[Closed] Avid BB7s - as good as they say?

I put some on the gf's bike - they seem very good. Not quite as good as my avid juicys but perfectly decent. I just set them up with her existing V brake deore brake/gear levers, apparently they work much better with the proper levers.

They are good, yes, I got one as a stopgap while I serviced my hope minis and was tempted to keep it on...

I've just removed juicy 7's to fit BB7's (BB5's are gash as they are only adjustable on one side ) as the bb7's work perfectly with no faff on my other bike for 6 years now.

I've also ran hfx-9 and deore hydros in the past.

tbh, i can't feel any difference between avid speed dial (7?) levers on one bike and lx brake/shifter pods on the other.

I've already got Avid SD levers, so that's a plus...

I really rate the BB7s. Had one on my old fixie and now have a pair on the gf's bike. Maintenance is nil and they have plenty of power. If you are spanner-phobic they are perfect. However you can get decent hydros for not a lot more cash if you do not mind a bit more fettling.

Good quality kit at low price and low maintenance is where I'm at. Not that I'm spanner-phobic - used to work in a bike shop - just rather be doing other things mostly.

Yes they are.

got a pair of 180mm's on my xc bike, performed perfectly stopping my 15 stone down the pyrennees. that's with deore v levers too, in dry and wet (very!) conditions. no fluid to heat up so no fade, you just have to click the pads in a notch once in a while.

also got a pair of 200mm's on my downhill/freeride bike with no probs.

I'd recommend them.

Great brakes, nice and powerful, but my only complaint is that on mine the adjusters have seized - after a race in awful weather last year gritty water got in to the screw adjusters and they need turning with pliers now, even with the big red turney things. You can't take the calipers to bits properly with normal tools, you need an allen key with a hole in the end (IIRC), and no amount of farting about has so far got mine back to proper working order again.

They do work very well, but they are on the "to be replaced" list, albeit a long way down it.

downsides for me were:-

* pad wear on descents, sometimes needing to stop to readjust the pads mid descent
* over time, general wear and slackness in the mechanism leads them to become noisy and crude feeling in operation.

for the first year and a bit, they were fab though.

...adjusters have seized - after a race in awful weather last year gritty water got in to the screw adjusters and they need turning with pliers now, even with the big red turney things

Try soaking the whole unit - minus pads - in penetrating oil?

Excellent, have them on both bikes.

Replaced mono minis with these..........excellent!

I think they're good but not quite perfect. I had Hope Minis for a while, then got Avid BB7s for my gf. They were way better than my Hopes, so eventually I switched over to them as well.

The BB7s ran for a few years before the pad adjusters seized. I read recently on here that it's worth disassembling them from new and greasing the threads inside the pad adjusters to avoid this.

The other down sides were that the cables get manky just like any other cable (even with full-length outers) and that the pad wear could be crazy in the wet. I went through a whole set of pads in one wet day at Afan. Maybe that was poor technique, but my current choice (Shimano XT hyrdros) last longer.

So they're good, powerful, and actually more adjustable than hydraulics. Maintenance is hard to call, but I'd say they're more maintenance than XT but less than Hope.

I've used

Hope Mini
Hope Mono M4
Avid Juicy 7
Shimano XT new generation Hydro
Avid BB7's

BB7's are the only brake I would actually reccomend to anybody else, tehy just work, Sideways Tim set mine up and he's got them feeling pretty much as smooth as hydro's with my Paul levers.

Every bike I have will now have them fitted where possible...

...pad wear could be crazy in the wet

Any aftermarket pads to recommend for better wear / as-good-or-better performance?

They are good. I still have my first set.

They are easy to look after, and adjustment is a doddle.

As for the brake pads, they are the same as used in other Avid brakes - I use the same pads in my Juicy Ultimates.

I swear by them. Had the same set on my heckler for 2 years and they were on my hardtail before that and they just keep on going. There's a trick you can use to stop the pads wearing out too quickly in muddy conditions which only the new taper-bore hydralics have, and that is to just back the pads on each side off a couple of turns to give you more mud clearance 🙂