Avid BB5 Road Disc Brake - 160mm
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The Avid BB5 Road mechanical disc drake offers powerful, all-weather braking for your road bike at a great value.
Shop similar products- With easily accessible adjustment knob and an attractive finish, the Avid BB5 Road disc brake provides stopping power and easy pad alignment
- Tri-Align Caliper Positioning System™ aligns caliper easily for fast, simple installation and adjustment
- Features inboard pad adjustment knob, forged body and tool-free pad replacement
- Caliper is 74mm; adapter for 51mm International Standard brake mounts is included
- Includes a 6-bolt G2 CleanSweep 160mm rotor and sintered brake pads; can be mounted front or rear
- Comes with caliper and rotor; lever is not included
- Avid BB5 Road mechanical disc brake is optimized for use with short-pull, road style levers (e.g. STI, drop, canti); levers not included
Imported.
View all Avid Disc Brake Calipers| Best Use | Road Cycling |
|---|---|
| Material(s) | Aluminum |
| Weight | 335 grams |
| Brake Type | Mechanical Disc Brake |
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Constant headache.
I've ridden many disc brake products: Shimano SLX hydraulics (amazing), Avid Juicys (solid), Avid BB7m (good if you don't want to go hydraulic), some low-end Hayes (actually decent), and most recently these on my cyclocross bike. I can honestly say that I'd rather have cantilever brakes than these. If you're considering these at all, spend the extra few bucks to get bb7s, or better yet, some TRP Spyres. The good: - They are brakes. They will stop you if you yank on them. The bad: - My biggest complaint, and a common problem with all bb5s (mtb version too) is that the moving pad often sits crooked on the piston. This means that if you want to eliminate brake rub, you have to set the pad WAY far out from the rotor, but if you want snappy braking, you have to accept a LOT of pad rub and uneven wear at the pad corners. This will make you burn through pads quickly. It's not a problem with 100% of the bb5s, but it's fairly common, judging from conversations with friends/mechanics/forum users. - The problem above also causes spongy braking, and levers that pull nearly back to the handlebar. Modulation feels awful. - Smaller pads than the bb7s means (slightly) less power, and brakes heat up quickly on long descents. - Piggishly heavy for bad performance. Again, if you're gonna carry this much weight, just get the bb7s. - Lack of adjustability. While the bb7 offers tool-free adjustment, adjusting for wear has to be done by fiddling with barrel adjusters, moving the inboard pad, re-clamping cables, etc. Basically, if you're looking to save a couple bucks by going with the bb5's I'd say spring for the bb7s or Spyres and save the headache. If you're dead set against spending the money, maybe look around for something used, but I don't think bb5s are much of an improvement over most OEM mechanical discs.
Stay Away from this product, Period!!!!
I bought a Cannondale Jeklly back in 2005, and it comes with the BB5 Disc brakes as standard equipment. Immediately, I noticed that the braking power isn't as good as my older V sharped brakes on my hardtail Trek. As first, I thought it's a different system, and I have to get use to it. I rode the bike for a month or two, and it seems to be fine; because I never ridden the bike downhill. That's was a mistake when I took it for a trail ride...it didn't stop at all. I thought the brakes had worn out and brought replacement pads...I've been replacing brake pads frequently since.I did some research lately and discovered the poor design of this BB5 series. It's no wonder I had so much trouble with it. I wish I would have find out about the problem back then...Internet was not as widely available when it comes to products reviews like today... To cut the story short, I still have my Jeklly and the BB5 brakes, and they can never stopped the bike on any slopes. They are only good for flat surface braking. I think there should be some sort of regulations that monitors reliability of bike brakes. It's seems like manufacturers can just randomly sell products that doesn't work. For the safety of bike riders, I think all brakes should be required to performance like the Shimano XT brakes (just an example), where they can stop on a dime.