Originally Posted by
pasopia
It sounds like a problem with your setup.
I recently built a soma double cross with avid road bb7s, and Tiagra brifters. The brakes are great, and noticeably stronger than any canti I've used (avid shorty, tektro oryx, tektro cr720, shimano br 505). They don't grab as fast as v brakes with the matching linear pull road levers, but the modulation is better, and they can stop me just as fast.
I am using compressionless housing and normal brake cable. One thing I noticed early on, was that turning the inline barrel adjuster on my housing a bit to tighten up the cable slack really made a difference. At first I set the brakes up with the pads as close possible without rubbing, and did some riding without messing with the barrel adjuster. I had to squeeze the lever a bit before the brake started catching. I turned the adjusters to tighten the cable until just before the pads rub, and the brake grabs much sooner now.
I would try reinstalling the brakes on your own, following these instructions
http://howtosetuptheavidbb7.weebly.c...-avid-bb7.html
pkulak, although whitecat might not think so, I am open minded enough to be open to suggestions. After following the instructions on the link that pasopia provided, I was able to get my BB7s to act more like a good linear brake than like a 1980s Chinese knockoff Mavic center pull. You may not know what that kind of brake is but it was best if you planned ahead for any stops you had to make. The best strategy to use was to tie the cable to a tree and then ride for 3 miles. At the end of the 3 miles, the bike would
slow down. It wouldn't stop...you needed 10 to 12 miles for that...but it would make the impact with the object you were about to hit a little less painful.
The instructions are pretty good and I like the way that he uses to center the brakes better than anything else I've tried. I won't admit that the brakes are better than anything I've ever used but they are much better. Avid's set up simply sucks.