So while riding yesterday at some point one of the pads on my rear brakes (Avid BB7s) somehow fell out and for the rest of the day every time I braked the disc was wearing away the brake as shown in the photo. I’m on a long trip from Alaska to Argentina for likely another 2 years. Does anyone know if this is likely to cause me any issues down the road or if they’ll still continue to work fine despite the damage?
by DanCyclestheWorld
3 Comments
It’s the inner side without the lever, right? Only the lever side pad is moving in the BB7, the other side is static. Nevertheless, there is some kind of mechanic to push the pad closer to the disk when needed (that’s what the wheel is for). IF this mechanic was damaged it could fail down the road, which would leave you without the ability to adjust the brake and probably bent disks somewhere in the future. Hard to say from the pic if your rotor just removed a bit of Aluminium from the body or did substantial damage.
If it’s just the body, I’d probably try it. If anything else in there is damaged, I would get a brake as long as resupply is possible. You have stretches with mountains and without any bikeshops in front of you.
Safe travels.
It’s just the body that’s damaged so I guess should be fine!
Appalling that your pad fell out. I believe that the same thing happened to u/Carlagoessouth with her BB7 earlier this year in the middle of Baja.
If you are getting enough Patreon support (and your YT channel is quality stuff, so you definitely deserve to), I recommend upgrading to the Paul Klamper caliper. Not cheap at over $200, but worth it, and if you’re still in the USA you can buy it in the country where it is made. The Klamper is a mechanical disc brake like the BB7, but it is made to be fully maintainable by the owner – it even comes with a schematic. Also, its stopping power is curiously strong for a single-sided caliper. I recently replaced my TRP Spyke front caliper with a Klamper just before doing a 1200-km steep route offroad with constant braking, and it was one of those components where I thought “Where have you been all my bicycle-travel life?” Only caveat is that the Klamper is quite a bit thicker than other calipers, so a rear rack might not clear it.