CRG

Someone please tell me what the difference is between the Avid BB5 and the BB7. I have the BB5's on my new bike pictured below. 2006 Specialized Harkrock Pro Disc in case you don't know.

Raiyn

The BB7 has an adjustment knob for the inside pad.
Thats the key difference. It's slightly more difficult to adjust the brakes as a result as it's not tool free like the BB7's

CRG

When I got my bike the mechanic showed me how to adjust the brake pads, if needed. There is a knob that allows you to adjust the inside pad on the BB5's. So this knob requires tools to adjust it and that is the only difference?

PS pretty funny thing to me, I had to remember how to spell "knob", don't use that word too often.....

Feltup

Yeah as far as I know they are the same except for the "knob".

antman3249

does the knob affect the performance or is it just for ajustment?

OneTinSloth

There is a spring tension adjusting screw on what avid terms the "type F" brake, versus no spring tension adjusting screw on the "type N" brake. i can only guess that type F, refers to BB7s, and type N is BB5. there are also a few other very small differences in assembly.

the wonginator

apparently the bb5 uses worse pads than the bb7.

Dannihilator

They use the same pads.

the wonginator

no, no they really don't. i know for sure the pads themselves are in a different shape, and AFAIK the OEM pad material is different.

Dannihilator

They are the same trust me, your thinking about the juicy's

Dannihilator

I stand corrected. The proto bb5's had the same pads as the bb7.

fotojock

I got two new '05 Dahon Matrix bikes with Avid BB-5 disc brakes in late Aug '05, and we just got back from putting over 300 miles on 'em during a 5-week trip in the Swiss and French Alps. Here's the reality: once adjusted, the brakes work great; BB-5 pads ARE different from BB-7 pads (they are round with one finger, not rectangular with three); these brakes drove us NUTS trying to adjust them (had to take them to a Swiss bike mechanic, and he wasn't too happy either); the pads wear quickly (tho we did a huge amount of high speed, VERY steep downhill stuff); the adjuster knob was too tight to use your fingers on, so you need to buy a torx #25 wrench long enuf to reach thru from the other side of the wheel (this worked fine once the initial adjustment had been done); SRAM/AVID did NOT include an adequate adjustment brochure with these brakes and did NOT have such a document posted on their website (however, they responded quickly to my email and provided a downloadable file, tho without a file suffix, so I had to play around with it to find it was a PDF, and it STILL didn't help me get the adjustment right); and, finally, worst of all . . . you CANNOT find the BB-5 replacement pads ANYWHERE ON EARTH, even at SRAM. I agree that Avid blew it on these brakes to save a few bucks. Avoid them at all cost and get the BB-7's. Any questions?

Raiyn

When you can get BB7's this cheap why would anyone want BB5's?

CRG

According to the SRAM website you are wrong, but let me know if they are full of it. I would rather know now than when the times comes and I can't ride because I have no brakes. Link to the sram website on replacement pads here.


My BB5's came on the bike which I bought yesterday, and I won't be taking them off until I either A. I can't find replacement pads, B. They fall off, or C. Hyundai gives me more than a blanket this year for Christmas. But I will admit after all the good feedback on the bb7's I will probably end up replacing the bb5'sm when this bike turns a year old, just for kicks and giggles. (All you folks on here go buy a new 2006 Sonata so they will.)

Raiyn

You could always eBay the BB5's to defray the costs. There's always someone out there who'll eat them up. Remember what P.T. Barnum said

CRG

There's a sucker born every minute.

fotojock

SRAM doesn't list spare parts on their site except for dealers (BB-5 pads are listed there only) . . . they say to email them for parts orders. The BB-5 brakes are too new for dealers to have parts yet, evidently; in Europe, we looked everywhere for pads, and nobody knew anything about these brakes. Here is a link to SRAM's blowup views of both BB-5 and BB-7 brakes so you can see the difference between the pads: https://www.sram.com/_media/pdf/avid/...ring5and7s.pdf

CRG

This is from the sram website, avid faq section.

Q.Where do I find Avid replacement pads?

A.We'd like to think that a trip to your local bike shop would do it. But in the unlikely event that your local bike shop does not carry Avid replacement pads ask them to contact their Avid distributor. You can always get them directly from Avid as well. We will only accept orders for small parts with a credit card.

santiago

Speedgoat has the BB5 pads for $22USD.

alcahueteria

the bb7 have an inboard and outboard pad adjustment, while the bb5's onlyhave an inboard, so to adjust the outboard you have to move the throw arm which ends up giving you less modulation and therefore lower performance. There is also the return tension spring or something, but it doesn't seem to useful.

antman3249

i found bb5 pads. https://specialorders.jensonusa.com/s...=53&SKU=BR6930 you just have to look

CRG

This thread was dead, but you gave it new life. If you will look through the last few threads you will notice that others (santiago and myself) have found the pads to be available too. Therefore the fact that the replacement pads for the BB5 are available has been established already. Thanks for.............nothing.