Spotted in Easton’s booth at Eurobike, Avid just couldn’t seem to wait until their planned release at Interbike to show off the new BB7 Road SL (RSL) mechanical disc brakes.
Official word is they’re 25g lighter than the standard BB7 Road versions thanks to titanium hardware and alloy backed brake pads that use a special new lightweight organic compound. It gets a “Falcon Gray” finish that should match up well with their road groups. The BB7 RSL brakes will available aftermarket with 140mm and 160mm HS1 rotors and include titanium rotor bolts. They should start shipping in November for $170/set (€152).
The 25g weight savings is per wheel and just for the caliper according to SRAM’s road PR manager. That means a 50g combined savings…not insignificant considering the starting weight. Claimed weight for the standard BB7 Road is 329g with 160mm rotor. Taking into account the 11g savings from the standard model’s CleanSweep rotors to the HS1 (160mm, photo proof after the break), you’re looking at close to 75-80g savings when it’s all said and done. As if it needs saying, they’re approved for cyclocross, too.
Alongside the new brakes, SRAM’s offering a new Slickwire Road Brake XL cable set, click through to see why you want it…
Fortunately, we just happened to have a set of Avid’s rotors laying around. At left, the Clean Sweep at 102g and the newer HS1 at 91g, both 160mm. Add in the ti mounting bolts and you’ve got a few grams to add something fun.
Designed to enhance the performance of their (or others’) mechanical brakes, it has reinforced compressionless housing and comes in 30% lighter than standard wound cable housing. The idea is to improve modulation and response time, and SRAM says they’ll work great with standard rim brake calipers, too, particularly benefitting larger frames that might run longer cable sections. They come with aluminum SRAM ferrules, rubber frame protectors and PTFE coated 1.6mm cables for $45 (€40). Also ships in November.
