as above. it’s to go on my inbred (only disc’d bike) as i’m sick of the crappy juicys. riding is mostly longer xc rides, but i like the odd swally up the trail centres and the occasional fast and/or steep technical trail. also, i aim to do some big rocky rides in spain, and maybe some touring stuff too.

i can’t think why i shouldn’t, can you? thanks!

They work well on my CXer. Best of the cable discs by all accounts.

no.. do it

Easy maintenance and adjustment. Get a biggish front rotor for the big rocky rides, I’m thinking 203.

I have Juciy7 on the full sus and BB7 on the HT. The only thing I find is I go through pads on the BB7 quicker. I do only have 160mm rotors with the BB7 so I might be a bit underpowered!

bb7s are fine as far as they go (i have a pair on 29er) but alot more faffing in keeping them set up. ive had jucy 3s and they were fine, trouble free and never a problem provided they were kept clean so i would stick with the juicys,

How much are the BB7s? I debated this recently, but when I saw the price and compared it to hydraulic brake sets on places like Merlin Cycles I figured I’d probably replace my Juicy’s with a set of cheap hydraulics; something like Magura MT2s or Shimano Deore….

£116 with speed dial 7 levers… i’m happy to pay that though, and i’m aware that i can get hydros for the same price. but i’m tempted by their lack of fluid and relative simplicity. and their “i’m in the middle of nowhere with a fully laden bike but i can fix my brakes cos it was only the cable that snapped”.

I would happily use BBB7’s. They are a fine brake and cheaper than most fluid setups.

I never used them but surely a cable would give more potential problems than shimano (i.e. mineral oil) hydro’s? Always been a bit curious about them because they have a big fan base USA.

How do you mean, Burls72?

I just stuck one on the front of my fixietwat bike; dead easy. The hydros on my MTB, on the other hand, have never worked properly (though I did get the wrong Deore brakes and ended up with ones needing a stupid funnel to bleed them).

BB7s – great power – good modulation – no more sticky pistons – no brake rubbing – run a bigger gap between pad and rotor for better mud clearance – what’s not to like?

Slight knack to learn how to set them up (see youtube) but easy afterwards.

After suffering loads of frustration from Hayes HFX9s (now landfill somewhere) and then Avid Juicy Ultimates, now happy with Ultimate SD levers, Gore Rideon cables, G2 rotors, organic pads, BB7s – on both bikes.

“i’m sick of the crappy juicys”
What don’t you like about them?

Mine have been alright on the whole

well, they need more work than i can be bothered with! sticky pistons, which means the rear brake lever pulls to the bars. they’re meant to be self adjusting but they’ve never done so properly. i’m aware that the BB7s won’t auto-adjust either, but atleast all i’ll need to do is twiddle a dial or two.

I’m about to replace my avid juicy 3s with BB7s. will i regret it?

Only if you listen to the people who don’t know how to set them up properly.

£116!! youre mad.

oh man, is sunday the non-constructive night on STW?! what do you mean dirk_pumpa?

Try and use some linear style outer brake cables or make up some cable runs using alu tubing. This stops any squishiness and allows you to run a larger gap from the disks making them less fiddly IME.

oh man, is sunday the non-constructive night on STW?!

No that’s every night 😆 😉

Taking brakes off the bike completely is an improvement to Juicy 3s. Ran with mine for years thinking it was natural for brakes to be that bad and really regret not changing! EDIT (may be over dramatising how bad they were!)

Not tried the BB7s but I wouldn’t give up on hydros based on the J3s. Elixr CRs have worked really well for me and come around that price 2nd hand. Other peopl don’t like them at all.

Difficulty about brake questions is someone always dislikes the ones others love….. never going to be a set you post up about and no one slags them off. I just find I have to bite the bullet if I see ones I like at the right price.

I don’t really get the cable brakes are more reliable than hydro thing.

Perhaps i’ve just been lucky but i’ve never had any real problems with numerous sets of hydro brakes. The one and only problem was a sticky piston on hope m4’s and that was a re-build kit and 20 minute fix.

You can bleed shimano brakes with vegetable oil if you can’t get hold of anything else. If something serious does happen you can tape the brake to the forks/bars and you still have one good brake. Whats the likelyhood of two failures?

With a cable brake the cable can break, become sticky in the liner or freeze in cold conditions. All of which I think is more likely to happen and happen quicker than a fault with hydro’s.

The only advantage I can think of is you can easily carry a spare cable but then what if the outer is damaged, who thinks to carry spare outers?

People are always complaining about rubbish avid brakes don’t let them put you off hydro’s. I haven’t used them but the new shimano brakes are ment to be really good and rose bikes have some good deals. Hope’s are more expensive but great back up and spares.

ok, thanks Burls72. yeah, i’m not keen on avid hydros after my juicys. i’ve also used some mega old hope hydros (still on a really old set of bombers in the cupboard!) and even hope mechanical brakes. but yeah, i take your point. i still think i’m gonna go for the BB7s as i’ve not heard anything i’d call ‘compelling’ to put me off them. perhaps with time i’ll flog the BB7s and get some hydros. but for now i’m going to try something different 🙂

Been wondering this myself of late. Dont need huge amounts of stopping power any more, & I like the sound of a brake I can run with a good bit of pad clearance so they never rub. I’ve always favoured Avids, but have run a couple of sets of Hope & Shimano brakes, & they all rubbed at some time or another.

I run BB7s on my hardtail. They do not have the outright power of my XT hydros but they have been perfectly reliable for the 4 years I have been using them. Plenty powerful for schlepping about Oxon all year round. Nil issues with grimy cables on a bike that gets less care and attention than it deserves. Recommended.

D’oh! Keiran, I’ve just sold mine for £55 for both callipers!

I’ve still got the XT levers which I used if you could find the callipers cheap somewhere, the XT levers have the same adjustments as the speed dials (the modulation thing).

I found the BB7s very powerful and they felt great. A car park test of the levers and they feel 99% as smooth as hydros. As soon as you’re on the trail you don’t even notice it.

I used bog standard shimano outers, but filled them with a teflon spray beforehand, felt fine. If I’d kept them I would have used a couple of V-Brake concertinas between the brake arm and the cable stop, to cover the 1″ of exposed cable there. I did a super sloppy Glentress ride (the secret trails, a good test of any brake!) and some mucky water made it into the cable at the bottom. The concertinas would have stopped that.

I’d be tempted to carry a wee torx key with me for adjustments, if you need to adjust on the trail when your hands are cold and the calliper is covered in mud and grit, you might find the adjusters a wee bit difficult to turn. A torx key would solve that issue.

I only sold in the end because I was trying to sell the whole bike and thought the cable discs were putting people off as I didn’t get any interest…

I have some BB7s on my Inbred; I’ve never had to do much fettling and they have always been plenty powerful. I’m actually onto my second front caliper as the dials seized after a gritty race, then the adjuster sheared off… 🙁

Mine would be perfect if only they weren’t so absurdly squeaky whenever it was wet!

phiiiil, I got some Ashima semi-metal pads for mine, much less squeely.

MrK, I tried emailing you but fell for your spam-bot address 😀

Bizarrely I might end up with a complete set of BB7s again, I think the guy I just sold them to is trying to fit them to drop bar levers which I don’t think works. If he wants to send them back, I could do you a (very new) set of callipers with XT levers for £70?

Anyway, sorry for the hijack!

i AM interested – thanks! that’s definitely my email:bieron[underscore]kacon[at]hotmail[dot]com

Hmm, weird, I got three failure notifications with that address.

I’ll wait till I hear back from the previous buyer, he sounds like he knows what he’s talking about, he might have drop levers with V-Brake cable pull or adaptors or something.

cheers

BB7 are greats .

got some pads from discobrakes and they have been great . much better than originals ones .

“sticky pistons, which means the rear brake lever pulls to the bars”
Does it?
If either piston was sticking, wouldn’t the lever not travel any more as the fluid would have nowhere to go?
If it were one piston sticking (from a ‘correct’ ‘off’ position, ie just off the rotor) the other piston might be able to move to the rotor and then bend the rotor to the stuck piston/pad. Even so the lever should still only move as far as if both pistons were free?

If the lever is pulling to the bar, I’d have thought there was air in the system somewhere and it needs bleeding. If the problem (or other air problems) persist, then you could have a seal leak somewhere

“they’re meant to be self adjusting but they’ve never done so properly”
(Just to get out the way, I assume you realise they’re only supposed to adjust for pad wear, and will only move inward (ie won’t retract on their own, other than the normal on/off of the brake operation)
Maybe down to sticky pistons? Else too much fluid in the system, perhaps been bled with an incorrect bleed block or part-worn pads?

You can get a pair of bb7 + speed dial levers for £70 brand new from ebay.
Great brakes by the way , you won’t be disappointed .
That said juicy 3s are not the most reliable disc brakes out there . Shimano Deore hydros work very well with little faff for not much money .

Another +1 for the BB7s.

Provided you set them up OK they give minimal faff. I have steadily converted to them across a range of family bikes including an inbred, indeed my original pair came on one of the first 456 complete bikes.

MrK, I’ll try your hotmail address again, give me a shout though on mine, in theory I should have a complete set up minus rotors and with Ashima pads instead of stock, the guy is posting back on wednesday.

BB7s are great imo – put some on my GF’s bike and they’ve been hassle free. You do need to adjust as the pads wear but it takes seconds.