Replacing 11 year old front BB7 with an XT brake, couple of questions:
Does anybody use the 'caps', as there seems to be little reference to them online other than in Shimano literature - highlighted, bottom right of this schematic:
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And I didn't get the bevelled silver-grey alignment washers with my delivery - again, highlighted both pics, above and below:
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I've contacted CRC about that but, meanwhile, I'm curious - I can understand they help to allow the bolt to align to the screw threads in the fork/adaptor hole - but how does the caliper align relative to the disk if there aren't bevelled washers between the caliper and the mount adaptor (which is the way the BB7s do it)?
Caps - yeah I use them because they came with the brakes. If you've not got them just make sure you stick some thread lock on.
Washers - they're to compensate for the fact that the adapter mounts the brake at a slight angle relative to face of the fork mount. If you look at the adapter you can see that it's thicker on the top than the bottom. They're not intended to allow caliper alignment.
These washers are the sort that were used on the pads of old skool V brakes, so if you have some of those laying around, or the LBS might be able to help
I'll use the washers from the BB7 I'm taking off, no problem there, it's just I believe in getting everything I paid for...although, fair play, they did throw in a brake cable ferrule...
Most people dont bother with the plastic safety caps.
The beveled washers come with the Shimano 180 post mount, not the caliper. If you are just going straight onto the fork or a Shimano IS-post mount they are not needed
In that second pic, they've only used the spacers/curved washers because the caliper bolt is too long. Would serve no other function in that position. Some brakes (Avid) need them between caliper and adapter or for odd sized rotors. Not Shimano in my experience though.
The caps stop the bolts undoing, but so does thread lock. You also get metal shim washer thingys with Shimano discs, which nobody uses 🙂
In that second pic, they’ve only used the spacers/curved washers because the caliper bolt is too long. Would serve no other function in that position. Some brakes (Avid) need them between caliper and adapter or for odd sized rotors. Not Shimano in my experience though.
No they are there as the 180mm spacer is a wedge rather than flat.
Turns out CRC don't stock or supply the washers as standard, so I just bolted it on - and it works fine. The last hydraulic brakes I fitted were C2s on an IS mount (and before that the dreaded Magura HS33s) so I was pleasantly surprised by just how easy both installation and bleeding (following hose shortening) were - beats messing about with handfuls of tiny shim washers and flushing DOT oil through into a pop bottle...
Thanks.
