pads it was a pretty wet ride there was a nice bit of mud and even some snow. There is what looks like brake pad material all over the rims and pads (espcially the back rim and pads.) I don't know if it's a soft compound pad it's just the stock ones that came with my bike. I'll look into harder compounds when I go to the LBS next. I would get disc's but I don't have the hubs and my frame doesn't have a rear disc mount.