Was curious if anyone had made a go of tuning Avid BB7 mechanical disc calipers? I note that there appear to be 2 large and one small bolt that would be good candidates for ti replacements but wanted to check WW before disassembling brand new calipers without checking first.

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Michael - The Anaerobic Threshold is neither...

not only that, but if you go onto MTBR there is a thread somewhere where a guy dremeled the heck out of one, too.

If you start with older calipers, they are significantly lighter to begin with. Sorry, but I'm not sure which years are the best.

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Trek 5500 - 13.75lbs on a $1400 Budget
20 gram 1x10 chain guide

I'd be more concerned with making the BB7s to work with road levers. Unless you have the "road" version of Avid's BB7, you'll find it difficult/impossible to tune your brakes properly.

Yes, I have the 2012 BB7 'Road' version. It is a satin silver color where as the off-road BB7 is a dark grey color. Interesting in the recent BikeRumor article about the new Cannodale CX bikes, the SuperX was said to be sporting Avid BB7 'Ultimates' and was curious what that is?

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Michael - The Anaerobic Threshold is neither...

What size bolts are used on these brakes?

Thanks

I have the new Super-X disc and from what I have read and found online, the new BB7 Ultimate brakes just have ti hardware. I will be updating my post about the Super-X, which will include more information about the brakes in the new few days.

Avid is soon the release the BB7 Road SL, which I believe will save 50g from your current brakes. It may be worth waiting until they hit the market.

Regards,
BGG

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Thanks but I'm Hoping to have my rig ready before then.

You shouldn't care about the weight anymore if you decided to go disk

I am awaiting delivery of the bolts I ordered but can tell you that the size of the caliper mounting bolts will depend on whether you mounted the brakes using IS or post mounts as the post mount bolts are longer. For post mount with 160mm rotors, here are the specs of the Ti bolts I ordered (note except for the Torx head rotor bolts, all are Taper Head):

* Edited - specs are for 2012 BB7 Road calipers
Rotor bolts: M5x10mm T25 Torx
Caliper Positioning System (CPS) bolts: M6x30 Taper or Button head
CPS bolt Ti washers: 6mm
Cable cinch bolts: M6X10mm Taper or Button Head
Upper caliper body bolt: M6X25mm Non-Tapered head
Lower caliper body bolt: M6X15mm Non-Tapered head

Swapping in Ti bolts resulted in a savings of ~32 grams per wheel over stock (includes rotor bolts).

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Michael - The Anaerobic Threshold is neither...

Thanks!

Why not? Is the 100grams save on a light bike more worth than a 100 on a not so light bike?

Id think the rotors would be a good place to shave some weight unless you did that allrdy. Think standard bb7 rotors are a tad more than 100g / piece. Can shave about 30 on that i would guess. so 60 per wheel just on the rotors or thereabouts.

The new sl version is as said claimed at 25g saved per wheel but that was just the caliper i think so additional weightsavings on rotors would put that setup at around 310g per wheel. Still 620 gram brakeset aint that light..

I mean it doesn't make sense (to me) if you decided to upgrade (actually downgrade) and actually increased the weight of your bike (maybe 500 gr). When I made a calculation of weight difference between my current setup (TRP mag) and disks considering all the stuff that comes with disks (rotors with screws, heavier hubs, heavy brake calipers, much longer cables and cable housing etc.) I realized the weight difference between the lightest disk setup and the lightest cantilever brake setup is huge

Actually only the rotors with screws I have on one of my MTBs weights as the whole trp setup I have I'm running now

Yeah i know what you meant. Just that once decided to go with discs its still nice to shave weight. I was amazed how much weight increase i had on a cross bike i choose to retrofit with discs. Even with carbon rims it never felt light.

you're right !