Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

That's mental. They're great but they are brakes.

I can probably do them for £415 plus postage a pair if you are ok with black/orange or silver/orange long pull or black/orange black/black short pull. Honestly guys they're just as good as hydraulic brakes with much less fluid involved.

I was, and still am to some degree, an avid BB7/5 defender but as @snottyottersays, if it's flat bars then you can get a full hydro set up for so little money.

I just bought an mt200 rear brake for £28 (brand new, from a retailer). I'd be paying that for a half decent brake cable for a mechanical setup!

I think though that it's like comparing apples and oranges.

In my experience/opinion, people choosing mechanical setups are doing so because they are seeing a totally different set of positives than those that are choosing hydro and people that are choosing hydro are willing to deal with an entirely different set of foibles than those choosing mechanical.

Good answer. They both stop you. Same but different and selected for different reasons.

Never understood the point of having a strong opinion on something you've never tried.

But it's internet forum after all.

BB7 fan here, not as good as hydro but miles better than spyres that can get straight in the bin

Wish SRAM made a flat mount version but it would be a bit niche

All the right bits and then a positive stem with thick spacers

I remeber running bb7 when I first when touring back in the stone age (2011 ISH). My bike spent more time upside down so I could adjust the pads.

They added character to the trip for sure.

Broke both my arms in a crash 9 months ago, hence the stem situation.

And before someone chimes in, no I didn’t crash because of my brakes, ha.

Just to let you know, I think it looks nice with a positive rise stem.

My Journey through Disc Brakes from a hilly world.

TRP Spyres: when set up properly really good for one proper pull, then <rim brakes

BB7: AK47 works ok in all conditions, I liked the simple adjustment.

Juintech: Cable actuated hydro. Slightly better than BB7

Sram force Hydro: ok for a back brake 10x better than cable brakes

Hope Rx4 : would stop a rhino, an oil tanker, a bullet, you smoking, this incessant noise

i'm sure woods would love to sell me some £515 calipers so i could have the privledge of buying one of their assorted £600ish chromollly framesets, as long as i bought a chris king headset to go with it

One good thing about BB7s whilst we're here is their conical washers, means if your frames not had the brake mounts faced properly you can still get straight brakes.

I found my TRP spyres worked pretty good, for 3 months, until I did ADIH back in 2018 (the really wet one) and then they essentially stopped working for three years, so I just accepted the fact I'd have to live with gnarled claw hands for the rest of my years. They probably work alright if you replace the pads every 60kms.

Lets just finish this chat with this:

Any disc brake is better than a canti brake.

100%

There's a proper way to set up and adjust spyres for wear, most people don't do it right, they're usually better than bb7s when both are set up correctly, but not by much, they use the most commonly available pads too but either can be set up badly or adjusted for pad wear badly, that's why hydros are better too, set up is easier and they self adjust.

Shit, I started again.

Any disc brake is better than a canti brake.

Nah, Avid Shorty Ultimates were way better than BB7s in my experience. So much so that I had canti studs added to a disc frame to allow me to run them.

Any brake that is sufficient to lock up your wheels without requiring the grip strength of a gorilla is good enough. It doesn't matter how beefy or expensive the caliper is, tyre traction is nearly always the limiting factor in your brake power

Modulation doesn't matter

Any brake that is sufficient to lock up your wheels

Then a stick is the best option for a touring bike, cheap and can be sourced almost anywhere.

Frame pumps also work for this; hence so popular here as an emergency option when it gets proper gnar.

cx racers enter the chat

I'll almost certainly be heading @amey's direction and getting a Checkpoint ALR...

Frameset is £1300.

Guess we should be happy you can still hold an handlebar then