Originally Posted by uphillbiker
People tell me that mechanical disc brakes don't give you the stopping power of hydraulic, which I presume to be the only real advantage. As far as the Avid BB-7 goes, I don’t see there being any advantage of a hydraulic. Once broken in, it now will either lock up my front tire or flip me over the bars before maxing out. Maintenance is easy and just like any other cable component. Hydraulic brings in a whole new set of maintenance issues.
I find it hard to believe that hydraulics would give you that much more stopping power - but if that is true, my question would be how much more stopping power does one need? Once you lock up, flip over, or stop, how much more power would be of any use?
I have BB-7's, and they work fine. I'd like to try a hydraulic system just because it would be fun to tinker with, but, if stopping is what you are interested in, then, Avid's mechanical system will serve you very well.
Caruso