Avid BB7 brakes are they are a bit crap?

I recently put a pair on my 29er, impressed by the reviews, the power and adjustment without the hassle of hydro's. But most of the time they are about as good as a well adjusted V-brake. They seem to work well in seriously muddy situations but when on the road (commuting) they seem to fade a bit and disapoint me. Anyone else have this problem and have you found an improvement by swapping out the pads or changing the rotor? I have cleaned the rotors, the pads, etc, but they still seem to dip in brake performance after a few rides. Any ideas?

On all my bikes.
Set em up with inboard pads as close as you can to the discs.
J.

Work great on my road bike.

Like any cable brakes, the cables will stretch a bit after they're first used.

When well set up, my old BB7s were great. I eventually got rid of them because, unlike hydraulic discs, they weren't auto-adjusting so I had to keep winding the pads in as they wore down, sometimes a couple of times in one ride. But at least with BB7s you can wind in both pads, you don't have to keep resetting the mounting.

: P

After a few rides you probably need to wind in the pad adjuster on the calipers slightly (the red dials on either side)

I put some on the GFs bike and I think they are ace personally. Miles better than the v brakes they replaced and nearly as good as my Hopes. I weigh 16 stone and they stop me easily.

I'm well over 16 stone and use them on both bikes. Couldn't get my head round the faff of hydraulics – accept that BB7s also come with added faff so I guess I just prefer their brand of faff. +1 for the above namely set them up with the inboard pad as close to the disc as you can get away with and be prepared to adjust as pads wear.

I didn't get on with BB5s at all although the BB7 should be better. constant fiddling to get decent bite without rubbing

What jerome and ratadog say…

I'm a big lad, have them on 3 bikes, used them for years and never had a problem with them.

Set them up with good quality cables and make sure the outers are cut square. Pad compounds vary, try another set if you still have no joy.

You might find a change of pads helps, get the avid sintered pads like HERE, an old set of BB7's (grey) I had came with organic pads and I thought they were good, but a new set, the black ones, that I got recently came with sintered pads and if set up correctly with the avid SD levers they are superb – got my levers inboard and just need one finger braking, better than some of my hydros. And, I think the clean sweep rotors are better than the wavey ones that are supplied with some BB7's.

I found that the pads needed to be lightly sanded on mine as they were really shiny and slippy. After that it stopped really well, great stopping power and no bleeding required! Didn't feel quite as nice as my Juicy 5s but stopped just as well – was about 18st when I had it and could stop with 1 finger.

Avid BB7 brakes are they are a bit crap?

No, but there is crap setup 🙂

They need good quality cables and smooth curves in the cable run.

Edit: not saying you have done a bad job – what I mean is the BB7 is a good brake, but can be spoilt by spongy cables.

epicyclo – Member

Avid BB7 brakes are they are a bit crap?

No, but there is crap setup

They need good quality cables and smooth curves in the cable run.

Spot on. I use mine with sintered pads, Avid G3 clean sweep rotors 160mm f&r and avid speed dial levers.
I keep threatening to go hydraulic but just cant justify it to myself when these are so good.

Interesting thread. I have BB7s on my singlespeed and was thinking of changing to Juicy 7 Hydros but the cost, even 2nd hand, is putting me off. I have found BB7s are lacking in very wet conditions compared to Juicy 7s on my other bike, which I really like. In these conditions I have found I have to pull the levers really hard to get the brakes to bite. I have cleaned the disks and renewed the pads but no joy. I also find in the dry the tend to lock up much more easily than hydros, perhaps becuase only the outside pas is moved, so there is more of a jamming action which slightly bends the rotor. If the rotor isn't perfectly flat, then maybe this causes the lockup??

One thought is to change the levers. The stock avid FR-5 lever seems a bit cheap and nasty and mine are about 2 years old now. The rear lever in particular is quite worn on the pivot and rattles about.

Has anyone put shimano levers (I am thinking XT's) on BB7s and if so, did this improve things?

Thanks

They seem to work much better with Avid levers, I guess the leverage ratio is diferent to shimano levers? Totally agree that good + clean cable runs are a must, with sintered pads.

Don't think the levers should make any difference as long as they are for 'v' brakes. Used mine with standard Avid levers and also Dia-Compes on drops and very impressed with power and modulation.

Make any adjustments via the caliper and not on the lever cable adjuster.

I've got old LX combined gear/brake levers with my BB7s and they work great imo.

Deore levers are the cheap lever of choice, Pauls for top dollar set ups, spend sometime reading the set up instructions and follow carefully, once set up well they stay good, occasional pad wind in needed.

I have 4 sets going on all sorts of bikes and cant find a reason to change to hydraulics.

Very impressed with the set I have on the front of my SS, as good as the hope mono minis on my other bike.

Have 5 sets on bikes ranging from rigid to full suss. Avid Speed Dial levers (I've got some of the older SD Ti versions), XTR cables and smooth runs work a treat.

If you have to adjust the pads very frequently you're probably doing something wrong – they don't wear down that fast IME. Only downside is that the inboard "piston" can get stiff to move, and has seized up completely on one set (6 years old) that was used throughout this winter without any TLC (so probably my fault).

Have tried older Hope Minis ('02), Magura Loiuse ('04) and recent ('08) XT hydraulics. Only Maguras would tempt me back, but I can't justify it – lots of cost, not much benefit.

Just ordered some XT levers and cables. I'll post on how this works out once fitted and ridden.

My most recent hardtail I bought with v brakes rather than the hudraulic brake version and then installed BB7s. Bike came with FR5s which I changed for speed dial SD7s. I find the combination is great and stops well (albeit that I'm just over 140lbs). Put a 185 on the front and 160 on the rear.
Agree with dialling in the inboard as far as possible – supposed to be 1/3:2/3 gap but find ths isn't practical esp when out on trails and/or removing/installing wheel as it's never exactly the same gap. Easy enough to adjust inboard and outboard. I did go through a front set of Avid pads very quickly but probably more due to the wet, gritty winter conditions.
Have to say am very happy with them even though they're priced similarly to juicy 3s and 5s on CRC now.

Avid brakes are all…………… a bit crap

AND the back up from Fisher Outdoor is also……………..crap

Rebuild kits for juicy 5s were not going to be available until 15/4/10, now that has extended to 15/5/10 and it must be even odds on that extending again.

They are trying to tell you not to buy Avid brakes

BB7 and Paul levers here and they work great 160mm rotors front and rear and they stop my 13 stone bulk quite happily.

No maintenance since I got the bike a year and a bit ago from Tim at sideways, (well I've wound the pads in a couple of notches) just ace continous perfect consistent braking.

Set up is everything get some body who is actually good with bikes to do it for you, my best efforts have ben rubbish compared to Tim.

I store my bike hung from the rear dropouts a lot of the time and both avid, shimano and hope Hydro's would need bleeding after a six weeks of storage like this despite it being completely illogical.

BB7's just work for me, my riding and my bike storage.

Avid brakes are all…………… a bit crap

What a stupid thing to say… 🙄

I've got a set of the original BB brakes; very powerful, very adjustable for personal 'feel', easy to maintain, no faffing about with brake fluid.

I also have a set of Avid V-brakes on another bike. I prefer them to the XT V-brakes I bought, thinking they'd be better.

Avid brakes are great, imo.

+1 for Talkemada

brakes are all far too good these days (going by the random braking bumps at trail centres)

Hi All,

Update for you. I fitted new XT levers and cables, and took out the pads as per other advice here and roughed them up with a sanding block as they had glazed over. Outcome is that they are working very much better. Not used in the wet yet, but judging by today's weather I'll soon find out!!

cheers

Neil