Mountain Biking - avid bb5 opinions?

there aren't any reviews of the BB5 ANYWHERE... anyone here used them before? i can get one for 99CAD to replace my front tektro, so i'm wondering if its worth my money... its pretty much the last of my spending money... and i'm not too keen on spending more for a BB7 if it truly is pretty much the samething without the outboard pad adjuster.

there aren't any reviews of the BB5 ANYWHERE... anyone here used them before? i can get one for 99CAD to replace my front tektro, so i'm wondering if its worth my money... its pretty much the last of my spending money... and i'm not too keen on spending more for a BB7 if it truly is pretty much the samething without the outboard pad adjuster.

I've seen the BB5 and BB7 going for pretty cheap on eBay. I bought a set of BB7 (front and back) that got charged to my credit card at $197 CAD after PayPal conversion. I did have to pay taxes and the $5 handling fee by Canada Post but that pretty much means I paid about $100 CAD for the front and about $100 CAD for the back.

PM me if you want the seller name and his email address. I was able to get him to cut his shipping to Canada charge from $20 USD to $10 USD.

na this time i plan to support my LBS... i promised to buy my hardrock there and i didn't (because i thought they didn't have my size) and they did (i bought one thats too big). and besides i dont have a CC and my parents dont like ebay. at all.

I think the BB5 is exactly that - a BB7 without the outboard pad adjuster. Which would be okay since you can just tighten the cable and get the same effect. However, I think the adjuster is worth the extra money because it allows you to align your brakes much more easily. All you have to do is loosen the caliper mounts, tighten both pad adjusters until they are holding the disc, and retighten the mounting bolts. I have BB7s and I have found them to need a lot of attention as far as alignment and pad distance. Since they are so quick and easy to adjust, it isn't a big deal.

The BB5s are not nearly as powerful, and use a different pad. They are OEM only and I dont recommend them. The BB7s are loads nicer.

What Dirtbike said. The bb7 is far better than the bb5, and worth saving a bit more money for. though Either is worlds better performing than the Tektro sets. Good levers are a nice investment, too. Any of the Avid SD levers are great, and even the low end FR-5 levers are far superior to most generic crappy Tektro and so on levers.

bb5 uses a different pad (not so great; the standard bb7 and Avid hydro brakes use the same pads. you can get them nearly anywhere) and the adjustment of both pads is a very nice thing to have. if the bb5 vused the same pads, it wouldn't be so bad. using a different pad was a bad move on Avid's part, i think, even if it makes for a few bucks cheaper.

but hte bb5 is compatible with bb7 pad right

but hte bb5 is compatible with bb7 pad right

thats what im wondering too. I currently have the bb5s on my specialized and they seriously feel the same as the bb7s ive tried, except for that outboard pad adjustability option but stopping power has been great and brake fade is almost non existant (except for seriously fast and long downhills) but they have always been the same with my experiences (im going based on feeling, and no i have not conducted any tests to compare both except for using the same trails). So if the bb7 pad uses a different type of pad material that is supposedly better, by switching with those on my bb5s improve anything??

No, the BB7 and BB5 pads are completely different...not interchangeable.