Getting fed up with the Avids on my Scott now. They seem to go spongy and need bleeding pretty much after every ride, with the levers pulling pretty much to the bar.

They’ve been like this from new. Am I bleeding them wrong? Got the bleed kit and followed the instructions. Or are they all like that?

Cheers!

IME all avid brakes are crap

Hmmm, happy with my Elixir Rs and was happy with Juicy 5s before bike theft.

I have had to bleed the rear Elixir once but now great.

I’d buy Avid again if I had to.

Are both as bad as each other?

I have found them far superior to Hope brakes that I’ve had.

Maybe try to keep the bike upright in storage and transport???

Something’s wrong if they’re degrading every ride. They’re pretty ordinary brakes though, and do need bleeding more than others IME – have two sets that came with new bikes that I basically tolerate and will replace once I have some spare cash. Don’t mind their performance but frequent bleeds and tight tolerances with the caliper alignment make them a headache.

Yup

Yes.

There’s usually something wrong with the lever seals. Get your bike shop to send them back to Fishers under warranty. And then sell them.

Yep, the general consensus on STW seems to be they are indeed rubbish.

My elixir5’s however have been reliable and fault free for the two and a half years since I fitted them and I really like the way they “feel” in use. I had always deliberately avoided buying avid due to the bad press but they were on offer when i was putting my bike together so i took a chance and I can honestly say the elixirs are the best disc brakes I’ve owned. 😀

Yes both as bad as each other!

What would be a good set to get as replacements? Or can I fit new seals myself? Is it the levers or Calipers that are the fault!?

I ride XC, don’t need huge stopping power and want something fairly light. But don’t want to , or need to spend hope money!

If they are under warranty then ask to get them sent off to Fishers. If not, dont bother spending a minimum of around 20quid on seal kits for both brakes with a labour charge of at least 30quid for both brakes.

Those are likely to cost you £50 and you haven’t even told us how worn the pads are. If they are on the way out,that’s £70 minimum getting your dire brakes working a little better.

Have a look around, there’s good brakes going cheap. You will be glad of spending another £50 on complete new brakes.

I had Avid Elixir for 2 years. They were fine, except when it came to changing the pads, and the pistons would push the pads onto the disc and stop the wheel turning unless you spent time faffing around.

It happens most of the time with Avid’s, Vicky. If folk changed their pads sooner than going right down to the backing plate it would make things a little easier.Half worn pads can often be removed and a clean up and lube of the pistons can be enough to enable new pad fitting without any other work.

More often than not you will have to clean the pistons and lube them. Reset them flush into the bores and then bleed them for the best outcome.

Shimano’s are no problem at all. You remove the pads, clean up the edges of the pistons and lube.. then they’ll reset into their bores without any other work and amazingly,compared to many other brakes, without causing the other piston to follow through. This alone is worth so much time at endurance events where folk might have to fit new pads before the end of the race. Why anyone would want to use a brake that is harder to fit pads on than the work above baffles me.

Well I’m sure I’m guilty of not changing the pads often enough, but I’m always out in gritty conditions and I get through brake pads really quickly. Maybe I should use my brakes less!
🙂

I’ve got Elixir CR’s on my FSR which have been fine.

I had Juicy 7’s on my Inbred which were doing my head in so I was looking to swap them.
I debated swapping to Shimano, but decided to get some Elixir’s to keep commonality between bikes, so I only needed to buy one type of pad & I already had the bleed kit.

The Elixir’s I bought were 5’s and they have been fine so far. They’ve been on since about September.

They do have a lot of haters. I’d quite like to try some Shimano’s or Hope’s for a while to see how they compare.

Yes, they are crap. Buy some hopes!!

Yep

Sure are mo fo!.

Always had Avids, they just seem to have been on every bike I have bought..well except some Hayes that came on a Trance a few years back. They just felt wooden and I swapped them for some Avids based on price.

The Elixir 5’s I have now are fine. Bleed maybe twice a year and they do the job just fine with superstar pads in them.

Would love to try some Hope’s or Shimano XT’s but my mates have Avids too! If I came into a bit of cash to blow on a new item for my bike it would go on brakes but I would be fed up if they didn’t perform significantly better than the Avids I have now.

Avids are truly pooo I suppose if you get the top stuff its ok. but my 3 lots are pants

Mine were crap they lasted me 2 rides and were sold and a set of deore’s were bought and there amazing

Elixir r’s here for the last couple of years, been faultless.

I’ve got a set of elixir 5 s on my salsa and hate the feel,the shape of the lever also the faf to bleed them.are avid mechanical disc brakes as bad? Always wanted a set of bb7 s.