Economical and reliable disc brakes with bar end shifters?

[JennyB]

At present I have some old BB5s with Tektro RL520 levers but they've never been great and lately are almost impossible to adjust properly.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Cheapest option would be to rebuild the BB5 callipers and review the cables etc. to optimise what you already have. There are rebuild kits.

Would an upgrade to a new or newer pair of BB7 calipers be an option? They are available for not much money second-hand and have the potential to be a better brake, assuming the problem is the calipers themselves.

Other options that cost more:

- keeping those levers and getting a set of Juin tech cable-pulled hydraulic calipers, which seem to get good reviews.
- if you need to keep the bar end shifters, you could ditch the levers and get a set of TRP Hylex which AFAIK are the only hydro levers that are brake only, i.e switching to a fully hydraulic system. 

[perpetual dan]

I’m using some TRP RRL levers and Juin Tech brakes, with bar end shifters. It’s worked well so far, both ergonomically and mechanically.

[ElyDave]

compressionless housing?

The rear on my recumbent is very poor in terms of lever travel to get any performance.  Its a long way from the lever.  My next job now that the Faran is complete, is to replace the housing with compressionless

[JennyB]

compressionless housing?

The rear on my recumbent is very poor in terms of lever travel to get any performance.  Its a long way from the lever.  My next job now that the Faran is complete, is to replace the housing with compressionless

That seems like a good idea. It's housing all the way, and a bit longer than normal because moustache bars.

[BFC]

compressionless housing?

The rear on my recumbent is very poor in terms of lever travel to get any performance.  Its a long way from the lever.  My next job now that the Faran is complete, is to replace the housing with compressionless

That seems like a good idea. It's housing all the way, and a bit longer than normal because moustache bars.

If you need tight bends the "noodle" adaptors for V brakes work very well and can be persuaded to fit mid cable. I use them on my front brake only fixed bikes with tektro cross brake levers, brakes are for more responsive than with a standard run of cable outer and you can get much tighter bends.

[Kim]

If you need tight bends the "noodle" adaptors for V brakes work very well and can be persuaded to fit mid cable.

Supplemental to this: Flexible noodles are a thing, for bend angles other than the standard 90° and 135°.

[lissotriton]

That seems like a good idea. It's housing all the way, and a bit longer than normal because moustache bars.

Depends on the moustache bars, can you fit mountain bike brake levers?
Would give you a lot more options for cheap hydraulic disc brakes.

[BFC]

If you need tight bends the "noodle" adaptors for V brakes work very well and can be persuaded to fit mid cable.

Supplemental to this: Flexible noodles are a thing, for bend angles other than the standard 90° and 135°.

I have found they form/bend/adjust nicely.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Indeed, noodle angle can be reworked quite a lot, with care.

[hazeii]

Not really up on BB5's, but I've run BB7's  for many years on MTBs  and tourers and they've always been more than enough (on my Kona Sutra, they're overkill unless very heavily laden and even then they're fierce). If the BB5's weren't great initially, it could be mismatched brake levers (wrong pull, wrong lever arm at the caliper). Also disk size matters; at the front I'd always look for 160mm or more (140's are for rear wheels).