Anyone know anything about disc brakes?

BB7 are fine, at least the MTB ones.

commuted on bb7s on a pompetamine for 2 years with minimal adjustment, still on original pads as well (at least 2500 miles).

Yeah the stock pads are good for commuting and road shiz.

Just replace the housing and BB7 is enough.

Unless you got the dodgy BB7.

1+ everything Howard said, word for word.

Thanks Ed.

Just replace the housing and BB7 is enough.

Replace it with compressionless cable housing, yeah? Something like this?

Jagwire Racer Brake and Gear Cable Kit for Road Bike

On another (shallow, lookist) note - is it possible to change the red adjuster knobs for a different colour? I can see that the BB7 SLs come with black, but I can only find replacement sets in red.

Just buy shimano hydraulics

Just buy shimano hydraulics

Maybe later. Lots of other calls on the wallets at the mo.

Get the XL housing as the standard one will be too short.

Seriously don't bother, it's an endless pursuit of attempting to polish the turd of brake that they are, at least with my SRAM apex levers. Even when I had them setup well it would only be days before they were noisy/juddering/ineffective again.

Shimano CX75 with Superstar Black pads and Sram Apex levers are dreamy.

I did swap out my avids for HY/rd but then decided to get a croix 30 on cycle scheme, looking forward to brakes that excel. Had a go on hylex which were excellent, proper disc braking.

Seriously don't bother, it's an endless pursuit of attempting to polish the turd of brake that they are, at least with my SRAM apex levers. Even when I had them setup well it would only be days before they were noisy/juddering/ineffective again.

Hmmm. That's depressing reading. The bike I'm looking at comes with SRAM Rival levers. Noisy/juddering/ineffective doesn't sound like the most enjoyable new-bike experience.

You're never going to get a conclusive answer on the BB7/Spyre/ - Cable/Hydro question :-)

I'd just try what comes with the bike and then go from there.

There is a definitive answer - full hydraulic breaks > cable and hydraulics > cable

Looks like there is something more predictable than Shimano.

Your ability to make factually incorrect statements?

Whatevs deej. Just you go back to trying to figure out the difference between Shimano gear cables and Shimano gear cables.

Dullard.

dont worry it's not that bad, it's up there with the best road disc.

I'm on the fence with the Shimano hydro and BB7 road with compression less, they both feel just as powerful.

one self adjusts the other ...

HY/rd s work fine with SRAM.

Swap the stock pads for something better - ride and enjoy.

I've never had a problem with Avids and I've owned both cable and hydro (on mtbs) cable needs setting up properly but is a piece of piss once you've got your head round how they work. People seem to hate Avid hydro on mtbs but my elixir and juicys have all been just fine.

Anyway, get shimano brakes.

The main difference is mtb lever > road lever

When I got the boardman it had bb5 and cross top levers. The braking was great using the crosstops, but the main levers pulled to the bar without much effect. I ditched the cross tops, switched to compressionless, and upgraded to BB7s, which were slightly better but still poor compared to road calipers.

My understanding is that Shimano road levers have a better cable pull than the SRAM I have, and have heard that bb7s can be effective with Shimano road levers. I was on the brink of swapping out for 11sp 105 on the boardman, when i decided I may as well cut my losses and go full hydro on a croiz 30.

that sounds like a compatibility issue between the levers and the calipers. Don't avid suggest a certain pull ratio or even just list a handful of other manufacturers brakes that will work with their calipers? (Question, not rhetorical) I fitted brakes with the wrong leverage ratio once, like squeezing a brick and no power to slow me down.