mkane77g

Now that's a great thought, a bar end for the front derailleur.

bikefriday

My main issue was that having to now replace a warped front rotor...I was polling the group to gather input on what components to use so that it would minimize the possibility of it happening again. Love the bike, love riding it, the brakes are OK too, but to me it doesn't make any sense to spend money on the same components when there are better out there for marginally more money than the OEM pieces.

Thanks everyone for your input. Appreciate the help! This forum is great.

Scraper

May I selfishly revitalize this thread with a specific question -- which pads (used on a mechanical only Avid BB7, 203mm rotor - if any of this matters) offer the strongest stopping power? Avid, EB Gold or SwissStop / organic or sintered?

gracehowler

I'll answer from my point of view, I prefer OEM pads, but have found none that are quiet enough to suit us. Currently using swiss organic, stop well enough (keeping adjusted, etc), but will be honest to say Avid OEM metallic do stop better.
R

Scraper

Thanks

Leisesturm

Interesting that I didn't see this post back when you wrote it. Some thoughts. Number one being that it is unlikely Cannondale would have used Problem Solvers on a production tandem. I am fairly certain that the PO had to change to MTB calipers when he changed to MTB handlebars and brake levers, you might want to verify that he did. And now you must change back to road calipers if you want to be safe while using your 105 brifters. Tuning the brake pads as close to the rotors as possible is SOP! There isn't any closer you can set them to compensate for short pull levers. I am very much an 'outside the box' type and even so, I just wouldn't want to risk it. Really, its not a good idea.

My experiment with Short Pull levers, MTB calipers and Travel Agents can be seen here, note the DIY brake booster because the inline Travel Agents create a ton of drag that BB7 calipers cannot overcome. Standard Travel Agents will not work with disk brakes, you must use the inline version shown in the picture. As far as I know they are no longer made. I got mine for a very good price and only used them for a couple of seasons, and I am willing to let them go for postage as I no longer need them. You will need them if you want to use road levers with those calipers. And you will probably need to fashion brake boosters for your calipers which as it happens was recently discussed in the thread on TRP Spyres nearby in this forum.

Scraper

They are Avid BB7 Road calipers; PO had just went to mountain levers. I'm now back to drop bars and road levers Shimano 105. However I don't have compressionless brake cable housing on it, maybe that's where my problem lies. I just restrung it recently with new Jagwire https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

Not only is compressionless brake housing more expensive, on their site they say to use ez bend housing segments - I assume because the compressionless housing may be too stiff to fit up next to the road bars at the bends. And new bar tape again... Good grief!

twocicle

FWIW, the Jagwire "Race kit" (for singles) has the ez bend casing and enough solid compressionless casing to do the job on a tandem unless you are running casing for the full front to back length. For a rear brake wire, I'd recommend the Jagwire Superslick Stainless which is available in ultra long lengths.

disherwood

rbosity




interesting thoughts....maybe from “your experience”.......a little immodest if you don’t mind me saying so.......

Leisesturm

Our 2005 Flatbar Road Tandem came stock with BB7 x 160mm rotors. The shop didn't know how to set them up and we didn't know any better. We moved cross country with the tandem and joined a tandem club in Portland, OR. We did screaming descents at 40+ mph a time or two. We did finally get it to a shop that understood how to set them up, not that it made much difference. Even mis-adjusted they were able stoppers. I 'upgraded' to drop-bars and by this time (2016) the BB7's were feeling the heat from the dual piston designs. So we 'upgraded' to TRP Spyres. Not from any lack on the BB7, just because we could.

fooferdoggie 

we just put on shimano deore 4 pistons with 203 rotors on our tandem. ice tech with finned pads and the rotors. the front especially in the cold warps for a few seconds or so after short braking sessions. but the back is always stable just the front,

Fredo_Adagio

Before the advent of disc brakes, tandems used to have drag brakes for use on long descents. The drag brake was mounted on the rear wheel on the side opposite the cogs. There is no space for a drag brake there on a bike with disc brakes. Perhaps someone will develop a front wheel with a disc brake on one side and a drag brake on the other.

IPassGas

There is nothing comparable to the heat dissipation of the Arai drum. Unfortunately, disc brakes have overwhelmed the market. Great for single mountain bikes during short stops, but for tandems, discs are a new age "product" for something that was solved years back with the Arai. We descended Mt. Lemmon (AZ) the other day on our newer tandem (no Arai), the 5% grade was ok for an unloaded tandem, but on the edge for 2 tall people. If we were heavily loaded on tour, the discs would fail on such a descent. Think about that when staring down a mountain pass the next time.

Leisesturm

It would not be my thinking that a tandem with two modern hydraulic disc brakes with 203mm rotors of an 'Icetech' kind of technology would have heat dissipation capacity inferior to an old style Arai drum brake! But, if I'm wrong, then the solution of course is to buy another tandem with an Arai drum. It will have to be used and probably be from the mid to late 90's but it will probably be cheaper than just the brakes of a 2020 spec tandem. Surely the supersaver shopping tip for the 2021 touring season.

fooferdoggie 

well mine worked on a long downhill grade on a path about 2 miles of constant braking and they were fine. so I guess Shimano did something right (G)

DangerousDanR

The only issues we have had with disc brakes on our tandem were fade in a panic stop and rotors warping.

The panic stop was from about 50 MPH to 0 on Shetland on a downhill blind corner with a 12% slope with a tail wind better than 40 MPH. The total weight of riders, bike, and luggage was a little over 500 pounds. The brakes returned to normal operation once they cooled a bit. The issue was solved by switching from Hope E4 ("Enduro") calipers to Hope V4 ("downhill") calipers. These calipers are mostly a flat bar solution, but if you can find a now discontinued Hope V-Twin master cylinder they could be used on a drop bar bike. Hope also makes calipers which are compatible with Shimano or SRAM master cylinders which others have used successfully.

The warpage issue seems to have been solved by switching to a Shimano IceTech rotor in front and a vented Hope rotor in the rear. If the front warps, I will get a Hope vented disc to replace the IceTech, since the IceTech fitted to the rear did warp, while the Hope vented rotor has not. As others have pointed out, the Hope vented rotor is thicker than their standard rotors, and will probably not work with other calipers.

chichi

Hope v2'S with Pauls Klampers, great setup.

mtseymour

This is old news, LOL. Is there any who still thinks that the BB7 is close to the performance of a cable-actuated hydraulic disc brake (eg. TRP Hy/Rd) or a full hydraulic disk brake (eg. Shimano R786, BR-R8070)? Just read bike magazines or walk into bike shops.

Please enlighten me about my "immodest" thoughts.

disherwood

hey everyone look at me i know a lot about nothing really and I’m going to tell you all about me