Avid Elixr 7 Brakes…

Gradually over a few rides my brakes softened to mush. Brake pads are okay. I thought a rebleed would fix but for some reason it didn’t work.

After rebleed it does grip at first, but with every squeeze it gets softer and softer again until mush.

Weirdly, same for both brakes.

I bought a new piston/seal kit. I’ve replaced the rear but I get the same result after rebleed.

Anyone got any ideas? I don’t want to spend much money on this as it’s a cheap, old hard tail that I lend people.

Anyone got any ideas?

Deore.

What they said. ^^^^^

Often find its the lever seals that are the issue. But you can get an even cheaper shimano disc than deore and will inc new pads making it very good value I just can’t remeber the part number

See latest edition of stw for brake review….

I find after doing a complete caliper up fluid bleed, lying the bike on it’s side on the floor when bleeding Avids helps (because the fluid pathway in the lever is like a U-Bend). Syringe in the lever closest to the ground, handlebar perpendicular with the ground so the syringe is the highest point, push a small amount of fluid into the lever and pump the lever many times, little bubbles should float into the syringe as you pump! this has worked for me on peoples bikes who have tried and failed to get them to bleed.

Shimanos are much easier, you don’t even have to get the bleed bang on right, you can leave it overnight with the lever tied down and the air moves to the top of the master cylinder (lever set to level) and just top the reservoir off.