Are the front and rear levers different/handed, like Shimano?

Or can you just turn a rear one upside down to be run as a front, assuming the callipers are the same which I would.

Or am I just being daft?

I asked Merlin this, and they said that the levers could be used on either side.

Definitely either way. I change mine over all the time when non-UK riders use my bike. If you’re buying them though remember they will probably come with different length hoses.

Are they pretty straight forward to shorten? What are they like for power/modulation and reliability? Only had Shimanos to date

power and modulation are superb. Reliability? People seem to have either no problem with them at all or endless problems leading to full re-builds and hate them. I cant really figure out if there is a reliabiltiy problem or not compared to other brands. There has been a documented squeek \ shudder thing that avid have released some revised discs for but I have had that on other brakes as well.

sorry, no clear answer. Mine have been great but others haven’t had the same experience

Agree that power and modulation are great. I find reliability an issue. Had big issues with 2 sets of Codes and now have issues with my Elixirs. I find that they need adjusted a lot and need bled regularly. I put up a fairly scathing review on my site, I’ll not link to it here.

To shorten the hoses you’ll need to bleed them. If you have the kit it’s fairly easy if you follow the instructions.

actually – it is possible to get away without a bleed when you shorten, managed it myself, you just need to be careful. great brakes, got them on both bikes – fault free

Good brakes nice and powerful. Flipflop leavers. I have had to bleed mine a few times but no more than I did with Hopes, maybe less I don’t keep records. They will need a bleed after a hose shorten and you will need the kit to do it. Using the kit is fiddly at first if your used to hope open reservoir bleeding but after you get used to it the bleeding is fast and easy and very clean.

There has been a documented squeek \ shudder thing that avid have released some revised discs

You mean THERE’S A CURE?!?!

Mine have been very reliable and have put up with quite a bit of abuse, would def. recommend.

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yep – apparently there is a cure, see above link. This is the only place I have seen it mentioned though, I’ve never seen these for sale, or any sort of recall or anything so I’ve no idea how you would actually get the solid rotors. I had this very same problem on some juicy 3s which ended up with me replacing them