Id like to do a brake bleed and pad change on theses notorious beasties.

Are they really as bad as their reputation or will it be a doddle.

Any recommendations to a bleed kit and pads are also welcome.

Pads are easy, with pliers to help pull and a big screw driver to force the pistons back

I haven’t bleed mine. But the don’t need bleeding

Someone online does copy version of the bleed kits for a lot lower cost. Epic bleed solutions I think they are called.

The big problem with the Elixir 3s on my Inbred is new pads. They are always tight in the caliper (rub on the disc). I always end up having to remove fluid, even though I use the official Avid bleed block. Next time I use it, I am going to use an extra 1mm spacer with the bleed block to push the positions a bit further back….

Mine are rubbish to be honest. I’ve got my eye on some Sox slx to replace them with.

Pads are very simple to change, keep the old ones in when you push the pistons part to prevent damaging them.

I’ve tried a cheap ebay kit, it was shite. Let loads of air in, made me very angry!

Borrowed the normal Avid kit and that worked a treat. I decided to get my own so bought the Professional Avid bleed kit, much nicer to use and comes with loads of spare o-rings, should last a long time.

The epic kit is a bit crap, works once but then the hoses harden lose their grip on the brass fittings making it a PITA to use. The avid kit has knurled fittings which make it a doddle.

I’ve had 2 sets of elixirs and one DB3 which i think are the same but OEM. Only one set was good out the box and another took a few bleeds to sort, the remaining set never worked. As soon as they get any air in them at all they stop working, whereas ive lost resevoir seals on hope/shimano and they still work for years as long as they’re stored upright.

I’ll keep using the good sets as they’re very good brakes when working, but probably wont keep them once my stock of spare pads wears out, shimano deore at £30 an end are just so much less hastle to bleed.

Yup, I cant say ive enjoyed my elixir time.

If I wasnt getting married this year I would change the whole braking system. Saying that actually I would a brand new bike.

Only got a experience of one set of Avids(well two if you count BB7’s)which were bought as spares/repairs.
Did a full strip down and clean,rebuilt with silicon grease and a thorough bleed with a Bleed kit from ebay(which has metal knurled fittings)and DOT5.1.

BLEED KIT

Used the Epic Bleed solutions online tutorial which seemed to work well.

Have been working great ever since, maybe I have been lucky or maybe Sram need to spend a bit more care and effort at assembly time to get them right out of the box.

Bleeding them is pretty simple tbh, I don’t rate them as brakes but I think a lot of the issues people report are basically spannering errors. Avids generally do seem a bit more picky about how good the bleed is than most, though.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

The epic kit is a bit crap, works once but then the hoses harden lose their grip on the brass fittings making it a PITA to use.

My epic kit is a couple of years old I think and has no problem 😕 The fittings are barbed and the syringe end is threaded. I’ve replaced the syringes as they went off a bit but syringes cost buttons.

That EZ kit does look good though

As breadcrumb said , the pro kit is well better

Thanks all. I will be having a go at this.

Take time to degas the fluid this makes a massive difference, I usually spend about 15-20 minutes on this alone and helps loads with a good bleed and takes one source of frustration out of the equation.

Had Avid juicy 3 brakes for 5 years now and only had to bleed when shortening, rebuilding the lever after new seals. Shoved a set of uberbike race matrix in and can lift my lardy rear end no problem.

Sorry to bump my own thread, but just trying to order up some pads are there seems to be so many at very varying prices.

Any recommendations on which ones to go for. I dont want to spend a fortune but not do I want to but rubbish.

Avid’s own are the best.I just happen to have two brand new sets unopened complete with spare springs,threaded pins and clips.
Very expensive to buy but i’ll sort you out as i don’t need them.
Sintered for the front and organic for the back. 😉
Addy in profile.

Hang on, how much are new pads, fluid and kit going to cost you? You can buy front and rear Shimano Deore for £65 which are fit and forget… Unlike your acids which will break again before you get married

See that’s also how you justify it to future Sam

FunkyDunc – Perhaps but im guessing this would not include discs.

Rob – You have mail

Re.Brake pads

Been using THESEand once bedded in are as good as the original Avid ones the brakes came with.

i ws going to post a link to a se of Deores, but someone has already mentioned it.

why would you need new discs?

No mail here bud.

Rob – That’s strange, email sent at 15:52.

I was under the impression that discs came in varying sizes depending on the makes.

Got it.Went into junk for some reason..

I used my Avid rotas with new Deore

Any adapters etc needed?

Or was it just bolt off bolt on kind of jobie?

The deores will work with the adaptors you already have, through if there are any silver spacers between the avid caliper and the adaptor then leave them off when you fit shimanos.

As above, I would buy a set of deores.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, mine didn’t play nicely, but a stack of washers sorted it.

As for pads, the avid ones are good, especially if you can get them cheap, but I’ve never had any qualms using the cheaper aftermarket pads (disco brakes, superstar, uber, etc etc), almost always organic pads, they insulate better and have more power, the trade off is faster wear in the wet, especially if you don’t bed them in thoroughly. And they’re cheap.

Occasionally get sintered or kevlar pads for the winter bike if I’m doing a lot of miles.

Deores bolted straight on to my Goant Anthem, and didn’t need spacers/washers. You will have plenty of spare washers etc from old & new set

I use Superstar sintered pads, never had an issue.