for the sake of argument lets say Canti brakes are crap on trails. rating 1. hydraulic discs rating 10. what rating would cable discs be?

also how much better are the Avid Ultimate canti’s over Flogglegs? anyone had the two?

cr@p cable disc brakes would be -10 (cheap unbranded), good ones would be 10 (avid bb-7).

10! what they are as good as hydraulic brakes? 😯

All the cable discs I’ve had personal experience of (never tried a set of BB7s) have been only on a par with, or sometimes inferior to, a well set up V-brake.

When you say ‘canti brakes’, to you mean pre-V cantilevers, with a central staddle yoke, or do you mean V-brakes? If the former (and you rate those as 1), then I would put V-brakes at 6 and cable discs at 4 or 5.

Of course, you do get the ancilliary benefits of discs over rim brakes, such as a buckled wheel having little effect on braking and the braking surface being more out of the way of flying mud. With hydraulic discs starting as affordably as they do now, however, I can’t really see an argument for buying cable discs (unless of course you are using them on a bike with drop bars!).

these & lets say there rating 1 (crap)

I’ve just ordered a brand new pair of Avid BB5’s for my daughters bike, for the princely sum of £32. At that price they’ve got to be worth a punt

All v brakes and canti’s are prehistoric bobbins!

I disagree re. BB5/7 vs hydraulics.

OK they don’t feel as nice but they work pretty much as well, WAAAAAAAY better than cantis.

also how much better are the Avid Ultimate canti’s over Flogglegs? anyone had the two?

Loads better. I’ve had both and the Ultimates are far superior, both in terms of the adjustability when setting up (no more bending the arms with a big adjustable spanner 🙂 ) and the power/modulation available.

sefton – I have one of thse very bikes with a Kinesis fork (DC32?) on the front and a BB7. Absolutely brilliant, transformed the bike. Still a mini-V on the back but the back brake doesn’t really do a lot anyway.

And I have BB7s on my MTB. Easily as good stopping-wise as the Hopes they replaced and entirely faff free, unlike the Hopes.

the front brake and fork are usually a squealy bag of judder 😆

My BB7s have been as powerful as any hydraulic brakes I’ve ever used (Formula and Avid). It’s just the feel that is different. To be fair though, the V-brakes on my commuter work perfectly well too. Just different again, and less power in the wet.

@ sefton

I’ve got those froggies on the back of my Cotic X (BB7 road on front).
If you drop the straddle it helps a LOT with power – ams sure their is some SheldonBrown science about this somewhere… anyway, give it a try if yo have a longer cable kicking around – really works! 😀

the front brake and fork are usually a squealy bag of judder

Mine was too before I had the disc. I fitted a fork mounted cable hanger and it made a hell of a difference (like got rid of) the judder.

dont think I can fit one with the fork I have

Really? No hole through the crown? unlucky 🙁

My BB7s have been as powerful as any hydraulic brakes I’ve ever used

+1

The only thing I’d say is on big, long downhills (Alpine stylee) your forearms can take a beating with mechanical discs alot sooner than hydraulics, aside from that I find them spot on.

Mechanical discs are pretty much as powerful as hydraulic discs. Well set up V-brakes are bloody good too, just not very good in the wet.

Use the expensive Avid Ultimate levers and nice cabling, like gore rideon, and BB7s can feel nice and smooth like Hydros.

I had the original Avid cable discs, used with Avid SD5 levers and teflon coated inners and they worked great. I actually kept the rear one in my Bighit bike because I couldn’t see the point updating it (a mate gave me a free front Hayes 9 hydraulic system I was using, but it felt wooden and was either on or off)

I’ve recently stuck some Hayes cable discs (203/160) using acera class STI units and teflon coated inners on a little hardcore bike and they work reasonably. The levers let them down somewhat.

After many years of using a variety of brakes, although I currently have hydraulics on my XC bike (bought s/h) I’d be perfectly happy to go with Avid or Hayes with SD5 lever and teflon coated cables. Got the chance to carry precut cables in my rucksack for accidents on long rides and don’t have to worry about anything more than siezing pistons in the long run.

just degreased both rims and the frogglegs are working a treat! 😀

First ride with BB7s today and I was impressed.

Agree with the above. I have hydraulic discs on the MTB, and Avid BB7s on the Pompetamine, and I think they’re great. Daughter has some cheap Tektro cable discs on her Merida MTB, and they seem fine too.

BB7 = 8 they really are that good. Best with Avid speed dial levers and a really good tough compressionless outer eg Goodridge. Much easier to adjust than hydraulics too.

Never tried hydraulics except on the odd roll round on a mate’s bike. Went for BB7s and Speed Dial levers because I ‘understood’ cable brakes. Can be a bit of a faff to set up until you get the knack (the ‘official’ Avid video on their site makes it dead clear though) but I cant see how hydraulics could be THAT much better in terms of actual stopping power (I guess feel might be different).

slainte 😀 rob

The only hydro brakes I had were Juicy 5s. A nice powerful brake. Then I builta SS with BB7s and preferred the feel. The reason being be setting the pads to the distance I like and adjusting the cable I can make them feel how I want. Juicys I just had to live with the design.To me they felt like the power came on too early. I never had a problem locking up by accident but the BB7s I just feel I have more control over.

As said though hydro discs have better mechanical advantage so if you do a lot of long hard downhill you will get less arm pump and less tired hands.

Another bb7 fan here – dont fade on long dhs either…. robust and field repairable too. Superb.

paul

Avid cables don’t tend to leak fluid all over the floor, aren’t a pain to replace pads when pistons are stuck, easy to set up, don’t sufferu from heat fade and cheap, what’s not to like?

Froglegs are crap.

Cr720’s for my ‘crosser.