I'm in the middle of swapping components, and
I removed the BR-7800.
At first glance, the front and rear brakes look identical except for the shaft length.
But actually, there's one more difference.
The arms that hold the brake shoes are called
Y-arms (right shoe holder on the front) for the Y-shaped ones,
and C-arms (left shoe holder on the front) for the C-shaped ones,
but only the rear brake has material removed from the back side of the C-arm.
↑Top image is front, bottom is rear.
↑Top image is front, bottom is rear.
Some component and brake manufacturers
use single-pivot brakes only on the rear
or make the rear brake arch smaller than the front.
This is because the rear brake doesn't need as much braking power as the front,
so they focus on weight reduction.
The BR-7800 uses dual-pivot brakes both front and rear,
and while they appear the same size externally, the rear shows
subtle effort toward weight reduction—a hidden touch of refinement.
Some might think,
"So if you buy a rear brake and swap it onto the front shaft,
you'd get a slightly lighter front brake, right?"
Well, at your own risk, that's what the image above shows.
Even so, it stops better than the BR-7700, so I think it's more than sufficient.
Ah, I just wrote "I think"—yeah, sorry. It's mine personally.
I removed the BR-7800.
At first glance, the front and rear brakes look identical except for the shaft length.
But actually, there's one more difference.
The arms that hold the brake shoes are called
Y-arms (right shoe holder on the front) for the Y-shaped ones,
and C-arms (left shoe holder on the front) for the C-shaped ones,
but only the rear brake has material removed from the back side of the C-arm.
↑Top image is front, bottom is rear.
↑Top image is front, bottom is rear.
Some component and brake manufacturers
use single-pivot brakes only on the rear
or make the rear brake arch smaller than the front.
This is because the rear brake doesn't need as much braking power as the front,
so they focus on weight reduction.
The BR-7800 uses dual-pivot brakes both front and rear,
and while they appear the same size externally, the rear shows
subtle effort toward weight reduction—a hidden touch of refinement.
Some might think,
"So if you buy a rear brake and swap it onto the front shaft,
you'd get a slightly lighter front brake, right?"
Well, at your own risk, that's what the image above shows.
Even so, it stops better than the BR-7700, so I think it's more than sufficient.
Ah, I just wrote "I think"—yeah, sorry. It's mine personally.