I thought I needed rear brakes recently too. I installed the new shoes--brake pedal was still going way down, fully adjusted.  Turns out, the cam inside the assembly is getting worn, so I had to reset the lever on the hub--moved it about 2-3 notches and then I had lots of adjustment left.

Also--of course, before attempting to remove rear wheel, you're gonna want to get the bike off the ground 1st. I use a pile of 2 x 12's nailed together. Takes 2 people to lift front of bike--kick board pile under frame.

The whole rear brake job takes about 1 1/2 hours, if ya know what you're doing. Be careful you don't get ripped off if you have the dealer or some shop do the work. Parts are about $35, labor @$60 per hour is about $80-$100.

Wearing the rear brakes enough to need new ones takes a lot of miles.

wow, amazed at all the help as always. thanks everyone.

Some more info: I've got 11,000 miles on it. Bought it with 9000 about 3 months ago but it's my daily ride and I've gone on a few trips with it.

I trust the mechanic who said I needed the shoes, and I've recently noticed light squeaking when applying rear brakes, however the mechanic IS at a dealer, and I checked on the brakes according to the manual which says :

"while fully applying the brake, check to see that the extension line of the index mark is within the range" on the brake lining wear limit indicator on the back tire.

The index mark when applying the brake seems to be within the wear indicator line if I'm doing this correclty. That, paired with the general consensus that it'd take a LOT of riding to wear down the back brake, paired with the recommendation it's time for new shoes came from a dealer = I'll probably hold off unless the squeaking increases.


let me know if you guys have any other advice now that you know the full story...

and, again, thank you so much. I'm going to put the front pads on this week... even if I don't need em after all I figure it'll be a learning experience!

Yeah, Skip, if I were you I'd wait till I need another rear tire, then combine projects.  If you're letting the shop do the tire work, get them to slap on some brake shoes while they're at it.  Like Boofer suggested.

Versy, I tend to err on the side of caution, so I may have cheated myself out of some brake-shoe life.  My total miles on the frame and wheels of this bike equal 82K.

I live on a hill and they just chip-sealed the road last week so it's been like riding on a gravel road every day. I have never used my back brakes as much as I have in the last week. Feels like riding on marbles