Best levers for BB7's.

Avid Speed Dials

rodman said:

I am going to buy some Avid BB7's and was wondering what levers everyone has had the best results with. ty.

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They work great and the speed dial allows you to fine tune the engagement point.

They rock.

Cheers,
Cris

I'll second the Speed Dials

I have the SD 7's and love 'em. Blue sky has them for $30.00. Here's a link:

http://www.blueskycycling.com/view_product.php?pid=53

I use the Avid SDs as well. Great levers.

Best = Avid Ultimates. But the SD7s work great at a fraction of the cost. They just won't be as solid or last nearly as long. The key feature would be the modulation adjustment. Makes setting up the feel of the brakes very easy.

Ultimates = best

Homebrew said:

Best = Avid Ultimates. But the SD7s work great at a fraction of the cost. They just won't be as solid or last nearly as long. The key feature would be the modulation adjustment. Makes setting up the feel of the brakes very easy.

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Definitely the top of the line brake lever in functionality, engineering and adjustability. As always, my mind focuses on $$$, hence the SD 7 recommendation. At $160, I don't know that I could even consider the Ultimates, (as that was the total cost of my levers, and f/r bb7's) but they are definitely Avid's top of the line mechanical lever.

Bob

Call_me_Clyde said:

Definitely the top of the line brake lever in functionality, engineering and adjustability. As always, my mind focuses on $$$, hence the SD 7 recommendation. At $160, I don't know that I could even consider the Ultimates, (as that was the total cost of my levers, and f/r bb7's) but they are definitely Avid's top of the line mechanical lever.

Bob

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Yep Ultimates are the best, only if money is no option!

If you are on a budget SD 7 will do the trick

Ulimate levers can be had for $150 on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Avid-Speed-Dial...ryZ58083QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If you dont like ebay get one of the big retailers to match it.

I'll 5th, no 6th, maybe 7th Avid SD 7s.

I got them and have had no issues and the speed dial control really helps.

I find you can really tune them easily so that the front and rear match. Also if/when you get a slightly warped rotor, and the noise is driving you nuts on that ride you can adjust the brakes to pull more cable so you can actually run the pads out a little farther so they won't rub. Then when you get home you can straighten your rotors back out if needed.

bottom line:
If money is an option (if was for me), just get the Speed Dial 7 levers.

Avid FR-5

rodman said:

I am going to buy some Avid BB7's and was wondering what levers everyone has had the best results with. ty.

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I have a set of Avid FR-5 levers with mine. I used to have speed dials and they were fine but the FR-5s were designed for the bb7s. I like the FR-5 much better then the sd.

rodman said:

I am going to buy some Avid BB7's and was wondering what levers everyone has had the best results with. ty.

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I have a set of Avid FR-5 levers. I used to have speed dials but the FR-5s were designd specificly for the bb7s and I like them much more then anything else.

memyself said:

I have a set of Avid FR-5 levers. I used to have speed dials but the FR-5s were designd specificly for the bb7s and I like them much more then anything else.

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I thought the FR-5s were just basically Speed Dial 7's that don't have the red knob to change cable pull/modulation.

If they work for you that's great! I just thought they were just a SD7 set at a specific lever pull. I think it would definately be worth the extra $5 or so to get the Speed dials over the FR-5s.

I think the "designed especially for the BB7s" is all marketing. Not that they aren't designed for those brakes but so are the SD-7s. I'm sure they considered the bb7s when designing the Ultimate levers also.

whatever works for you though.... maybe you could try a pair out on someone's bike or a bike shop loaner.