Frankly, I wasted too much time putting this together to let it get buried in the weight weenie forum. It deserves a thread of its own.
So here you have my first attempt at a comprehensive answer to "How heavy are the Avid mechs?"
Yeah, "heavy" as in "how much do they weigh?" Only you can be the judge of what constitutes "too heavy."
For the record (if it's not already obvious), I'm a big fan of Avid's mechs, but I'm not necessarily trying to defend them as "light," nor "not heavy." They are what they are, and this is just an attempt to accurately portray that.
I pulled the pads (new, 100%) to weigh separately, figuring the original "type F" caliper uses magnets and has no use for the spreader spring. The spreader spring weight doesn't register on my scale (<1g), so I didn't weigh it separately.
I'm also asking for your contribution. See, I'm missing a few entries. I need a Clean Sweep 203mm rotor, as well as some Roundagon 160 & 165mm rotors. I also need Post Mount adapters for 185 and 203 rotor sizes (with the longer bolts). Anything else missing? If you can take sharp photos of them on a scale, send them my way and I'll add them to the worksheet.
Oh, and if you've got any date corrections or a "type" for the new 2008 caliper, I'll take that, too.
The flow of the worksheet is vertical, and hopefully pretty obvious.
Nope, that's how much crap great stuff I have sitting around. I haven't eBay'ed in over a year. I'm way past due.
...oops, check that -- the only parts outbound are the 203 rotors & adapters, and the Mag levers. Plus a ton of spare 160 IS mounts I could probably melt down and sell as scrap aluminum.
Nope, that's how much crap great stuff I have sitting around. I haven't eBay'ed in over a year. I'm way past due.
...oops, check that -- the only parts outbound are the 203 rotors & adapters, and the Mag levers. Plus a ton of spare 160 IS mounts I could probably melt down and sell as scrap aluminum.
well.... if you have a 160mm rear avid adapter, that you want to let go, let me know... a buddy of mine has bb7s and uses a shimano adapter in the rear, so he is always shaving some material of the "handle" of the outside pad to be able to adjust it...
Dunno. 13g is a lot of "tolerance" on a part at that weight -- about 8%. Did Avid make the "lighter weight" claim? I haven't compared their published weights.
Maybe the newer BB7 was produced on the heavier side and older one on the lighter side? I don't know. I do recall an article saying the new BB7 is supposed to be lighter. I guess you can't always believe what you read.
Maybe the newer BB7 was produced on the heavier side and older one on the lighter side? I don't know. I do recall an article saying the new BB7 is supposed to be lighter. I guess you can't always believe what you read.
I dunno. I attempted a bunch of Google searches, including "Avid BB7 2008 lighter weight" and the only applicable hit was this thread!
Avid doesn't seem to be claiming much of anything for this caliper (er, except "for fluid-o-phobes" and "...we gave the ('08) BB7 a .. new finish, inboard/outboard adjustment knobs and a beefy two-piece, forged body."
Actually, I did email SRAM with a whole list of very specific questions a couple of months back, but they never bothered to respond to me. Waah!
Hey, if the desire to go hydro, plus a little "new math" are what you need to make the switch, by all means, do it. The only legit reason to stick with the Avids is because you want to run mechs and like the adjustments.
The total weight of the bolts is about 42 grams (for 185mm IS mount and not including rotor bolts but including the two bolts that hold the two forged pieces together). So by replacing them all with titanium you are back to pre 2008 weight. :thumbsup: They seem to have added more material on sections that will receive more loading..no doubt a CAD design and build.
Question. I'm building up a rigid bike on a budget and was thinking of swapping my wheels from my other bike back and forth insted of buying another wheelset. My main bike has Juicy 7s with 160mm rotors. Will the BB7s work with the hydro rotors?
Would an Avid Full Metal Jacket save some weight? They advertise it with " 35% lighter than equivalents section of cable housing". An Alligator Windcutter rotor (92g) could save 12g towards the 160mm Clean Sweep. Titanium bolts for the rotor would save 7g (for the six bolts).
Would an Avid Full Metal Jacket save some weight? They advertise it with " 35% lighter than equivalents section of cable housing". An Alligator Windcutter rotor (92g) could save 12g towards the 160mm Clean Sweep. Titanium bolts for the rotor would save 7g (for the six bolts).
If that's true, then plan on 0.88g per foot instead of the 1.35g per foot I weighed.
As for lighter rotors and bolts, those can be used to lighten up any brake, so in a relative weight comparison, it's nothing that gives the Avid Mech any advantage.
I can contribute with some weights from my new Avid BB7 (2008)-Setup:
- 1 Caliper + pads: 182g
- CPS Hardware (1 break): 22g
- Avid Roundagon 160mm rotor: 127g
- 6 rotor bolts: 12g
- 1 Avid Speed Dial SL: 78g
- 160mm front adapter (if you have no postmount): 15g
- Avid Full Metal Jacket (typical fullsuspension MTB setup front+rear with all parts): 130 - 140g
So I get a total weight of 1022g for both breaks (only rear adapter needed). This is damn heavy! I will switch to 160mm Alligator Windcutter rotors, so I can save 70g and will end up with about 950g. :cryin:
The total weight of the bolts is about 42 grams (for 185mm IS mount and not including rotor bolts but including the two bolts that hold the two forged pieces together). So by replacing them all with titanium you are back to pre 2008 weight. :thumbsup: They seem to have added more material on sections that will receive more loading..no doubt a CAD design and build.
I just installed some 2008 BB7s, and while they're a little heavier (sorry, I don't remember the exact difference), the knobs are a hell of a lot easier to use. The inner knobs are still a beyotch to adjust, but being able to use a torx on them makes life much easier. Spring tension seems stiffer, too.
I have lubed the threaded of the inner knob to make it smoother.
Is it normal for the BB7 that the break pads are somewhat difficult to take out? I need a claw to do this!
I don't like the way the inner knob is attached to the caliper. On the '08 BB-7s I just installed on my son's bike I could not turn the inner knob by hand so I switched to a Torx driver. A little twist and the resistence went to zero. When I took a closer look at it the red knob popped off completely. There's a groove in the caliper body that the red knob snaps on to. If this pops off, like it did on me, the adjustment piston is free to spin and it spins easily. I popped the knob back on and it popped off again while I was adjusting it but I snapped it back on again and it has stayed on but I'm worried that it may pop off on the trail, rendering the rear brake useless. The front brake could potentially have this problem but the knob did not pop out on me so I'm less worried about it.
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