June 24, 20178 yr Hi all Just thought I'd post to say I have the Oxygen E-mate. Its a fantastic bike but the standard Tektro Nevollo brakes are somewhat lacking when I'm bombing down a hill at 25+mph on my way to work. I was considering options to upgrade the brakes and decided to go with Avid BB7 mechanical brakes. The main reason for not going hydraulic is to keep the cut out function on the bike and also they are relatively cheap and easy to maintain. Anyway. Long story short. They are ace. Hardest part was removing the old rotors as 3 of the bolts rounded despite being careful so drilled them out and fitted the new 200mm rotor. The 200mm makes a significant difference. Much more stopping power and better feel IMO. Anyway. Attached is a picture to show you the size difference. The whole kit is a simple switch out to go from 160mm to 200mm. No need to change handle or cable. Adjustment is really easy too. Here are the steps I took: 1. Take off old caliper. Release the cable from it. 2. Remove old rotor off wheel hub. 3. Fit new rotor 4. Fit new caliper but leave the mounting bolts with play in. 5. Move adjustment on pads to "out" on both sides. 6. Fit wheel. 7. Move caliper side pad in until it looks the wheel in place. 8. Tighten bolts to lock caliper in place 9. Back off the pads until they are not rubbing. Done. Really easy and good upgrade to do on my Oxygen and probably any e bike where the front brake is lacking somewhat. Hope that helps people. John
June 24, 20178 yr Hi all Just thought I'd post to say I have the Oxygen E-mate. Its a fantastic bike but the standard Tektro Nevollo brakes are somewhat lacking when I'm bombing down a hill at 25+mph on my way to work. I was considering options to upgrade the brakes and decided to go with Avid BB7 mechanical brakes. The main reason for not going hydraulic is to keep the cut out function on the bike and also they are relatively cheap and easy to maintain. Anyway. Long story short. They are ace. Hardest part was removing the old rotors as 3 of the bolts rounded despite being careful so drilled them out and fitted the new 200mm rotor. The 200mm makes a significant difference. Much more stopping power and better feel IMO. Anyway. Attached is a picture to show you the size difference. The whole kit is a simple switch out to go from 160mm to 200mm. No need to change handle or cable. Adjustment is really easy too. Here are the steps I took: 1. Take off old caliper. Release the cable from it. 2. Remove old rotor off wheel hub. 3. Fit new rotor 4. Fit new caliper but leave the mounting bolts with play in. 5. Move adjustment on pads to "out" on both sides. 6. Fit wheel. 7. Move caliper side pad in until it looks the wheel in place. 8. Tighten bolts to lock caliper in place 9. Back off the pads until they are not rubbing. Done. Really easy and good upgrade to do on my Oxygen and probably any e bike where the front brake is lacking somewhat. Hope that helps people. John You are 100% spot on with this information. You can not go wrong with added safety. Cheers! MS.
June 24, 20178 yr I felt the same way about my eMate's brakes until I swapped the Tektro OEM pads for Clarks'. It was a total transformation. Mind you, I've had BB7's and they are a fine brake.
June 24, 20178 yr BB7s might be better than the OEM Tektro brakes, especially with a bigger rotor, but I wouldn't recommend that modification. you can leave the back brake as a cable one because it won't do much when you have a decent front brake. It's dead easy to fit a switch to it and you only need one switch. That means that you can fit whatever hydraulic brake you like to the front, which will give a lot better braking than a BB7 for nearly the same money.
June 24, 20178 yr Author BB7s might be better than the OEM Tektro brakes, especially with a bigger rotor, but I wouldn't recommend that modification. you can leave the back brake as a cable one because it won't do much when you have a decent front brake. It's dead easy to fit a switch to it and you only need one switch. That means that you can fit whatever hydraulic brake you like to the front, which will give a lot better braking than a BB7 for nearly the same money. The bb7 performs as well as my shimano hydraulic on my mtb IMO. Each to their own. I'm loving commuting on my emate though. Its fab! Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk
June 24, 20178 yr Author Also using travel contact tyres has transformed the ride. [emoji106] Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk
June 24, 20178 yr I suspect the bigger rotor with the same calliper would have given the same improvement. Or a hydraulic calliper with the same rotor. Or possibly different pads, although that would be trial and error. So there's various ways to skin the brake improvement cat. Yours is as good as any.
June 24, 20178 yr My best memory of the BB7 is going down a steep hill in Budapest on a very heavy HP Spirit recumbent (unpowered) and encountering a sudden turn. Instinctively I pulled the front brake very hard indeed; easily enough to send me over the bars of an upwrong bike. The BB7 pulled me to a stop in just a few metres and I was very grateful of its considerable stopping power.
June 24, 20178 yr I went straight over the handlebars when I applied the brake on a cheap electric bike with rim brakes. That's not good. You need control of your braking.
June 26, 20178 yr I was in control; my point was that the combination of the recumbent and the very effective BB7 stopped me when no other combination would have. The rim brake I had replaced with the BB7 would have been inadequate. It was my own silly fault for going so fast when I knew there was a sharp turn. Had I applied the same pressure on an upwrong bike I would have gone over the bars or crashed.
June 26, 20178 yr I've recently upgraded the calipers on my Oxygen S-Cross. I've bought a pair of these following some good review and wanting to try something knew/being wooed by the dual piston design: https://www.trpbrakes.com/category.php?catid=206&productid=1199 Can't comment on their operation. Sat at work, having dove in in the car with a can of contact cleaner sat on my desk itching to get home, sort out a dodgy electrical connection/other bug, and get the bike back on the road! Should say I was impressed the TRP's came with a rubber gasket/shoe that fits over the exposed cable end. I'm hoping this will reduce ingress of dirt and water. When I swapped the calipers over I had to take a trip to buy some new cable housing as the rear break housing was blocked. See here to see what I mean, I'd be interested to know if other calipers also come with a similar gasket/shoe. Edited June 26, 20178 yr by DBye
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