Had the day off and wanted to do a nice leisurely ride around town running errands and just goofing off but had to fix my front brake first. One of the levers on the V-brake was very sticky. After messing with it for a while I decided to tear it down and relube, straighten the spring etc. but then I discovered the spring was broken. Went to a nearby shop and, "No, we don't sell just the spring. You need a whole new brake." Man, what happened to bikes and bike shops since I used to work in them? If I didn't have a part like that I would have had a box in the back of used V-brakes and parts, dragged it out, pulled out a spring or, if I was busy, had the customer sort through and find what they needed and either made up a price that seemed fair or looked up the part and charged wholesale cost for the part. A good, regular customer would have gotten the part for free.

Since I didn't feel like going all over town for the part and I did need new blocks I bought the brake for $20. Then I cleaned up the old brake, sans one spring, put it in the box and rode over to Recycle-A-Bicycle on Avenue C- a non-profit bike recycling shop that teaches people in the neighborhood to repair bikes and people either "earn" a bike by doing repairs or build one at low cost for themselves or buy them at a pretty reasonable cost. I gave them the old brake- they couldn't have been happier with the donation. I should have gone there in the first place I'd probably have been able to get a spring there for about a $1.

Got a great ride in after that. The new brake works great. And I'm loving my new Keen Austin shoes. Best commuter walk-a-bout shoe I've ever had.