Ultegra 5700 shifters use with disc brakes?

[LotusMartin]

Considering upgrading my Kinesis winter frame to one with disc brakes (partly as the calipers suffer in the wet/grime, and partly as I have a set of lovely new 30mm CX carbon wheels with disc hubs lying around) - framewise - something like the Kinesis Crosslight T5 Disc

Question is - can I swap out the standard Ultegra caliper brakes for a set of cable pull disc - something like Avid BB7 - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/avid-bb7-mechan... - or am I going to need new leavers/ shifters? Pretty sure I have Ultegra 5700s on it at the moment - so a few years old.

Obligatory photos of sexy carbon wheels...

[jamiebae]

They will work fine, but not with the brakes you linked to. You need road specific brakexs as the cable pull ration is different - Avid BB7 Road, TRP Spyre or ideally TRP HY/RD are what I'd look at (in ascending price order).

I used the BB7 Road brakes with SRAM Force levers and they worked fine.

[LotusMartin]

Awesome - many thanks. I figured they should but didn't want to risk it

[nammynake]

Also consider the Juin Tech brakes. They are cable operated but controlling a hydraulic reservoir. Good reviews, light and not expensive.

http://www.ukcyclocross.co.uk/reviews/review-juin-...

[HughG]

I used Avid BB5 cables discs briefly, they were terrible, I went back to 105 calipers.

[LotusMartin]

nammynake said:

Also consider the Juin Tech brakes. They are cable operated but controlling a hydraulic reservoir. Good reviews, light and not expensive.

http://www.ukcyclocross.co.uk/reviews/review-juin-...

Mmmm they look nice

[nammynake]

LotusMartin said:

Mmmm they look nice

And quite randomly, BR have just posted a review today too...although not a proper test as such

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/juin-te...

[bigdom]

I have a set of these on the Genesis -TRP HY/RD, work well, easy to adjust, very reassuring when loaded with panniers.