RomanC

I advise to build the wheel yourself. In the long term you will save money and time.

It actually helps to loosen and tesion both sides, as you go. Loosen a spoke on the left and then tighten a spoke on the right. Start the valve hole so that you know when you have done one revolution and adjusted all the spokes.

http://www.pulobikes.com/prod.asp?cat=2&cat2=8 http://www.biketaiwan.com/New/Script/query...sp?Pd_No=000008 this one is even better. All the services that the far east can offer except the call girls

I find that clean sweep rotors work better than the wavy ones. The wavy ones tend to chew up the pads at the ends a lot more.

Never really tried organic but semi-metallic is supposed to perform better in the wet as it is more porous and can let water through much easier. I personally really like Kool Stop pads for BB7. Very grabby and seem to last forever. The key with Avids is to correctly set them up and break in your pads/rotor

Most likely your cups are a bit loose. Just get the BB tool and tighten them up. You can also put some blue loctite on them to prevent them from getting loose too fast.

Yeah, I guess one can take two approaches either start in kiddie korner or have admins banish you there

I've been running a BB7 185 and now 203 on a Simtra for close to a year now. I heavily recommed a 203mm rotor and Kool Stop pads as the Avid ones wear out fast and don't lock that great. The main key to the brake is the setup. I find that I get better results by not following the manual completely. (the manual tells you to adjust both knobs so that the both pads lock the disc and then tighten the bolts on the caliper). My method. 1. Adjust the inside knob to make sure that about half the pad sticks out. 2. Move the outside pad away from the rotor as much as you can. 3. Move the caliper gently so that the inside pad touches the rotor evenly. 4. Slowly start to tighten the caliper bolts and make sure that it doesn't move. (natural light helps to spot gaps between the pad and the rotor) 5. Once the caliper is tight move the outer pad to the desired position. If this was done right, then when you squeze the lever there should be no flex of the rotor and the lever should feel firm. The rest is just like the manual (i.e. don't use the barrel adjust to move the outside pad, only to tighten up the cable slack). This should yield a very solid brake but nevertheless it will not be stronger than a fresh grind and soft pads especially when the wheel wants to roll back. Otherwise, it will work great in most weather conditions w/o much maintenance for quite some time.

heh on OTN the admins just toss people into Kiddie Korner which is a section for the "special few"

I've been looking at various biketrails forums for about 6 years, Maybe the first forum ever? (created in 1999) http://lists.topica.com/lists/mtb-trials/read www.biketrials.com and now OTN I am just curious as to the reason why the admins decided to have the pre-member "feature" on this forum as this is not the case on any bike/non-bike forum I have ever been on. Was this created to fight bots/ads and deter people from scamming others in the "for sale" section? Just curious how this came to be, since as far as I recall TK was open to everybody right away a few years ago.

As others said. Larger rotor == more torque due to a longer torque arm. Torque = (length of the torque arm) X (Force) In the case of the brake, the torque arm is the rotor itself. Force is the force that the pads from the caliper exert on the rotor. Hence larger rotors result in more power but modulation might suffer.

You can't weld steel to aluminum. You best bet would be to find a machinest that could helicoil the crank for you.

There was a US rider probably 6 years that used power straps. straps that go on top the of pedals and you put your feet inside. Needless to say he switched to platforms after a while. As others have said bailing would be problematic.

You can always clean the rotors with alcohol and cook your pads. 350F in the oven for 20minutes works well. also you can use sand paper to remove the glaze from the pads or just scrub them on dry concrete.

What disc do you have? BB7s squeak sometimes if there is a gap between the inner pad and the rotor and if you have dirt/oil on the pads.