Anybody still using BB7s?

had mine a few years now and brakes have moved on a little. mainly pricewise.
anybody still happily using them?

I use bb7 road discs – they are ok, nothing like as good as the magura’s on my mtb though.

mrs julian has bb7’s on her bike. I think they are excellent! Although I suppose choice and upkeep of pads and cables has a lot to do with it. Definitely the gold standard for cable discs. The outside pad adjuster and spring tension adjuster are both very helpful in terms of setting them up well, and even more fiddleable with if you use speed dial or servo wave levers.

on the minus side they are a teeny bit heavy if you are bothered about that sort of thing, and i would shop around for second hand as £45 an end on crc is still pretty pricey. I would definitely recommend them over hyrdaulic duiscs for jump bikes or ones that will be crashed a lot, as you could use a gyro and when you crash and spin the bars right round, cables are much cheaper to replace than hoses.

Yes. On my SS and on my kids bikes. Periodically I go to hydros (currently XT but previously Magura Louise FR and Hope Minis) from BB7s, but always go back to BB7s. Presently migrating back to them on my other 2 bikes as they still beat any hydro I’ve tried for ease of use / set-up.

Yeah I am still using them on my Inbred which is my only MTB. They work fine with just a little attention to keep the pads adjusted.

I have toyed with the idea of a set of hydros but I don’t really see the point for me and I find cables easier to deal with than the idea of bleeding, especially on a trip.

I’ve had a set on my xc / commute bike for a few years. They were absolutely brilliant – much better than the Hayes Nines on my other bike -until last year’s Hit The North when they got very clogged up with crud and have never really been the same since; the adjusters are really hard to turn, but the calipers are held together with tamper-proof bolts so I can’t give them a proper cleanout.

They still work great, but some replacement hydros will probably be on the list if I ever find myself with too much money…

You can get a tool to dissemble the whole BB7 unit to make it as good as new. Mind you, the exploded diagram does suggest there’s a good risk of having a spare part left over when it’s all done!

the only downside is that the pad adjustors do get a bit difficult to turn after a while. But I’ve got a set on the SS that will be 5 years old this year and still going strong.

Best brake ever IMHO.

yeah, I’m still using them. Still great brakes.

Yep, I have two pairs, splendid brakes. Not as good as decent hydraulics but they’re an excellent replacement for V brakes and work really well where hydraulics simply won’t do the job, like on a cross bike.

Mrs TJ has BB5s on her commuter. I wish we had bought hydros for her as the fettling / adjustment they need to work well without dragging is a pain. they need adjusting every week unlike hydros that self adjust and (using hopes) require almost no other fettling at all)

I’ve got mixed feelings about them. I moved from Vs to BB5s and then BB7s. Initially I found them great with lots of stopping power and fairly easy to set up but they come across as a bit ‘cheap’ (I’ve got 2008s which seem a fair bit cheaper than previous year’s models), the plastic adjuster knobs tend to round of (just plastic over a metal spindle) or drop of and I’ve noticed a fair bit of wear. On a couple of my calipers the knobs on the pistons over which the pads fit have worn/broken off. I also noticed a fair bit of ‘pulsing’ with on the front brake (although I’ve heard comments that this may be down to the wavy Avid Roundigon rotors rather than cable discs).

I also found pad removal/fitting a real faff (although to be fair I’m notoriously ham fisted). I’ve recently had a BB7 start to jam as the arm became slackish and now wedges itself against the caliper and I’ve failed to resolve it (I’ve ordered a replacement though as it’s cheaper than a new set of hydros).

That said BB7s have served me really well as an introduction to disc brakes and I went for cables as I was feeling nervous of hydraulics. Having upgraded my main bike to hydraulics I wouldn’t go back though.

I also think that you need to look in terms of price for price, an Avid BB7 is around £40, so £80ish for a pair plus cables and levers, I upgraded to Deore LXs, which I feel are much better brakes, for £105 (including levers) and you may be able to get Deore hydros. for less. I don’t think that I’d go back to BB7s.

BB7s are great brakes i’ve been using them for 2 years and theyre on a heckler now. my mate takes the mickey out of me for it but i reckon theyre better than his hayes nines 😉 will probably upgrade to hydros once they die/i get a bit of spare cash but until then i don’t want to risk spending money on hydraulics when they might not work as well. i once hit a tree and bent the caliper – all i had to do was cut it loose and put it in my pocket!

I like the feel of them compared to hydros.
When the cables are fresh, they have a nice light feel, where hydros feel a bit sluggish.
Only trouble I’ve had was a bent arm thanks to baggage handlers. Bent it back with a screwdriver & all’s good.

new cables are cheap as chips too. took me about 10 mins to fit a new rear xt cable, bought from the crc flood sale for 3 pounds fifty! it was like having a new brake. the front has a gore ride-on cable which is still sh*t-free and smooth as you like. what could be simpler?

decent brakes, but average priced hydrualic brakes feel and work better. i still have a pair and their biggest advantage to me, is using several wheels on one bike you can just adjust the pads wear knobs instead of resetting the caliper.

Keavo, post mount brakes means thats a 30 second job per end (loosen caliper mounting bolts, squueze and hold lever, re-tighten bolts)

Have BB7 roads on the Kona, good brakes.

yes, but it often needs 2 or 3 goes to get it just right. particularly when the bolts and caliper are getting old and they want stay in the same place.