BB5

Brand: Avid

An entry-level mechanical disc brake caliper, the BB5 descends directly from the “Ball Bearing” brake (hence the BB initials) that Avid put on the market in early 2003: a cable-actuated ball-bearing mechanism, disarmingly simple to install and maintain. The BB5 designation was formalised in the mid-2000s (SRAM guide dated 2005). A simplified version of the BB7, it offers only an outboard pad adjustment dial, but keeps the one-piece body and compatibility with long-pull MTB levers. Having become one of the most widely distributed mechanical disc brakes in the world thanks to its rock-bottom price and its reliability, it equips countless production mountain bikes and touring bikes and is still in the catalogue more than twenty years on.