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I’ve ridden tons of disc brakes in my lifetime. Everything from Hayes, Avid, Shimano, Formula, Magura, Hope, etc. They are all awesome brakes that work well in nearly all conditions. Some have a little better brake feel than others. Some have better levers than others. Some squeak to no end, while others are as quiet as a burglar in the night.
The beauty of the Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes is in their simplicity. They are easy to use with tons of power–hardly distinguishable from their fluid-filled brethren. They are super easy to maintain and adjust with no worries about annual bleeding, or ruptured lines. All you need is an allen wrench and you’re golden.
The only negative aspect of the BB7′s is that they don’t come pre-matched with levers. You do have to purchase your own levers separately. The Avid Speed Dial Brake Levers are the obvious choice and they come in a variety of pricepoints from around $50 to over $200 per pair. With that, the price can end up being a bit less than hydros, but not by much, depending on which levers you choose. BUT, you do get a level of customization not offered by hydraulic brakesets.
If you want simplicity and power then go with the Avid BB7 disc brakes. They are the best for your money and will be easy to maintain for years to come.
Buy Now: Search for Avid Disc Brakes
;)
I, honestly, have to say that, in my experience, riding these brakes has been very dissappointing. They don’t have nearly the power that I thought disc brakes would have. Rim brakes actually stop when you pull the brake lever… disc just keeps going. I’ve even able to hold them down and still pedal. I’ve followed guides on adjusting them, I’ve had them adjusted at the local bike shop, and they just don’t stop…. unless you’re pulling really hard on the lever. But then your hand starts to hurt and you realize you should’ve never left rim brakes. Since the front brakes always perform better than the rear, I’ve been riding using front brakes… and I’ve paid the price for it a couple times too.
If my new frame would take rim brakes, I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Carlos… sorry you’ve had such a bad experience. Were these installed stock on your bike, or did you buy them aftermarket? It sounds like they are just not adjusted properly as I’ve ridden tons and tons of hydraulic brakes and have found the Avid BB7 to be nearly as good or just as good as any other hydraulic I’ve used.
Yes, there is a slight drawback without the hydraulic fluid in the lines in that you do have to pull the lever a bit harder. But, I’ve got a pair on a bike right now and they clamp down and stop just as good as anything out there.
Sounds like you’ve either got a bum set of brakes, or they are just not set up properly.
This is about what I’ve experienced. I ordered the bb7 rear brake upgrade when I ordered my new bike. The selling dealer replied that I needed to let the brakes “wear in” when I wrote him at about 50 miles that the braking performance was very poor. At 1,500 miles on the bike there’s been no improvement. It’s not possible to lock the rear wheel on pavement, even on wet asphalt. Had the bike in a local shop last week, the service department said the pads needed to be replaced because they had little material left. Shouldn’t this qualify as being “worn in”? So now I’ve got new pads, and the performance is worse than it was before I took the bike to them. I’m seriously tempted to switch to “V” rim brakes. Fortunately the bike came with mounting posts and cable guides for rim brakes as well as being equipped with the disc brake.
I had bb7 brakes on a Rans F5 Enduro a couple of years ago, and they worked great. I could lock the rear brake with one finger on the brake lever, and had to exercise care in the amount of pressure on the front brake handle to avoid locking the front wheel.
There are any number of factors that affect how your brakes work. Sometimes it’s in the levers or cables. With the BB7′s, the lever is nearly as important as the brakes themselves.
I’m sorry you’ve had such a bum experience with them. The set I’ve got is absolutely solid still–after 4 years.
BUT… for goodness sake, don’t even think about going to V-brakes!!!!! There are plenty of great, lightweight options in hydraulic disc brakes, which I whole-heartedly recommend over the BB7′s anyway.
Search for disc brakes on GEAR.com
The brake levers that came with the bike are Avid Speed Dial levers, which I gather is the lever recommended for this brake.
I paid a substantial upcharge for the disc brake option on my new bike, ordered from a non-local dealer. I can’t feasibly take the bike back to the selling dealer to have this resolved. The manufacturer of the bike says that they’ve had great success with this brake on their bikes, suggests that I should contact Avid as it may be a warranty issue. This is on a bike for which I paid over four thousand dollars. Nearing 70 years old, this was to be my “dream bike”, probably the last new bike I’ll ever buy. I like the bike, but this brake issue has made me think I should have stayed with my old bike and saved my money.
Sorry to hear that, Keith. Your local bike shop hasn’t been able to resolve it?
Seems like if the brakes are defective, Avid should take care of you. But, if you didn’t purchase it from a local shop, you don’t have any local folks on your side. Avid is a good company. I’d contact them and see if they can give you some tricks and/or the ability to return them.
Mechanicals are nice for many people, but I still stick with my hydraulics.
To all that think disc brakes are a no-brainer: They require calibration and adjustment!!! The Avid BB7′s are almost, if not THE best mech brake in the market. Youtube even has a video to help novices properly adjust the brakes. If all else fails, take your bike to a pro and avoid an less than stellar ride.
Hook ‘em horns.
I’m having the same feeling with the front brake. It’s not braking as good as the rear. I just replaced the front pads, and looks like it’s worse.
They used to work very nice both of them.
The only difference between front and back is that I have clean sweep rotor on the back, octagon on the front.
Could this make such a difference?
Side info: purchased/installed both on early 2006, they have … 1000 miles probably, they have the same XT levers
“Simplicity” may be the wrong word for the OP to use. The Avid BB7 IS a simple brake if you learn all the fine-tuning aspects, but there are a few. Chief among them is the HUGE role pad spacing plays in the ultimate feel / responsiveness of the brake, and the pad spacing MUST be adjusted every 2-3 rides to account for pad-wear.
So compared to hydros, which are very hands-OFF, require little adjustment and usually offer NO tuning options, I wouldn’t call the Avids simple. (Though the simplicity of a cable over a hydro system does have its appeal.)
I’ve been using Avid mechanicals / BBDBs / BB7s almost since they were introduced back in ’99, and love them for their adjustability. All the various adjustment points — independent pad spacing, spring tension, leverage ratio at the lever, rotor size — allow the brake to be tuned to bite hard or feather lightly, or anything in between.
They’re powerful enough that I use them on a mountain tandem, running 220mm rotors, and they do quite a trick stopping that heavily laden rig on some steep, long descents. In fact, the BB7s are one of the few disc brakes approved for tandem usage by the manufacturer, and the tandem community generally reports back with solid reviews.
If your mechanic can’t get your BB7s to grab well enough to stop your wheel, you should find another shop.
i dont kno why ppl think these brakes dont preform well, they are in my opinion the best brakes you can buy, my buds got hydro brakes and they are sloppy as hell, these have so so much adjustment its not funny, and yes you have to maintain them like anything on your bike, my front pads lasted my over a year of everyday riding, so like i said either you dont know how to set them up or yall just dont kno about mt biking
oh yea clean your rotors/ calipers/pads after each use w/ rubin alochol
I just bought a pair of BB7′s for my bike and they are awesome. They are much easier to maintain than Hydro’s and stop just as well. For all those who are having problems with your brakes not stopping, you either have the pad spacing incorrect or there is oil on your rotor. Remember if you touch your rotor with your fingers, the oil on them with reduce your brakes performance. Just like Stan said, clean your brakes with rubbing alcohol.
A little off-topic perhaps for bikers. After riding my brother’s mountian bike and loving this brake, I bought a BB7 and disk set to adapt to stopping my light-sport weight-shift control trike (powered hang-glider). Tricycle landing gear with this single disk on the front and it does a great job of stopping the 650 to 950 lb trike (depending on passenger) which is landing at about 40 mph. If the single brake can do that with this much weight, two of em should handle you and your bike just fine! Easy to install and adjust and a great deal of smooth stopping power.
Disc brakes are far better than drum brakes because of their powerful stopping ability
Smooth and powerful, easy and cheap!!!
I love these brakes, they are easy to install and perform fantastic for a great price compared to others. It is really important to follow the install and adjustment instructions exactly so that you get the pads at 2/3 inside to 1/3 outside ratio. Also, I followed the tip of a local bike shop tech to slightly bottom-out the spring tension screw to get full tension on the lever, I think it feels better. There are several instructions on the web you can follow, don’t miss any step. Just like any disc brakes, keep the pads clean from any contaminates like oil or chain lube or you will have to replace the pads. Clean the rotor with rubbing alcohol periodically to keep it super clean and don’t touch them with your fingers. Don’t take them apart once broken-in, as they get better over time as they form precisely to the rotor and have more surfaces to grab on to.
Nice to see so many of you having the same experience I’ve had with mine. They are simple and easy to maintain with ample stopping power in all conditions.
I just installed a set of these as replacement for older Hayes hydros. These work great and I love the adjustability. Super easy to install and they automatically align themselves – something my hayes never did and always had a slight drag. They don’t have quite the stopping power for the same pull as the hayes (probably 90% as strong) but these don’t leak, need bleeding and are easy to fix in the field. Paid $45 per wheel – hard to beat that. Great brakes and they will lock front and rear on dry pavement without a problem. To people with problems stopping, I would say they got the calipers dirty (with oil or grease) which has made the pads slick. A change of pads and cleaning the rotors should do the trick.
Clean your pads and rotors, even after the break in period, you should clean your brake components. This goes for mechanical and hydraulic brakes. A $15 can of Brakleen from repco will mean you have a better experience and more stopping power.
And to add to my last comment, I had the Avid BB5′s, the model before the BB7′s, I use Avids juicy 5;s now, only reason for changing is I always got sore fingers going down long steep mountain hills. The BB5′s used to lock up the front wheel just as well as the juicy’s, I fully recomend them.