Are these bad boys worth the price tag?

Seems like not a lot of kit for £260…. (they don’t come with the rotors, as per pic)

Winstanleys have them for £207, but out of stock.

Seriously considering them for my CX.

I’ve had them for a couple of years. Work really well – fit and forget. They’re not a huge amount more to buy than mechanicals, but there are some other options from TRP which I would probably take a look at now if I was buying again.

I really cant see the point when avid bb7 are a third of the price tbh

I really cant see the point when avid bb7 are a third of the price tbh

BB7’s may be a third of the price but they’re also barely even a third of the brake.
I’ve tried BB7’s, TRP Hy/Rd’s and V-Twins on my CX bike and the V-Twin has been by far the best, the BB7’s aren’t even in the same league.

As above, fit and forget. Great brake

I like mine.
I’d buy them again.

I’ve got a set and they are superb. I got mine from winstanleys – they were out of stock but had them within the week and they updated me along the way on timescales.

Really ? Ive found bb7 set up properly no worse than full hydros (nit to mention a hydro-cable combination) and ive used a lot hydros.

BB7’s offer similar power with nice clean cables but with drops the pads need to be close to the rotors IME which is not an issue with the V-Twins.

I had a set of bb5 a few years back on a commuter bike and really didn’t get on with them – so much so I opted to run cantis on the bike! – I’m currently working on adapting a set of deore levers to sit on my drop bars in a crosstop type arrangement – power is great and self adjusts -I’m planning on directly mounting the levers to the drop bars next (rather than a separate bar in front) with some kind of under bar clamp/stop for the cable ! – Wasn’t too hard to do and it’s also a fair bit cheaper than V-twins!

Jonk this is true if you use bb7 mtn with road levers but road levers with bb7 road calipers and it works spot on

@ oliverracing – good effort, but really? And have you patch repaired your TT/HT?
I got v twins SH off here to replace the BB7s I had – fantastic, fit and forget. Same pads/spares as my mtb.

For clarity I had BB7 roads, couldn’t get a setup I liked with 105 levers, dropped the VTwins on and they have been great.

Fair enough

@ boxelder – that was it in the testing the theory if how it would work stage – now a lot neater (just done this morning).

Yep I have repaired the full sus frame and all working well at the moment -this is on the hardtail frame I made last year, now in ss monstercross guise (bit of a parts bin bike!).

That first picture made me vomit Oli. The 2nd version is better but still not what I’d call refined!

Yeah – it was errr… functional? 😉

i have bb7s (I think i bought them from IGM) and they are great. no issues at all.

I have a bb7 on another bike and it’s decent – not as good as bb7 though.

I’ve had both, and my correctly setup BB7s have comparable power, but with a shorter lever throw.

The cable routing for the V-Twin is just appalling, especially if you run cables through your bars; it’s nigh on impossible to make neat whilst still getting a smooth operation which is comparable to normal hydros.

All in all, I didn’t think it was worth it and sold my V-Twins and am now running BB7s with 180mm Icetech rotors. The combination of power, modulation and lever throw are all substantially better than my V-Twins were.

As for fit and forget, how hard is it to twiddle a know once in a while?

I’ve had mine two years.No problems whatsoever.
In that time I’ve changed the pads and cables once.
Take time on the cable routing and it’s ok.
IMO they do spoil the aesthetics of the bike and if I was building the bike again i would look at the shimano road hydraulics. (when the price drops). 😀

BB7’s get gunged up and corrode if used through winter. Hope’s haven’t.

to clarify my last post i have bb5 on another bike.

how hard is it to twiddle a knob once in a while?

… must…. resist…

how hard is it……….

Pretty hard once winter gunk has seized said knob

Mine seem good enough to stop my bulk & the cable routing seems easy enough?
[url=https://flic.kr/p/oTFphv]20140617_175353[/url] by Mr Overshoot, on Flickr

Can’t even see it from behind
[url=https://flic.kr/p/oTFpFg]20140612_124726[/url] by Mr Overshoot, on Flickr

Looks an overly complicated incorrect solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist in all honesty

Oli, I did a similar thing a few years ago. By filing out the clamps you can get them a lot closer to the stem on 25.4mm bars. I used some old Hope brakes as the hoses didn’t point towards each other and thus they could be closer.
Me?
I am waiting for the prices to drop on combined units.

Daffy:

“The cable routing for the V-Twin is just appalling, especially if you run cables through your bars; it’s nigh on impossible to make neat whilst still getting a smooth operation which is comparable to normal hydros.”

The pic above suggests otherwise?

Looking at this, mine should look just as neat – im guessing I just need the first bit of outer from the lever & just fit all the Hope lovelyness from there….. 🙂

I made a hydro conversion using cheap readily available m575 brakes, worked spot on but in the end preferred the ‘finished look’ of v twins.

And just for reference it had BB7 road units on before, the lever action is much nicer with the V-Twin and I used to be a BB7 fan.

I’ve had 2 sets on mountain bikes that were great and still have a set of road BB7’s on my Croix de Fer which are OK but I have never been 100% happy with the amount of lever pull & the effort required on road BB7’s compared to the mountain bike version.

Top work Mr Lummox
🙂

Photobucket playing up….

The pic that should have been in my last post:

The pic above suggests otherwise?

Looking at this, mine should look just as neat – im guessing I just need the first bit of outer from the lever & just fit all the Hope lovelyness from there…..

Not really, my comment was, that it was nearly impossible to make it look neat whilst maintaining a good feel. What you’ve got there are 3 very tight radii from the bars to the reservoir, which in my experience lead to a very sticky feeling at the lever. This is using SLR cabling and teflon inners and outers.

…a very sticky feeling at the lever. This is using SLR cabling and teflon inners and outers.

I used some cheap outer and some inners that I got on the cover of a magazine some years ago – it worked perfectly.

It just seems some get on with BB7 and some with VTwins.

Interesting I thought there would be less love for the V-twins.

I have used them since they came out and find them to have a really wooden feel, this on standard pads. The pads last so long they are still on there.
Just didnt get on with them and they now reside on the commute/touring bike.
I replaced them with (secondhand) BB7SL’s and they felt fantastic by comparison on the same rotor size.

I have two race mtbs with Hope Race brakes on which are the same calipers as the V-twin and have no problem with them, so I really wanted the V-twin to work.

Is it down to the STI lever?

Wooden would suggest a large cable pull (for a given lever movement) – but that might work well with BB7s.

I found on the BB7 they sat too close to the rotor and dragged – backing them off the rotor gave me a lack of power, as if they only just got to the rotor. But the levers work well with the VTwins. That might be consistent with a low cable pull for a given lever movement.

Could it be that some levers are just more suited to one type or the other?

I have Shimano 105 10spd STIs from a few years ago if that helps.