For my road bike. Availible for peanuts. I know Avids are the “thing” but are these worth a try for a tenner?
Anyone used them?

Go straight to the BB7s. Do not pass go, do not waste your pounds.

Researched various cable brakes a while ago BB7’s are very good and that is what I went for in the end as cost was not a factor and I wanted a good set on the bike, but they are a lot more than a tenner. Does this help;

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/disc-brake-systems/product/m545-cable-disc-brakes-08-17537.

I’ve got shimano road discs on my Portland and have never really been convinced by them particularly in the wet. Read the road bike action review of the Portland for similar thoughts. I’ve changed to XT discs and put new pads in but they still dont impress that much, maybe I just need to rub some mud into the pads.

I had Shimano cable discs on my Hardrock Pro and those brakes were f*cking terrible, and actually dangerous in wet weather as they would not stop the bike

Avid BB-7 is probably the only cable disc worth bothering with, the BB-5 is much better than Shimano but only has 1 moving piston which means it brakes by bending the rotor against the fixed piston, meaning regular adjustments and a somewhat grabby feel

Avid BB-7 is probably the only cable disc worth bothering with, the BB-5 is much better than Shimano but only has 1 moving piston which means it brakes by bending the rotor against the fixed piston, meaning regular adjustments and a somewhat grabby feel

I think the BB7 works the same way doesn’t it? Just has two adjustments instead of one, basically making it easier to set up?

I’ve got some BB7s winging their way from China, £50 for two callipers, and some spanky little XT V-Brake levers waiting to go with them.

It works the same way, but the BB7 has pad adjustment on both sides, so the rotor doesn’t have to bend so much (or you don’t have to repeatedly re-align the whole caliper).

I’ve got some cable Gusset Chutes on an Inbred … both pistons move (caliper slides giving same effect). Seem to work well enough, certainly no worse than the BB7s I have on another bike.

Have the Shimano cable disc brakes on my Centrum.
Look nice,look like disc brakes, work no better than decent rim brakes but weigh much more.

what about the tektro lyra?

lighter? better?

i have had bb7s on my rig since it was new – just moved them to my sandman …. they are still good

i put a pair of deores cables on the missus` commuter – they are equally as good – just as easy to set up also

as with all cable disks its in the set up !

I have Road BB7’s on my Fargo (running with STI levers) and am very happy with them.

On One have the Road BB5’s in their sale at the moment for around £40 but for the extra i’d still go with the BB7’s.

look for a used set of Tektro Io’s or Iox’s

i had them on a Focus cross bike. They were rubbish! Seemed no better than rim brakes, even in the wet, they weight a ton and the lever feel was horribly mushy. When you adjust for pad wear using the barrel adjuster it also seemed to reduce the power as you work against the pad return spring more, so its best to use an allen key at the calliper just to get the slightest amount of stopping power available, which is more faff.

I struggle to think of one thing they did better over rim brakes!

It put me off disc brakes for drops.

I had a set of the first Deores. view were ok and certainly worth a Tenner but avids are better.