Avid BB7 brakes

[MacB]

I like the BB7s that I put on my mtb - but I find the adjustment dials incredibly hard to turn. Is this just me weedy fingers ? I previously had BB5s on a recumbent and recall that the adjustment was relatively much easier (in terms of turning the dials). it was the simplicity of the BB5s that made me go for the cable disks rather than a hydraulic set-up so I'm a bit disappointed that there's absolutely no way I could adjust the dials 'on the road' as I need to remove the wheel to get my fingers on the inboard dial with sufficient grip to shift it. Clearly this makes the whole set up a lot more tedious with having to put the wheel in and out until the inboard pad is right.

Any help appreciated.

Fiona, my outer dial adjusts easily by hand but the inner is a bugger to get a good grip on. So I carry the little torque/allen key that came with the brakes. It's much easier to reach with this as well and I always tend to adjust the inner first.

 

[StuAff]

Nice choice, my not-disimillar Trek Portland (alu frame & Shimano BR-R505s) is great, chuffed with it. Trek have missed the urban cyclocross boom because they dropped it....the Kona, the Croix de Fer, the Cotic X....fantastic do-it-all bikes.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

BB7's in short are the Tsar of all the cable disc Russias and no mistake. Set up as per the link I gave MacB.

Cables are critical to get the acme of performance. I'm a big fan of full metal jackets, gives you a continuous sealed cable run with no compression, and inline brake adjusters are desirable but never fitted by oem's to ots bikes. Modulation is great and power ample. and they work in the rain. and your rims never wear out. and your tubes never overheat and go kapow!

inboard adjuster is tricky. carry the torq key. job done.

 

[ianrauk]

Cheers for the link Mac, Greg.

 

[Andrew_P]

I can turn the inbound adjuster but with force and it always over turns once it moves, so one click adjustment is difficult my outbound one adjusts easily. The Torx is the answer but the multi tool ones are too short.

I too am heavy on wheels & pads. Without a doubt disc braking is far superior in the wet on a downhill to rim and rubber and doesn't wear the rims. In the dry only real differnce is the amount of braking force applied to come to a stop. The down side is wheelset choice is pretty limited at the moment, although now being approved for UCI for CX it may start to change. I am just not convinced that CX bikes are the answer to my needs.

If I could have a test ride on a Volagi I am pretty sure I would sell both my bikes and just use that for pleasure and work. I would just need a cheapo Hybrid for kids rides on trails and holidays. Just cannot bring myself to risk that sort of dosh and still end up wanting to ride the Roubaix

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I can turn the inbound adjuster but with force and it always over turns once it moves, so one click adjustment is difficult my outbound one adjusts easily. The Torx is the answer but the multi tool ones are too short.

I too am heavy on wheels & pads. Without a doubt disc braking is far superior in the wet on a downhill to rim and rubber and doesn't wear the rims. In the dry only real differnce is the amount of braking force applied to come to a stop. The down side is wheelset choice is pretty limited at the moment, although now being approved for UCI for CX it may start to change. I am just not convinced that CX bikes are the answer to my needs.

If I could have a test ride on a Volagi I am pretty sure I would sell both my bikes and just use that for pleasure and work. I would just need a cheapo Hybrid for kids rides on trails and holidays. Just cannot bring myself to risk that sort of dosh and still end up wanting to ride the Roubaix

you want the one that avid ships in the box with the discs

 

[style over speed]

Someone on bike radar has ordered a Volagi for delivery to UK
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=12833023&p=17422118&hilit=volagi#p17422118!
I really wanted one, maybe next year…
I've found the BB7 to be excellent and easy to adjust... and I've swapped the pads to organic ones which are quieter