I’ve inherited a set of these from a pal for a build on another pals bike. I’ve never owned a set of these before and I’m wondering whether they need any unusual attention. I’m running them with 160 discs f+r, on an old specialized with is mounts f+r. Cheers

Pistons suseptable to sticking/corrosion

Best brakes known to man, often fettled by idiots 😉

all you need to know…

here

I’m well aware Shimanos are better, but Shimanos aren’t free. Shimano price/juicy price = infinity. Ie a set of Shimano would be infinitely more expensive. I was more fishing to check adaptor compatibility etc. I know avids from that period used 165/185 rotors, wanted to see if that was going to cause headaches

IF you get a good set, changing pads is a pain in the arse, get a bad set, just scrap them and get some cheap Shimano.

They were the biggest headache of a brake that I ever owned. The seals were crap. Best thing I ever did was buy some Shimanos.

On your second post, the disc size is all done with adaptors, they are 160 front and rear then adapted for different disc sizes.

As above, I hated the set I bought, flogged them and got some deores and never looked back. The Juicy’s dragged, were sticky and a pain to maintain.

Wife had a good set on her 2006 specialized. Then moved to her commuter and now satin the spares box. Only ever needed an annual bleed and a pad change. I was always iimpressed with how centred they always were. Never got any pad/rotor scrape from them.

Cheers mrmo, I thought that would be the case.

I have 7s on an old Boardman and they’re mostly ok. Bike must be five years old and they’ve been bled perhaps four times (cheap bleed kit off eBay). Front drags slightly. Doesn’t bother me but drives everyone else mad. They just work.

Do not spray WD40 or GT85 on the pistons because they will swell and stick. Common mistake.

ONLY use silicon spray on the pistons.

I have a set of Juicy 5s that have been on my bike for 6+ years, never had any issues with them.

Going into six years now, for my juicy 3s. Having had an issue going back, had no choice but to get on and learn to bleed them properly.
I’m sure there are better brakes, but local summer dust and serious winter gloop, coupled with red / black trail stuff and an Antur session, ain’t finished ’em yet.

I’d proberbly my still have my juicy 7s if they hadn’t been nicked…

Bled them every now and then didn’t need to do anything else

If they’re free sling them on and don’t worry!!

Like most things really, forget about them and don’t maintain them and you will be complaining here about them being useless. Just bought some 3’s and work impressively fine. Got some on 7’s on another bike and been working fine for 5 plus years now.

They’re bloody good brakes for the first 6-12 months of ownership, or recently after a good service.

Also don’t listen to what many people will tell you: I believe that (with the proper kit) bleeding these is actually easier and cleaner than my M775 Shimanos (the syringes screw firmly in to the bleed ports on levers & callipers meaning less spillage and it’s easier to do with 1 pair of hands).

But like many others have experienced, my pistons became sticky making it a ball-ache to change pads and I had to tolerate frequent dragging of brakes.

Adaptor wise, running two 160 rotors, with old fashioned (IS I think) forks and std looking (IS I guess) rear mounts, do I need two 160is-pm adaptors? Daft question I know

Juicy 7s were the first hydraulic disc brakes I owned. Still got them 8 years later and they’ve worked brilliantly. Never bled them at all. Pads are PITA to change – make sure the pistons are fully retracted before attempting to put fat new pads in ( I use a large screwdriver on the old pads to force them back). Generally I have to file the edge paint off SS pads. Also found it’s simpler to take the caliper off and insert the pads and clip – centre aligning it afterwards is simple too. The newer elixirs have sorted the pad change to simplicity itself.

I love mine never had an issue.

I think ( if your fork is IS mount) that you need to ask for Avid Juicy IS mounting brackets, for whatever rotor size you have.