Yung Piss

Hi all,

I've never owned a bike with disc brakes. Ridden a few but my own have all had rim brakes or no brakes
Anyway, I recently bought a fork that I intend to put on a cross bike I have. The bike is already running Avid Speed Dial levers so I'm going with BB7 for cheapest and least amount of new items to purchase. The fork has IS mount as I've learned from looking at photos. Holes are 51mm center to center. Here is my eBay cart that I'm about to click purchase on. Can you look it over and determine if I have everything I need and if it should all work? Thanks in advance!

Buy list:
Avid G2 brake rotor, 160mm
Avid BB7 caliper
Avid rotor Torx bolt kit
Avid CPS/Standard caliper mount hardware
Avid +0mm IS disc mounting bracket

Again, I have zero experience with disc brakes. I'm not a professional bike mechanic but I think I could pull it off without having to bring the bike to a shop. As far as actually setting up the brake, I think I've got a pretty solid idea how it works between YouTube and these forums. Here's my understanding:

- Bolt rotor to hub using the Loctite treated bolts and a cross tightening pattern (how do you center the rotor?)
- Bolt mounting bracket to fork
- Loosely bolt caliper to mounting bracket
- Set up cable from lever to caliper
- Put wheel in place, squeeze lever hard, tighten caliper mounting bolts down some
- Squeeze again to make sure centered, tighten bolts all the way

That's my basic understanding of how to do this. Anything wrong? Anything pointers? Please tell me!

RubeRad

I also recently had my first experiences with disc brakes -- hydraulics on mtbs from BD, so all the parts were there for me. I did have to bolt the rotors on, but I didn't do anything special to align them.

What you describe sounds like the mounting/aligning procedure for hydraulic brakes, where there are two pistons that push both brake pads inwards.

But I thought I had read that mechanical disc brakes, or at least some of them, are such that only one pad is in motion, and the alignment might be a little bit different. But I don't see why the process wouldn't work. Just I would use a rubber band or a helper to hold the brake lever the whole time, and make sure you tighten the bolts gradually. A light film of grease under the heads of the bolts to make sure they tighten smoothly, without jerking the caliper around.

The only other thing I'm worried about is whether you have the right adapter, as you need the standoff to put the caliper in the right position for your rotor size, but it looks like you've researched that, so you're probably in good shape. Good luck!

dubes

This has everything you need--calipers, rotor, mounting hardware, and a couple of spacers to mount to a fork or a frame. If you go the Ebay route, since you're mating them with the Speed Dial brake levers, just make sure the calipers are for mountain use, not road use.

dwmckee

Avid has different instructions for aligning a BB7 caliper (only one pad moves on these) than what you have listed. A quick search on line and you will find bazillions of instructions and videos for aligning the caliper correctly.