I have a Airbourne Carpe Diem that has done many thousands of miles of commuting service with a set of DIY-modified Shimano M515 discs through Ultegra STI's. Power and feel at the lever is fine, but being bodged MTB brakes they need fettling about once a week to keep them running nicely.
Both sets of pads are nearly dead and the rotors are looking tired, so I could buy new parts and carry on as I am or, for about 50% more money, simply get some road specific discs. If I replace them my options seem to be R505, BB5 or BB7. I know the BB7's will be good, but are relatively pricey compared to the other two. A quick google suggests the R505's are a bit 'agricultural' and lack power and feel.
Looking for comments from anyone who has used any of these three options - esp if you've used more than one and compare and contrast.
Ta in advance - BB.
i used the r505 only. They were heavy underpowered and required adjusting quite a lot, especially in the rain. I also found that if you adjust the cable using the barrel adjuster, you end up pulling against the pad return spring quite a lot. It was much better to wind the pads in at the caliper with an allen key.
I'd just get rim brakes next time.
Thanks HH - all good stuff. The words 'heavy' and 'underpowered' seem to come up alot in relation to the R505's..... currently leaning towards the 2010 BB7's in ano black which, as an added bonus, would match the rest of the finishing kit!
How about the Tektro Lyra? I have them on my Roadrat and they seem to work pretty well, and I think they are the lightest of the bunch too!
Oooo - something new. Will have a look- ta.
Edit: http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-496235.html
A sample of 1 user I grant you, but he's less than impressed. As he says, they do look pretty and a 140mm rotor may be all I need. £40 per wheel is attractive as well. How do you find them Funkynick?
I've used the (road) BB7s for a while and have recently had a look at a bike with Lyras on. I'm currently speccing up another bike (most likely a VN Amazon funnily enough) and have no hesitation in going for BB7s again.
The Lyras are a bit of a pain to get set up/aligned. I'm not convinced that they've got the cable pull right - i.e. I think you might fall into the same maintenance routine as your bodged 515s.
The BB7s are relatively easy to set up and need very little adjustment.
What forks are you running on the Carpe Diem btw?
druidh - useful stuff. Pretty much confirms what I thought. Review of the Amazon when you've built it please..... it's top of my wish list to replace the Carpe Diem when it eventually dies (though that doesn't appear to be anytime soon sadly/fortunately....)
Currently running 700c disc-only P2's (cheap and bombproof, but very harsh and they look a bit wierd as the frame needs a fork with an integrated crown really), but am going to swap to the new Kinesis DC19 soon as these seem to do exactly what I want at a reasonable price and will make fitting the mudguard stays a whole lot neater with the discs.
Ah - DC19 is what I'm looking at. And I have P2s on my Sutra 🙂
Have run road BB7s on a Carpe Diem for 6 years on my commuting/touring bike. Good performance, easy to set up.
On the original design the inboard adjuster was prone to seizing up when exposed to lots of winter crud, and it was difficult to free things up using the knurled plastic dial. I am on my second set, and the new design is much better - torq socket in the middle of the adjuster, and it can be removed completely from the outside of the brake body. The new brake also comes with barrel adjusters for removing cable slack.
kcr - thanks - my last experience fo BB7's on an MTB involved swearing at that the red plastic inboard adjuster for just the reason you describe. Glad to hear that area of the design has changed....
Wiggle were doing road BB7s quite recently for £42 an end. I have a set on my 'rat that are now 5 years old (previously in service on a CX bike) and they are very good.
The plastic adjusters aren't up to much but you can pop them off and use some pliers to turn the pad adjuster then replace the plastic bit. Admitedly a faff but it's not a frequent task so I can live with it. Oh, and some metal cable stops I used (ERROR!) corroded into the calliper but I can't really blame the brake for that and they do still work.
Pretty sure the Wiggle ones have all gone now, last time I looked. They were a no-brainer at that price (shame, what with a Gold discount, BC click-through discount and £15-off-over-£100 deal they may have had to pay me!). Cheapest I can see at the mo is about £60 per wheel from CRC
Got BB7s on a road tandem (with 200mm rotors tee hee) and BB5's on the play/jump bike. Both have plenty of power, the BB7s are a little easier to set up and adjust.
Cheers all - very helpful as usual. Time to give the credit card a bashing at the weekend!
As a follow up to the above thread, I plumped for the BB7's and fitted them over Xmas. Have been running them (when the weather has allowed) for a couple of week and, now the pads are bedded in, I am extremely happy with the power, modulation - and most especially the fact that they have needed no attention whatsoever to keep them running sweetly. So, thanks for all the above comments that lead to this purchase.
Oh, and in a fit of spend-happy-madness, I ordered some of them there DC19 road/carbon/disc/mudguard-friendly forks which arrived this morning. So, should anything other than 'they work fine' come out of a few months on the road I'll report back.
Used a set or Deore (515?) cable discs - OK but my (road) BB7s are way better.
Er, yes..... that was the thrust of the thread. I wouldn;t say there is more power, but the modulation is better and much easier to set-up (as the pads don't have to run so close to the rotors).