I like the elixirs. Like the 5’s there’s a knack to bleeding but once you’ve got it you’re sorted. Only problem I have encountered is pushing cylinders right back when changing pads

I had Avid Elixir on my bike for almost 2 years. An absolute pain when changing the pads because they would clamp onto the disc and have to be faffed with repeatedly. I’ve just switched to Hope.

I’ve had a really positive experience with my CRs – have had them for almost 2 years, and haven’t needed to bleed them yet, including two weekends in the alps. I think they were very well set up in the first place (factory fitted by Rose).

Have ridden bikes with Formula Rx’s (I think) and hated them…. far too on-off for me. The modulation on the CRs is excellent. I’m building up a hardtail at the moment and am tempted to try out the XTs because of so many positive comments on here, but am wondering if should stick to something I know I like.

Having said that, by mates Canyon came with 1s or 5s or something similarly low end – and they completely crapped-out. We think a leaky seal in the lever (as somebody has mentioned).

The price of the full sets inc disks is tempting…..

Thanks for all your opinions, a good split of love them or hate them…..no use in making my mind up but appreciated comments.

Thing is… At best, they’re alright. At worst they’re a pain in the ‘arris. And they’re not even generally all that cheap. If they came on a bike i bought I’d probably stick with them but I reckon you have to be a bit weird to choose them, it’d be like speccing your own bike and choosing Suntour forks.

Thing is… At best, they’re alright. At worst they’re a pain in the ‘arris. And they’re not even generally all that cheap. If they came on a bike i bought I’d probably stick with them but I reckon you have to be a bit weird to choose them, it’d be like speccing your own bike and choosing Suntour forks.

Conversly I think they are the best brakes you can buy. I had shimano 4 pot servowave brakes (saint m810) on my DH bike 2 years ago and they needed bleeding every other week, I bought my first set of elixir 5’s as an emergency replacement and was blown away by the power (compared to the best dh brakes shimano has to offer) and they have not needed bleeding once. Merlin have elixir fives at 130 a pair including discs. Pretty cheap when the shimano’s were 125 just for a lever and caliper for one end.

edit: in fact the elixirs have proven to be so powerful that on my covert I have downsized my rotors to 160/160 from 203/180 – orginally as an experiment, but there has been no issue with power. I’m 14 stone in my socks..

Thing is… At best, they’re alright. At worst they’re a pain in the ‘arris. And they’re not even generally all that cheap. If they came on a bike i bought I’d probably stick with them but I reckon you have to be a bit weird to choose them, it’d be like speccing your own bike and choosing Suntour forks.

Northwind is correct. I had a blast on a friends Trek fitted with E5s and they couldn’t touch my XTs for power or feel. He’s had 2 faulty calipers in 6 months and changing the pads is a nause. He’s just gone and bought XT’s as he loved mine!
I might be able to set you up with his elixir 5’s pretty cheap if you still want to try them?

Wrecker…you’re not convincing me that even pretty cheap pair are worth it, but thanks anyway…..but how much is cheap??!! Thing is I’m building my first build and in no hurry so when offers/bargains come along on web I might be tempted, elixirs were half price yesterday on crc, 1s and 5s iirc. Didnt know anything about them and all the above posts have kind of left me in same position as 50/50 on good and bad…..but all appreciated comments, thanks.

Haters gonna hate.

I use Elixir R’s and I love ’em. I’ve been running the same brakes since ’08 on all my fleet. I’ve had a few stuck pistons which I’ve had to replace but I like to tinker so that was no biggie. I’ve also had issues with G3 rotors. I regressed back to G2 CleanSweeps and never looked back. I seldom require more than one digit per lever to bring me to a halt. Two would fling me over tut bars.
In the past I’ve had Juicys 3sl’s which I bought off here. With a new reservoir kit and a thorough strip down I got them working to an insane level.

If anyone is having Avid issues then bung ’em this way for a free service, (parts not included).
Seriously, I have the mancave, I have the kit, I have the evenings.
Contact: helpmybike@yahoo.co.uk for more.

Interesting reading here:

i have just tried to change the pads on my Elxir R’s (FS bike)the rear piston will not return. I can get one to return fully but when i then go to return the opposite piston the previous one pops out again!

Advice needed please…

OTOH I have Avid Juicy 4’s on my Spesh HT (Spesh speshes) had them 4-5 years and only now run into my first issue with them, never been bled only ever changed pads. Plenty of use and abuse. Front pistons are now jammed so overhaul needed.

Wrecker…you’re not convincing me that even pretty cheap pair are worth it, but thanks anyway…..but how much is cheap??!!

He’s had to send a caliper back to CRC, so it may be a week or so’s wait.
I’ll ask him what he wants for them.

i have just tried to change the pads on my Elxir R’s (FS bike)the rear piston will not return. I can get one to return fully but when i then go to return the opposite piston the previous one pops out again!

Not had to do this with elixirs but with shimanos you just open the bleed screw a little to take the pressure off, then re bleed once both pistons are all the way back. With the elixirs I guess just add the syringe to the caliper with some fluid, then push pistons back. Bleed after.

Wrecker, I’d be interested if they are cheap. toys19 on the hotmail in the com.

I got rid of mine last month/ Good riddance i say.. absolute balls

Constant faffing, bleeding, piston getting stuck. seals going, rebuild.. I had enough in the and bought some slx

far, far better

toys19 – Member

Conversly I think they are the best brakes you can buy. I had shimano 4 pot servowave brakes (saint m810) on my DH bike 2 years ago and they needed bleeding every other week, I bought my first set of elixir 5’s as an emergency replacement and was blown away by the power (compared to the best dh brakes shimano has to offer)

The M810 isn’t a particularily great Shimano brake tbh, but if your Elixir 5s were making more power than there was something fundamentally wrong with them.

My 5s and 7s were alright. 5s were comparable to my old M775 Shimanos, less power, similiar feel. 7s are reasonably competitive to my Oros, different lever feel and again less power, like going down a rotor size. But my Oros are from 2007.

tbh I went with mtbr review score here and other reviews I’d read, nobody had a bad word to say about m810’s.
Also I had previously had juicys which I found shite, which is what pushed me towards shimano. Like I said I bought the elixirs in an emergency against my better judgement and found them to be so good I’ve bought more and will continue to.

TBH those reviews are more in line with what you should expect from M810- it’s a blunt instrument, very strong power and short direct lever feel. Which is why I dislike them but lots of people love them 😉 But the bottom line is, there had to be something badly wrong with your set if they were less powerful than an Elixir 5… Presumably connected to the bleeding issues?

Anyway- you want a set of nearly-new Elixir R SLs? 😆 I quite like ’em as they haven’t done anything annoying, but I prefer my Oros and The Ones so I’ve got no bike for them.

pics and prce to you know where

I have Exlxir 5’s on one bike and SLX on another. Whilst the Shimano work fine I probably prefer the feel and definitely the lever shape of the Avids.

The Avids also work great and seem very powerful though I am running a 203 rotor which is probably a slight overkill.

Not had cause to bleed them yet so my opinion might change…

Avid brakes, a bike mechanics nightmare.
Thought of this thread the other day when I heard an employee of SRAM Europe admit that their brakes are a bit of a faff and not the greatest when it comes to bleeding them!
Apparently there’s a redesign on the way to make them easier to bleed.

I had a pair of Elixirs, they were brilliant when they worked, which wasn’t often.

Well I tinkered with my mates Elixirs today. We found the master cylinder piston was sticking which was giving us no lever feel or modulation at all. Found the pistons were seized in the calipers also. We soaked and loosened them, stripped and lubed the levers as well, then bled them. Bleeding is a so simple with the syringe kit, just flushed it through with new fluid and got a few bubbles out, which I was aware of having juicys on one of my bikes, which have been faultless. If I am honest, its a lot of work for a set of 9 month old brakes and I have said to him to look at swapping for something less fiddly in the future.

I have to. Agree with the majority here. I have elixir 3’s and they are constantly needing the callipers re-centring. Doesn’t matter how good I get them , every other ride I’m pissing about with them again to stop them binding or stealing. PITA.