New set of Avid Elixirs i bought needed the hose shortening, so did that and levers felt ok but noooo i thought i should bleed them (moron). So i bleed them following the instructions and they feel worse than before , lever pulls all the way in virtually. Gutted.

Any tips from owners?

Bleed them again, properly.

Thought that was coming ^^^^ 🙂

have a pint, a piece of cake, big deep breath and take your time.

if not smash em into the ground and buy some BB7’s

There really is only two options…
1. you did it wrong
2. they are broken

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/tech-tuesday-bleeding-avid-brakes-2010.html

Follow the instructions properly and they’ll be fine

Look on YouTube, there are loads of official AVID videos which make it totally fool proof

Did you do what I did first time and bleed them with the levers parallel to the ground? That’s never going to work, the bleed hole in the master cylinder needs to be at the highest point or the air will get trapped. They really aren’t that difficult once you’ve got the technique.

Ok, did it again , this time checking each stage thoroughly and wouldn’t you know it…..its worked, or certainly seems to have.

Just needed patience and being very thorough.

Think where i went wrong was when doing the caliper and releasing the lever i just let the lever straight out with no resistance behind it and the lever syringe i didn’t clamp whilst doing the hose. Live and learn though.

Thanks all.

I did it while I had the sram YouTube video on. Went fine & months on they are still solid. Fantastic brakes (for the money).

Thansk all for the You tube hint, (Why didn’t I think of that)? I need to overhaul my Avid 7s as my LBS can’t even spell brakes so my faith in them has dwindled somewhat. They spell them ‘breaks’ btw….numpties

set of Avid Elixirs i bought

Well, that’s where it all started to go wrong!

How rude ^^^^…. 😥 😉

Buy some Hopes 😀

ive just sent my rear one back to Avid. they were new at beginning of june – they had to be bled 5 times. good as gold straight away after bleeding, but never lasted. All of a sudden ill go to apply my brake and the lever comes all the way to the bar with no resistance, and no fkg stopping power either. this happened to me on a descent at Lee Quarry and on the Cut Gate descent in the peaks!

if not smash em into the ground and buy some BB7’s

This. Avids are so annoying to bleed. Formulas use a similar process but I’ve found my K18 to bleed so much easier than the Juicy 5s. I’m off to Canada next week with a BB7 as backup brake as both my hydros can be a bit temperamental!

jaffejoffer – Member
ive just sent my rear one back to Avid. they were new at beginning of june – they had to be bled 5 times. good as gold straight away after bleeding, but never lasted. All of a sudden ill go to apply my brake and the lever comes all the way to the bar with no resistance, and no fkg stopping power either. this happened to me on a descent at Lee Quarry and on the Cut Gate descent in the peaks!

Where do u find the address to speak to someone about sending them off, im having massive problems with a siezing rear caliper. Google didnt turn up much 🙂

there cheap over priced junk what did you expect

i took it back to the shop i bought it from and they sent it off for me.

they are also soaking dry and massively small.

i didnt choose em, they were spec’d. i wouldnt touch em again tho.

total rubbish – go British…Hope !