As a point of interest CRC are knocking out cheap BB7s at the moment. I’ve ordered a set to replace my cheap Halfrauds hydraulics when they eventually reach the end of their useful life.

The BikeHut branded hydraulic discs were only about £60 a wheel, were pre-bled and have so far been pretty decent. My only worry is getting spares for them longterm. The only problem I have had with them is the noise them make on anything other than a perfectly dry day. They get so noisy its easier to not brake and risk crashing than having to endure the godawful racket they make. Good for clearing ramblers out of the way… 😈

and we are talking about a Escort Cosworth

my mate has to rebuild his escort cosworths engine every 30k miles…

600 bhp though 😀

Bigdave you’re missing his point – you were talking about clarks cables, whereas the cable in question here are BB7’s. Ie you’re talking about a Fiat 126 and we are talking about a Escort Cosworth.

I was using my example of Clarks cable operated discs to show that not all cable discs are created equal. The BB7’s were quite pricey when I considered them before and I thought I’d try another option.

I’ve driven many Fords and Fiats over the years. They have all been fairly shoddily put together, the Fords because of penny pinching at the design stage and the Fiats because they are Italian. Always found the Fiats more fun to drive mind you. Clarks cable discs are more like Perodua of the braking world than Fiats IMO.

Oops double post.

I didn’t like my bb7’s in winter as I was forever stopping mid-ride (peak district ride) to adjust pad position to compensate for wear. Some descents I had to stop half way down (stopping was tricky given the brakes were not very effective any more) as the levers were back to the bars.

to go from a prefect set up bb7 to the lever touching the bars you must have gone through half the pads. Been running bb7 and riding cannock and the peaks for the last 2 years and never had this problem, try bedding your pads in properly

I run both. I think a half decent set of hydraulics with the same size rotors outperform BB7s in both power and feel.
BB7s are easier to get your head around in terms of technical complexity and easier to make quick fixes to out on the trail – should you need to.

if you need to touch the adjuster on a BB7 caliper any more than once in a blue moon you are probably braking far too much. so go for big hydros and sintered pads to deal with all that unnecessary heat build up and last more than one ride a set 😉