Avid Speed Dial 7 Bicycle Brake Lever Set

To those who are buying these for the first time based on reviews, this set of brake levers is my personal favorite. These can standard on my recumbent trike, paired with Avid BB7 disk brakes and Avid G2 Rotors.I've owned a lot of bikes, with varying brakes set up on each. There have been Tektro brakes, which seemed like a joke since they were so poor and functioned worse than rim brakes. I've also ridden road bikes, which have pretty poor brakes (designed for light weight and speed, not stopping) but do function when need be. However, I will restrict this review to my SD-7's and Shimano Hydraulics to compare them to.On my recumbent, I've swapped between Avid BB7's paired with these SD-7 levers, and Shimano Deore M615 Hydraulics. The avid's are rated as one of the best cable disk brakes on the market, as is the Shimano being one of the best hydraulics on the market (at a reasonable price point, not super ridiculous price point). The Shimano's are amazing, with great modulation and feel. They gave confidence and inspired me to brake later into corners.The BB7's and SD-7's, however, are an amazing combo that rivals the Shimano's. First off, The levers are adjustable to change the lever position and the cable pull position. This helps this lever achieve better modulation than any other cable brake lever I've used. The levers are also the right size for mountain biking. The Shimano's really only were a 2-3 finger lever, whereas you could use all your fingers on the SD-7's. This gives the SD-7's a power advantage over regular brakes. The adjustable cable pull position, which is the red knob, allows you to adjust the mechanical advantage you get by the levers. I leave mine at the highest advantage position and they work great.Power wise, the SD-7's and Hydraulic levers feel very similar. Properly set up, each work very well, although the hydraulics are a bit small for my preference. In terms of modulation, the SD-7's are the best at replicating hydraulics, but aren't the same. Very good however. To sum up, these levers make cable actuated brakes perform much better than regular levers by providing the user with increased leverage.I have also installed a set of these levers on a road bike with rim brakes. Night and day difference in terms of power and stopping. I considered buying the FR-5's for $10 less, but the extra money is well spent on these. The adjustment knob makes up for the dollar difference. You won't be disappointed by these levers on any cable brakes you use.

Hello There,I recently changed the configuration on my touring bike from drop bars to the Jones H Bar. I did this because the Jones bars allow more hand positions and comfort. Because of the configuration change, I needed to buy new brake levers and thumbie shifters. I chose the Avid Speed Dial 7 and am very pleased. They are smoothed and I like the adjustability.

My original levers were basic Avids and I was told that these levers would make my mechanical brakes amazing. I have BB7 calipers. They really did give them a hydrolic feeling depending on how I had the red knobs adjusted. If they are all the way tuned to one side they feel sluggish but give you better modulation capability. Turn them the opposte way and you have extremely snappy brakes but they lock up quicker. Needless to say I'm still dialing them in. I paid my LBS 20$ to install them making my total investment $35. Would I buy them again? Probably. Confident braking is priceless and they definitely increased my confidence. If you have a lower end lever now it will make even more of a positive difference.

I bought these to upgrade my mechanical brakes, I didn't want to spend the money on hydraulics for my trainer bike so I just replaced the brake handles that came with the bike with these.They're great! You can tell their meant to take a beating. I'd give them 5 stars but the 2.5 mm screw tgat adjusts how close/far the brake lever sits is pretty hard to get to unless you have a long and durable tool.If you have mechanical disc brakes on your mountain bike, put these on yesterday!

I ride a 2011 Specialized Hardrock Sport Disk 29er and my cable disc brakes have never worked this well before. With the original brake levers, I wasn't able to use just one finger to confidently brake - it always took at least two fingers, sometimes three, on each lever to brake quickly/hard enough; not the safest way to ride. These levers have been setup to let me use just one finger on each lever. My riding buddies with hydraulic brakes have noted how awesome these brake levers are.The levers are Interchangeable (left or right side), have readily accessible dials for quick lever pull adjustment, and are very easy to install. They also have a nice finish.I am one happy customer.

These appear to be well made and sturdy basic brake handles for a bike with more-or-less straight handlebars. My back is getting too old for drop handlebars so I converted my old road bike into some sort of hybrid with trail-bike handlebars and a softer seat. This required replacing the brake handles and these seem to be a good choice for the job with new Shimano cables. They have a set screw which adjusts the maximum space between the handles and the handlebars for the size of your hand but the minimum spacing is still a little more than I would prefer. I am not sure how useful the lever ratio setting is but it is probably a good feature to have. It lets you optimize for different kinds of brakes.

WORKS! I got rid of my index shifters that were conjoined with brake levers. I bought these to replace the brake lever part. No problems, no fussiness. They are smooth, giving brake feedback feel. They are stable, no wiggling or flexing. They are much lighter than the units they replaced. Nice adjuster that lets you move the handle closer or further when braking without changing cable length. I am satisfied.

Mongoose mountain bike used all plastic brake lever for bike I bought from a retail store, and brake line stripped the plastic threads, put these on and went to the trail and these controlled brakes with precision, and later noticed these came with much more expensive bikes, so for the cost, I made my bike a lot better.

Avid Speed Dial 7 are probably the BEST V Brake levers you can get.That's compared to all other leves, including XTR, Avid Ultimates included.Together with Single Digit V Brake Calipers - they are a great combination.I have a Raleigh Dynatech MT4 which had been set up for Cantilevers. Cantilevers are a pain, so I decided to try these and a brilliant decision.These are easy to fit, and are adjustable, the lever reach is adjustable - just Dial using the red knob.They are very well made, and the dark graphite looks superb.They're very durable, and well suited to MTBing.The braking is lovely, fluid, progressive and safe. They feel wonderful when braking, not spongy or anything but have so much feel to them, so much!If you need some V brake levers, forget everything else, the price on these is worth every penny, they're that good.they feel as good as the Avid Ultimates for a fraction of the price and look just as good - and they of course work just as well with Shimano or Tektro calipers.Look out for Speed Dial SL - the Silver magnesium version, identical, except they're Mag and Silver - I replaced my SD 7's with those eventually solely for aesthetic reasons - they matched the bike colour!

These really helped improve the stopping power of my V brakes. They are easy to adjust, easy to install and look good!

Lovely set of Brake levers from Avid. They work brilliantly and look the part, very reasonably priced.

Good quality product. As I would expect from Avid.

Awesome