BB7 road v's Mountain on drops

Throwing around some ideas for a new build: road/cx disc weird hybrid type thing 1×10 with a bar end shifter or some of these[/url]

Genevalle sell a long-pull lever, which I assume would work with the mountain bike calipers – so would these be a more powerful option?

The TRP hydros look like an option too but the hoods look a bit long – anyone any experience with them?

Oh, and this looks lush!

It shouldnt be a more powerful option, the extra cable pull might be a bit better at overcoming friction tho.

I used the Tektro RL520 (i.e. long pull drop bar lever) with MTB BB7’s, worked fine. Very powerful. Appeared to be less ‘fiddly’ than the road versions too.

Oh, and this looks lush!

Indeed. What is it?

Indeed. What is it?

44 Bikes Huntsman, it appears, after a bit of research

Tektro RL 520’s and MTN BB7 here too. 🙂

What Al said though IME friction isn’t a big issue.

44 Bikes Huntsman, it appears, after a bit of research

Oh. 🙁 That will be too expensive then.

Using the long pull levers will mean you can probably have a bigger gap between the pads and the rotors, so the brakes will be less fiddly and will cope with mud better, a bit like BB7s on a mountain bike.

Sounds like a good option.

forgive my ignorance (or dont!) but with the tektro’s do you use thumb shifters for gears?

44 Bikes Huntsman, it appears, after a bit of research

Oh. That will be too expensive then[/quote]

Yes 🙁

forgive my ignorance (or dont!) but with the tektro’s do you use thumb shifters for gears?

Yes, or singlespeed or see my link above for another solution

Turnerguy you are missing the point.

Turnerguy you are missing the point.

maybe I was thinking about those levers with road BB&s, then you could have the bigger gap.

imho the bigger gap you can get with mtb bb7s and sd levers is the BB7s biggest advantage – the roads I have on my croix seem poor compared.

I think TurnerGuy is right. The road BB7’s have less lever pull to suit road levers, but they still seem to sit closer to the disc with more rubbing.

Using mtn calipers on road pull levers results in you adjusting the pads every week as they wear , and frequent pulls to the bar with nothing happening when you forget …

Swapped out to road calipers and they just feel 100% better with no need to adjust more than once every 6months

No gap issues with the road caliper and road levers here on my road rat, work sweet ,

Tektros and MTN here. Partly because I found a deal on the mtn, partly because I thought the extra pull would help with setup and clearance, partly because I was planning on SS or bar end shifter, so STI compatibility wasn’t an issue. Currently running a TT500 rear bar end shifter, 10spd cassette, type 2 mech and single ring. All works lovely.

“Power” comes from the ratio of the lever pull to the brake pull, so in theory a road brake with a road BB7 should be the same as an MTB lever (or a road lever designed for MTB brakes) and an MTB BB7.

Assuming the ratios are the same, a longer cable pull is preferable, because the amount which the outers and their joints compress will be a smaller proportion of the cable movement, which means less of the lever’s travel is lost to compressing the outers (plus, the cable is at a lower tension, so the outers will compress less anyway). This means that you can set the pads further away from the disc without risk of bottoming out the brake lever: this can be an issue with road levers + road BB7s. In other words, you should get the same power, but a stiffer, less squidgy lever feel.

In practice there are more than two lever ratios in the world: Shimano changed their road levers to pull more cable a few years ago, and I’m sure there’s variation in MTB levers and brakes too.

nedrapier – that’s useful thanks. Have you tried road and mtn for comparison?

What bike are you running this setup on please? Any pics? I hadn’t thought about the SRAM tt shifters but that might possibly be better than a Dura-ace setup…

pdw – concise and well explained – thank you. I do struggle sometimes to fine tune the setup my road BB7s (on day 1) to not rub and get enough pull.

No pics at the mo, I post some when I get home if you’re interested. Not tried the road version, so can’t give a comparison. Happy with these – I only us 1 finger from the drops, and 2 from the hoods, as you’re half way up the lever. Original Avid pads lasted ages, but were very noisy. Now halfway through a set of 4 pairs of superstar organics, which seem to last about a third or a quarter of the time, but are a quarter of the price and don’t squeal at all. Possibly a little stronger stopping, and easier to modulate (rolling stoppies are easier – a good test, I think!)

Bike is a Singular Peregrine. Rear der. was on the way out, and I wanted to try a clutch mech, as the chainkeeper wasn’t quite doing the job (I have the EBB set back to steepen the seat tube and help with toe overlap, so it it probably puts the chainkeeper too far forward over the ring to work as intended). The only bar-end shifter/ clutch mech combo that works is the 1:1 on the 10 speed SRAM TT500 and Type 2 derailleurs, so I had to ditch 9 speed. Unemployed 9 speed Dura Ace shifters sit at home.

The bike spends most of its time on the road, commuting and road rides, with 48T up front, but not having a chain device any more meant changing to 38T for the gravel dash was quick and easy. Didn’t need to change the chain length, as I’d gone for a med. cage in case of putting a double on at some point.

I did think of going down the road bb7/ STI route, but I’d like to see how the road/cx hydro thing settles/trickles down before I throw any more cash at the situation.

Got a Peregrine too and have ‘worked through’ the toe overlap as well!

Tried both MTN and Road BB7s. Still use the MTNs but gave up on the Road versions in favour of TRP Spyres. Probably my cack-handedness but they seemed to require constant fettling whereas the MTN ones just work. Much like the Spyres!

“This means that you can set the pads further away from the disc without risk of bottoming out the brake lever: this can be an issue with road levers + road BB7s”

Except that its not, it was how ever an issue with mtn calipers and road levers, a very dangerous issue imo.

Except that its not

Obviously road levers + mtn BB7s will be much worse, but I find it an issue on my road levers and road BB7s, and it sounds like I’m not the only one. I’ve got 5600 105s, which pull less cable than the modern stuff, and I think the shape of my bars puts the levers relatively close anyway. If I don’t set the pads as close as possible to the discs, the levers end up uncomfortably close to the bars under heavy braking.

Hi all,

BB7 work with MTB and long pull levers like our CXV (based on Tektro RL520 levers) and BB7R work with road levers like Ultegra 6700. All sounds simple and for the most part it is BUT road levers (I am not up to date on MTB) all seam to pull varying amounts (SRAM vs Shimano) and also Shimano have upped the cable pull on more recent models.

Housing used also can make a very big difference. We were using a shorter pull lever with TRP Spyre and they were great in use but hard to set up (would bottom out if not pre-loaded a little). TRP is now shipping these with some great Jagwire compressionless housing and they now work much better (better feel, not so much bottoming of levers to bars).

Do want to put in a word for the TRP Spyre’s here. BB7’s are a good and well and truly tested set up but Spyre’s are a REALLY great addition to the market. Both inner and outer pads actuate to give more total space for the rotor (less rub).

Regarding hydraulic (with disclaimer – as we do sell hydraulic versions of our shifters now). We are cyclocross centric in what we do and to be honest have been bemoaning the introduction of hydraulic to CX a bit and saw it as unnecessary expense and complication driven by bike co. marketing departments BUT feel like we can publically eat our words on this now that we have a race season on them behind us. When they are dialed they are SUPER and while more costly and require heavier bikes (for the most part disc frames weigh more) they are a hoot to ride on downhill sections. I don’t know of any rider using a (working, well set up, non warranty re-call)hydro disc system who does not say they now go faster on downhill sections and lap faster overall.

XOXO

The Goats
http://www.gevenalle.com