BB7 Road versus Mountain
 

Hello,
I've read several forums wrestling with the differences.
I just got myself a Black Mountain Road+ that I am setting up.
I have road and mountains BB7s (I bought the road by mistake but held on, hoarder that I am).
I have both road and v-brake Tektro levers.

If you've played with all these variables, what did you like best?
I've heard rumors of some folks preferring the V-brake levers with the road bb7s. I'd be particularly interested in feedback if you've tried that. I seems like it could allow for a bit more rotor clearance (and a bit less risk of clicking rotors).
Thanks! Z

I have both road and MTB BB7.

MTB was used with Avid Speed Dial levers.
Road with Campy Athena.
Both with the same Yokozuna compressionless housing.

I can't say I've noticed a difference between the two tho.

I used MTN BB7s with ST-5800 shifter with a cable route mod that worked excellent.

I may have a pic of the cable route at the caliper that worked...

I have the road BB7's on my Gryphon with Sram levers and the mtn BB7's on my Fargo with Cane Creek V-brake levers. I want to say that they feel exactly the same but the road BB7's on my Gryphon feel better though it's possible I spent more time dialing them in correctly.

I always refer to this guide when setting them up.

Unrelated question... Do folks prefer these to the trp spyres? Tell me more!

Anecdotally, from friends that have used then, cable disc calipers seems to rate in order...

1a. Paul Klamper
1b. Yokozuna
2. Spyre
3. BB7

I had Spyres on a road bike for a bit. They worked, but nowhere near as well as hydro brakes, so I swapped to Force HRD.

I’ve tried and prefer (in order):

1. TRP Spyre (with SRAM Apex, Shimano Claris and Paul Canti lever)
2. TRP Spyke (with Avid Speed Dial 5)
3. BB7 MTN (with Avid Speed Dial 7)
4. BB7 Road (with SRAM Apex)
5. BB5 MTN (with non-descript Avid lever)

The Spyres are my favorite mainly because I love the Paul levers most. I assume the Spykes with Paul Love (long-pull) levers would be equally nice.

The dual piston action of the Spyke/Spyres made a noticeable difference for me, in terms of stopping power and modulation “feel.” I never could get the BB7s dialed in correctly. Lots of fussing and not enough riding.

I use road BB7’s (Avid resin pads) with Force 10sp levers and love it. Jagwire compressionless housing. Couldn’t ask for more. Maybe I have low expectations.

Thanks for the info everyone.

If you're getting good predictable consistent stopping power... what more could you ask for? Sure you can possibly get better, but if it works for you and your riding... it works!

It would be great if they started figuring out how to make affordable road hydro disc setups so there were better low end options.

My son's MTB was $700 for the whole bike and has excellent hydraulic discs. Better than the last Ultegra disc brake equipped bike I test rode. :(

The spread on price/performance between MTB & Road here is pretty extreme.

Thanks for the link - I've got to put new pads on my BB7s so I'll try the setup instructions when I do replace them.

Thanks for the setup guide link, @HamFisted!

Isn't there a tiagra option now?

Road BB7 with V-brake levers
 

Thanks for the feedback.
I'm going to try to the road bb7s with the V-brake tektro road levers and see if it lets me set up the pads a bit further out while stilling getting the power I want.
I'll let folks know how it goes in a few weeks.

Road Levers for Road BB7s
 

Hello,
So I started with the Tektro V brakes levers (RL520) and the road BB7. It did allow a bit more modulation but the absolute power felt inadequate.

I then switched to TRP road levers and the absolute power felt much improved and the pad spacing didn't feel enough worse to justify the loss of power.

It's a brief experiment, but I definitely would vote for road levers with road BB7 brakes.

As a reference point, I was running 27.5/54mm Gravelking SKs (so lots of surface contact).

I'm still ambivalent about the set-up. Whereas I'm fine with BB7s on my mountain bike, I may be tempted to try the Juin Tech R1 for this gravel bike with road levers. Still thinking.