Avid BB7 disc disappointing: why?

cooperplace said:

Today I put an Avid BB7 disc brake on the front of my road bike, 160mm rotor, was v. careful to not get any oil on any parts, have followed adjustment procedure to the letter, but stopping power is v disappointing.

Has the standard pads (sintered), do these take a while to break in?

Yes, I think the pads on most disc brakes require a few rides to break in before you achieve maximum stopping capability with your AVID disc brake.

BB7's works nicely on my MTB
of course you know but be careful not to come to a full stop on your front wheel !

I generally dislike Avid disc brakes in general but their cable discs are usually woefull. They often feel very spongy in comparison to the equivalent level shimanos. As said above, disc pads usually also need a bit of bedding in.

On cable disc brakes, one pad remains stationary whilst the other pushes (and slightly bends) the rotor towards it. The stationary (inside) pad needs to be set, with the dial, to be as close as possible to the rotor surface. This will be difficult (and annoying) since the pad rarely sits flush vertically in its mounting and the rotors of these brakes tend to be flimsy and almost never straight. With that done, you then need to set the position of the brake control arm to bring the outside pad as close as possible before tightening the cable.

You may have already done all this (if so I'm sorry for telling you how to suck eggs) but performing this procedure properly gives you the best performance from cable discs and is the only way of getting ANY performance from Avid cable discs.

Cheers