Hi guys I just bought a Whyte hardtail with these one and am wondering what people think of them? I’ve heard bad things about lever to bar incident etc and obviously don’t want to experience this on a steep incline. Am I over worrying?

Rode some for a bit on a s/h bike I bought.

Bit on/off but didn’t let me down in the few rides before I upgraded them. Weight was the main drawback!

They’ll be fine. Maybe not quite as reliable as others but all brakes are prone to failing. Usually they just develop wobbles / play / sponginess rather than fail all at once though so you should get some warning signs.

I’ve used Avid Elixers for years. They’ll be fine, but I’d advise buying a bleed kit. You’ll need it! They tend to need it when you change the pads. But its literally a five minute job, even for a gibbon like me

Thanks guys, because they are new I’m a bit loath to throw them straight away.

RIght! That was just plain weird. Literally 30 seconds after I typed about you needing a bleed kit, a text landed off a mate asking if he could borrow my Avid bleed kit. 😯 Spooky!

I’d buy one at that price. Mine hasn’t half earned its keep

If you’re really worried, then sell them whilst they’re still brand new and buy some others.

I wouldn’t bother – no brakes are perfect.

I’ve had a set on my Fatty for over 2 years. They’re fantastic when they work; good power and great modulation.

They have needed quite a bit of maintenance, though. Probably have bled them about 8x so far, including a professional bleed by a shop who likes Avid brakes. They’d just get spongy after a while no matter what.

The best thing that I found so far is this http://www.pinkbike.com/news/tech-spotlight-5-minute-bubble-bleed-2014.html

In my experience, the bubble bleed is all that it takes to get a little bit of trapped air out of the master cylinder and make the brakes work great again! Quick and easy to do; much simpler than a full bleed.

The other thing that I have noticed is that the pads have to be replaced when there is still a bit of material left as the lever goes spongy. I don’t think that the master cylinder volume is quite big enough to account for fully wearing out a set of pads. I just replaced my rear ones last week with a spongy lever; they worked fine again once the pistons were reset with new pads at full thickness.

And while Avid pads aren’t super expensive, I’ve been real happy with Clarks brake pads that I got a lot cheaper from On-One.

I’ve had 2 sets and they were ok no problems and reliable. Way better that the Juicys they used to make lol

They came as OEM on a complete 456-evo I had from On-One, they were great right up until I took them off and swapped them to a Ragley frame I’d bought….then they turned to crap….didn’t even change the pads, just the mere act of moving them from one bike to another made them temperamental…at that point I swapped to Shimano and haven’t had any problems.

If they are new and you are not struggling for money, just sell them and buy SLX instead.

Just a much better brake and the net cost will probably be quite low.