above brakes are fab when they work but the rear (front has been faultless) is causing me issues.

They are 18 mnths old & bike is used every day.

Rear, twice now has been to lbs for a bleed. However, the lever can pull right to the bar with no effect, then 2 days later, it has self corrected.

Is there a something in there pushing back the pads which is just a bit slow? like, it took 2 days for it to work?

I am thinking I use the front most so that is fine but may not be using the rear as much so it needs a clean.

Cheers for any advice, bike’s in spain so never seen the rain, only lots of dust.

Have you looked at the rear brake to see if it needs a clean? It is unlikely to be the cause of the problem though.
Sounds like a seal in the lever is faulty or the shop aren’t bleeding the brake properly.

hi, thanks. I changed the pads twice front & rear & each time I clean the housing & piston with a dry cloth. Do I need to clean the area with some sort of solvent?

They do get minging dirty with dust. LBS said they had to top up with fluid so sounds like a seal is faulty.

My experience of Avids (Juicy’s and elixirs) is that they’re great until they’re not.

Had lots of problems with them over the years usually fixed by stripping and replacing the seals. They seem to run for quite a while once they’ve had the full service though.

Usually perform fine for a year or so then start playing up (multiple bleeds seems to fix it short term then back to broken within the month).

Stu.

Bleeding avids, especially rears can be tricky but a bike shop shuld be able to do it.

Can’t remember what you use to lube the rear, I stripped min and used grease.

Sounds like there is air in the system and or oil coming out.

You could try a service on the lever and caliper, the bits don’t cost much. It may be worth just buying a whole new one though as they aren’t that expensive. Merlin cycles has Elixirs for <£40. Might not get a 3 but I think they all use the same pads so you could run a different model.

Well worth buying the bleed kit – makes it a doddle

I’ve been very impressed with Elixirs – but less so with the more expensive Codes. As for Juicys – dreadful, such a pain to change pads

Personally, I would do this:

Buy bleed kit. You can get them on eBay for a lot less than the official one. While waiting for this,
Take out pads & clean out any crud from the edges of the pad so they are ‘clean’.
Push back the pistons & clean the caliper/piston with water & a small brush/rags.
Squeeze the lever a few times while observing the piston to see what they do. Don’t squeeze them too far out or the piston will POP out completely. The pistons should move in evenly from both sides.

Push the pistons back in & stick the pads back.

Watch the Avid Elixir bleed video on YouTube a few times. I make notes at each stage so it’s easy to refer to.

When the bleed kit arrives, methodically bleed the brake. Make sure you attach the syringes to the rear lever & the rear caliper. Twice now I have wondered why I can’t get fluid through the system before realising I had put the syringes on the front lever/rear caliper.

If you bleed the brake & you still get the problem, you probably have a seal problem.

It’s easy to bleed the brake following the correct procedure & taking your time.

I wouldn’t put any types of cleaning solvent near the caliper as it may cause damage to the seals.

My 5s are a bugger for getting sticking pistons, makes them squeal. Very annoying. A touch of silicon grease does the trick.

jfletch – sorry if this is a dumb question but where do you put the grease? Around the pistons, when extended or when pushed back in?

My 2012 Trance X2 came with Avid Elixir 5s as well. Had issues from very early on with a howling rear (brake!). Someone said something about the bridge between the two pistons not being a large enough bore so one always tends to get more fluid than the other? I don’t know much about that, but it would explain the design fault.

Anyway, I’ve just this week taken the advice of pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to about it and bought a set of SLX from Merlin.