Thinking of getting some cable disc brakes for my tourer/commuter. Anyone got any suggestions? In fact, anyone got any they want rid of?

BB7s. Head and shoulders above anything else.

I like my BB7s with Full Metal Jacket outers, I did an endo by mistake the first time I pulled on my front brake after fitting it, before it was lined up and set up properly.

bb7 – I like ’em so much I put a set on all my bikes except the CX.

I hate BB7s; as they’re considered the best cable discs, I’d have to advise you to avoid them like the plague. Genuinely awful bits of crap, needed constant adjustment, wore out pads in just a few rides, and hopeless stopping ability compared to hydraulics.

Everyone else seems to like them though, so maybe it’s just me.*

(*It’s not, y’know….they really are terrible)

I’ve used a 3 kinds of cable disk brakes and, low & behold, BB7s were the best.

I prefer hydraulics, but find bleeding and setting up the way I like them to be trickier than ye olde cabels.

BB7s set up properly with decent quality pads, works for me on 2 of my bikes.

There’s a bloke seling a set of BB5s on here for cheap.

I nearly bought ’em just on principle, as powerful as BB7s in my view, just not quite as adjustable.

Get ’em

APF

Thanks – just bought the BB5s of the bloke 🙂

Here’s to many happy days of non bleeding touring and commuting…but not stopping very quickly

“…but not stopping very quickly” – a darn sight better stopping power than any rim brake I’ve ever used…

Genuinely awful bits of crap, needed constant adjustment, wore out pads in just a few rides, and hopeless stopping ability compared to hydraulics

so wrong…

I’ve had BB7s on one of my bikes for years, they are excellent brakes with plenty of power, modulation and other than an occasional turn of a big red dial they have been fine. I have had less bother with them than with Hayes hydraulics with sticky pistons and XT hydraulics with leaky ones…

My only complaint is that mine have always been REALLY NOISY if it’s wet. Banshee howl embarrassingly noisy. No amount of fettling, pad manufacturer or even caliper replacing has helped. Ho-hum…

BB7’s are £ for £ the best disc brake available, period.

If they made a lighter version with the same power (and shrunk the big daft red wheel, then they would take over the world.

That big daft red wheel used to be smaller, but then it was harder to turn after it got gritty and manky until you could only do it with pliers; then it snapped off… 🙁

BB7’s are £ for £ the best disc brake available, period.

Look, that’s your opinion. I get it, I really do. But I have to disagree.

I hated mine so much that I took them off and threw them away. Literally binned them. No amount of resetting the caliper, cleaning the discs, putting new pads in (again), twiddling the red dial etc did the slightest bit of good, and after three months of juddering my way to a belated stop, I flipped.

I replaced them with a set of £100 secondhand Hope Mono Minis, which were light years ahead in every possible way. Not perfect, mind you, but so much better you couldn’t believe it. Far better value for money IME

if you’ve got drop bars you’ll need the ‘road’ version of whatever brake you choose..