The thingameebob has a name

My brilliant brother-in-law took a quick look at my bike last night. I showed him the thingameebob. He fiddled with it for a few seconds. He pulled a bit off and confirmed it was broken. "What's it called?" I asked. "A spring", he answered.  Ah - so there is a technical name.

The annoying thing, of course, is that it's not a simple repair job so I can see myself going to the shop. Which means at least one more day without the trusty steed. Bother. Bother. Bother.

I tried to take a picture of the offending bit but it didn't come out well. Here's one from the net which I think shows it. It's essentially the spring which keeps the pads from being forced on to your wheel all the time:

and here's the blurry broken bit from mine:

I suspect you may now have heard enough about springs to satisfy you for the day.  KC