Originally Posted by
drbenjamin
Since we're covering a lot of topics on BB7s I've got a question for the crowd:I commute year round in Seattle, and put a cyclocross fork w/ BB7s on my road bike. Huge improvement in the winter, it's really no contest. My rims get covered with a fine abrasive paste, and while I can scrub it off by tapping a rim brake repeatedly sometimes I need my brakes NOW not in 20 sec.Anyway, today we had a rare sunny day. I went for a ride and was coming down a 1200 foot hill with grades 14-20%. The brakes felt fine the whole time, but 2/3 way down I got nervous, pulled over and sprayed a little water on the (stock) disc. The water instantly turned to steam. So my question is, how much heat can these things take? Do they fail catastrophically or do you get some warning? It would have really sucked to lose brakes on this descent.
Originally Posted by
ESW116
They're designed for it. They will only "fail," I suppose if you hold the brake constantly. You could easily keep yourself steady by applying firm intervals of braking rather than constant pressure. But realistically they won't really fail. They'll just become too hot and lose efficiency at which point they would need to cool.
Yup. They'd have to turn red to fail catastrophically
Don't worry about that.
Originally Posted by
AndreyT
I switched from road BB5 to road BB7 relatively recently. When I first installed BB7 they felt very mushy. I also couldn't lock up my rear wheel. However, after carefully realigning them in accordance with manufacturer's instructions I made them work. No problems ever since, aside from occasional squeal.
I agree with previously posted advice: keep the brake actuator arm slightly pre-tensioned (despite the manual recommending to leave it fully relaxed).
If you're using the right levers with BB7s and have set up the pads and cables properly then there won't be any need for that.