Originally Posted by Leisesturm

Why would you try to sell a bike with mismatched pedals? Is it because you cannot get the left pedal off? Are you aware that the left side pedal needs a clockwise force to unscrew it and vice versa?? That is a common, very common, bit of missing knowledge in many a newbie mechanic's knowledge-base. Re: the f'd up brakes... I did not see any earlier posts on this... I doubt you are out of the woods or have learned anything useful from your experience with this bike. As you say, practice makes perfect. Unfortunately the home mechanic can never get that kind of practice. You must, do your repairs with a good bike repair book literally in your lap, checking yourself as you go. Every time. In your post "taught" should actually be "taut". And as regards getting brake tension to the proper degree of tautness, this is my trick for doing it, and I've never seen it mentioned in any book or online repair site I've visited, so consider this advice very much FWIW. It works for me, however, I swear by it in fact. To wit: when you work on brakes alone, you need a 3rd hand tool to hold the calipers shut against spring tension. Most home mechanics, yours truly included, do not own one. What if you simply remove the spring tension?! I've yet to find the side-pull, center-pull or v-brake that didn't have easily accessible tension springs. I pull the cable taut with pliers with the brake springs released. I reset the brake springs and see how much clearance I have. Probably not enough. Well, unhook the brake return springs again, loosen the cable clamp just enough to let the cable slide and open the brake arms a smidge. They will stay where you leave them, because their is no spring tension on them. Re tighten the cable clamp, Re-seat the tension springs and test clearance. Rinse and repeat until perfect. FWIW.

H

p.s. I cannot comment on the jersey, because there is no link supplied.