Avid BB7 road vs mtb power question

[d_douglas]

Simple question for y'all:

Are BB7 road calipers w the appropriate levers equally powerful as BB7 mtb calipers w proper V levers?

I need some cheap brakes and would like to use some vintage Ritchey Logic canti levers. Will these work at 100% w the BB7 road models or am I better off to be boring and buy cheap V brake levers and BB7 mtb calipers?

[DfCas]

With the appropriate lever/cable pull, the mechanical advantage is the same, so yes they are equal. Buy based on the brake lever you will be using.

[soggybiker]

I've never used the BB7 Mountain calipers so I don't have a direct answer to your question. On the other hand, I have used plenty of hydro brakes on a MTB and have the BB7 road calipers on a 650b road/cross/touring/rando bike with road levers. More than enough power, decent modulation, but they do squeal horribly when wet. I downsized the rear rotor to 140mm because otherwise I would skid the rear too often.

The one thing I have heard is to be sure to set up the brakes with compressionless housing (I used jagwire, but others work fine), or all bets are off.

As far as how well the BB7 road calipers will work with standard MTB canti levers I'm not totally sure. IIRC road lever pull may be slightly different (higher leverage?) than a standard MTB canti lever. I'm guessing it would work, but I'd have a gander at sheldonbrown's site first to make sure....

[d_douglas]

That's what I figured. Yes, compressionless housing is essential, as I have recently realized. I changed to this type on my mtb and they went from barely adequate to almost stellar braking quality instantly!

With the appropriate lever/cable pull, the mechanical advantage is the same, so yes they are equal. Buy based on the brake lever you will be using.

[znfdl]

I am getting a custom dirt road bike and the builder is designing the bike so that I have continuous housing for the road BB7 brakes.

[gdw]

As others have stated, road bb7's work well with cantilever mtb levers and some folks who have tried the combo find that it works better than the stock v lever mtb bb7 set-up. Send dogdriver a pm if he doesn't post a response to this thread.

[cp43]

I've never used the BB7 Mountain calipers so I don't have a direct answer to your question. On the other hand, I have used plenty of hydro brakes on a MTB and have the BB7 road calipers on a 650b road/cross/touring/rando bike with road levers. More than enough power, decent modulation, but they do squeal horribly when wet. I downsized the rear rotor to 140mm because otherwise I would skid the rear too often.

The one thing I have heard is to be sure to set up the brakes with compressionless housing (I used jagwire, but others work fine), or all bets are off.

As far as how well the BB7 road calipers will work with standard MTB canti levers I'm not totally sure. IIRC road lever pull may be slightly different (higher leverage?) than a standard MTB canti lever. I'm guessing it would work, but I'd have a gander at sheldonbrown's site first to make sure....

Mine seem to squeal horribly at random. Sometimes when they're wet, sometimes when they aren't. I've been told that it's the rotor, the roundagon rotor that comes with the standard BB7s, mtn or road, is apparently an inferior design when compared to the Avid G2 or G3 clean sweep rotors. I have a new rotor on order, but haven't tried it out yet. Worth a try if you're getting new rotors anyway.

Chris