I have come across what seems to be a good deal on a pair of brand new Avid Elixir R brakes with 203mm rotors. Not sure if IS mounts come with it or not, but for both brake sets it is £144.91 and wondered if it is a good deal worth going for? Seems that RRP is around £150 each, but wasnt sure if these go cheap quite often or if it is worth snapping them up!

Thanks in advance for your opinions!

Hav a look at CRC if you want smaller rotors than that – even cheaper there!
They are good brakes – I’ve bled one of mine once in over a year and I put that down to installation faff. They stop me every time.

I think they’re excellent. Just as good in use as the xx brakes that are twice the price. On One have got a very good deal on the pimpier CR Carbon version too – £180 a set I think.

Last time I looked Merlin had the Elixir 5 cheaper.

Last time elixirs were cheap i recall there being some very poorly bled ones sent out from whichever places had them cheap. My mate’s first set certainly were: I would budget for a bleed kit or getting a shop/mate to do it for you though.

Well you need a bleed kit anyway. The red dog one is 15 quid and works great. I have these brakes on one of my bikes and they are excellent.

Fantastic brakes. With the 203 mm disc they will outperform the last gen Hope M4. I went from M4 with 203s to Elixir R 180s and the Elixirs were equally powerful.

I have a brand new unused elixair R front brake, caliper and lever still in bubble wrap, you’d need a mount and rotor to go with it.
Email me if you are interested.
Cheers
Paul

paul.sal at btinternet.com

Thanks for all the opinions.

For the difference in price, I decided it would probably be worth having the larger rotors.
It was Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative where I found the front one with 203mm rotor for £75, and CRC for the Rear with 203mm rotor for £69.91 or something.
I guess it would be a bit of an impulse buy because it seems like a bit of a good bargain, but I am sick of my Hayes nines, haven’t got on with them the whole time I have had them.. :-/

I’ve got Elixir Carbon R’s on my hardtail, I’ve been very impressed with them to be honest and am amazed that the organic pads lasted just over a year considering how much the bike has been used. Brakes have good modulation and great power considering I use 160mm rotors front/back.

My only slight grumble has been when it comes to replacing the pads. Changing the pads takes about 20 secs and is very simply but getting the brakes set up again to not rub the rotor is a nightmare! I had to grind the pads down to get them to fit in once I’d pushed the pistons right back into the calipers. I’ve heard of users putting a credit card in between the pads and then applying the brakes to reset the pads but this didn’t work too well in my case. I’ve got it sorted now but it was slightly more complex than it has been for other brakes I’ve owned.

Thanks Bennyboy, thats certainly something I will bear in mind. It’s jobs like those that I always find to be the worst jobs when it comes to bikes. But I think adjusting stubborn derailleurs has to be the most annoying job to do. I think mainly because I am crap at it…

I have the basic r’s and they are great.Merlin for £120 IIRC