# Which brake levers (Campa, Shimano, SRAM) work best with Avid Disc Brake BB5/ BB7?



## omega1848 (Aug 4, 2008)

Hi folks,
are there any special recommendations which brake levers work best with Avid Disc Brake Road BB5 / BB7?
I somehow heard/ remember that the new Shimano brake levers have a different force translations compared to the older versions, and hence might cause some problems?

Which combinations are you folks using?

Thanks a lot in advance!
Oliver


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## tamjam (Jul 12, 2002)

I have had better luck with Campy Chorus than I have with Shimano 105. With the 105 levers, I was never able to get the brakes set up so that neither the pads rubbed on the rotors nor the levers bottom out on the bar. It was always one or the other. My Chorus levers have been working great so far with my BB7 road calipers.


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## unclefuzzy_ss (Nov 23, 2002)

The SRAM levers I've been using work just fine on my set up.


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## omega1848 (Aug 4, 2008)

tamjam said:


> I have had better luck with Campy Chorus than I have with Shimano 105. With the 105 levers, I was never able to get the brakes set up so that neither the pads rubbed on the rotors nor the levers bottom out on the bar. It was always one or the other. My Chorus levers have been working great so far with my BB7 road calipers.


Interesting, because of friend of mine is having the same issue with the Ultegra's BUT with the Shimano BR-R505 ;-)
So it looks like the Shimano levers do have indeed an incompatible issue with mechanical disc brakes?


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## fallzboater (Feb 16, 2003)

You may be able to rotate the levers higher on the bars, to give more clearance. An ergo type bar might also help.


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## 88 rex (Mar 18, 2008)

tamjam said:


> I have had better luck with Campy Chorus than I have with Shimano 105. With the 105 levers, I was never able to get the brakes set up so that neither the pads rubbed on the rotors nor the levers bottom out on the bar. It was always one or the other. My Chorus levers have been working great so far with my BB7 road calipers.


Interesting. I as well, have what I would consider excessive lever travel with my 105's. I can get them set-up without issue, but it does require a longer lever throw. So campy is in improvement..........something I'll have to look into. Ever try SRAM?


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## fallzboater (Feb 16, 2003)

Which ones are you folks using, the BB5 Road or BB7 Road? I've got a front BB7 Road caliper on the way, and plan to use some old DA 7800 levers, so we'll see how that goes. I've also got some Campy Chorus 10 levers (anyone need them?) I could try, but I don't have a Campy RD or cassette to use.


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## JPHcross (Aug 15, 2006)

I saw these the other day, they may solve the problem since both pads move therefore doubling the amount of pad movement for the lever that you have.
http://www.interlocracing.com/discbrake.html


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## fallzboater (Feb 16, 2003)

JPHcross said:


> I saw these the other day, they may solve the problem since both pads move therefore doubling the amount of pad movement for the lever that you have.
> http://www.interlocracing.com/discbrake.html


They'd only halve the amount of lever travel required if the cable/pad travel ratio for each pad was the same as it is for the one moving pad on the Avids, and there's no reason to think that it would be. What might be better is a progressive ratio lever at the caliper, like what servo-wave MTB brake levers give you.

The IRDs have been around for at least 5 years, are intended for MTB levers, and I haven't seen any used for cross. So, it would seem to be a good bet that they're either totally unsuitable, or not an improvement over the BB7 Road, which is also cheaper. I'm not a big fan of the Avids, but there doesn't seem to be a better option, yet.


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