Just bought some Avid brakes off the classifieds I have all the angular alignment cup & ball type washers with them, but wondered if anyone had just ditched all that & mounted them direct like all the other manufacturers brakes are.

Would I need to go up one size of adaptor for this?

they’re a good thing to have, makes fitting them easier. almost do up bolts, squeeze brake lever to centre, do up bolts, job done.

No reason why you couldn’t but you’d need to put washers in or increase the size of the adapter, more expense for less gain.

Well I have to buy adaptors anyhow as bike is IS both ends, what I have not looked at is if the holes are sloted side to side in the caliper like Shimano etc, or if I would have to mess about with shims on the IS holes….

i’m sure Avid are slotted so you can move it side to side a bit.

Yeah, mine move sideways just the same as any other brake. TBH getting rid of the tri-align cobblers would remove one of the big irritations for me, doesn’t add a thing apart from an extra bunch of parts to drop/seize, and a whole extra dimension to be misaligned in.

If you do keep them just don’t over tighten them as the cups seem to get brittle with age. Even doing them up to the correct torque (8-10 Nm) I have found this out the hard way twice having had them fall into pieces.

If you do keep them just don’t over tighten them as the cups seem to get brittle with age. Even doing them up to the correct torque (8-10 Nm) I have found this out the hard way twice having had them fall into pieces.

The problem with ditching the tri align washers is the caliper will no longer be in the correct place. I guess you could make up some little spacers to give you the correct spacing..

I wonder if you used an avid caliper but a shimano adapter and no tri-align washers if everything would mount up? ( that is assuming you had a shimano adapter for the size of disc you were using)

In theory they make fitting somehow easier but in practice they make it almost impossible.. Mechanically they’re not a great solution either.

I never really got why SRAM went with this approach on the Avid brakes – It’s not as if the tolerances on the other components shift the caliper out of sq to the disk & really make much of a difference to the ‘brake experience’.

I find out if a size up adaptor on what it should have with the cone stuff removed sorts it, adaptors are only £4 these days.

I will post back if it works.

depends.. if you use the 180mm front PM, no you can’t do without – the shims have to be twisted to get the adapter straight. not great design imho. almost wonder if i’m doing something wrong, but have checked..
and yes, if they’ve been fitted for years and you re-tighten, they may crumble. bad material choice there.

Anyone know where to buy a pack of these spacers? As above, one of mine as disintegrated.

i bought set of bolts
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=21475

may be cheaper way to get the conical washers.. maybe from cheap vbrake pads? think they come with them if you get the right type.

I might have some spares!!!!

You can have mine if I can do without them.. They look awful to me, I don’t want them on my bike.

A different calliper isn’t the answer but a stack of flat washer would work, tempted to do it with mine as I hate the tri align washers

crotchrocket – Member

I never really got why SRAM went with this approach on the Avid brakes

Meant they could take some stuff they had lying around and create a USP without actually doing anything. IMO 😉

You could try the cup washer on it’s own as it will sit flat, it won’t be much different in spacing to the cup and cone as the cone sits inside it.

I have some spare flat stainless washers (bought a big pack from ebay) email me at shameer AT gmx.co.uk if you want some for free.

Cup and cone brake caliper washers are a solution to a problem they create themselves. I had to re-jiggle my Avids regularly, my Shimano (without cup and cone) sit pretty with no fuss.

By the way don’t just pull the lever and do them up to centralise:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akIWGqEE0PY&feature=plcp[/video]

Robowns drop me a PM I have a few knocking about I think and have just switched to hopes 🙂