I was given a bike by a friend (for free) and have taken advantage of biking over short distances to work and school.
When riding I noticed that the braking is not immediate when I applied the brakes and the bike comes to a squeaking stop.
The bike has rim brakes. The brake pads seems to be quite stiff and don't appear to be worn out very much. I am still trying to diagnose what is affecting the braking. Do I need better quality brake pads? Or do I need to adjust the pads and the levers on the wheels get the bike to stop better?