Elixir R..

Thoughts?

New Slx

as above or new xt from rose bikes for around £120-130 brilliant got mine today 😀

i use elixir r, had them about 6 months so far, excellent in my opinion. have so far required very little fuss & maintenance and very sharp,

I’ve got some, had them for about six months, they’re very, very good at stopping, best brakes I’ve had so far. But I’ve only run them through spring and summer and if they’re anything like Juicys I fully expect them to die a horrible grit-addled death in the next couple of months. I’ve just un-clogged a sticky piston after a few muddier-than-usual miles, which doesn’t bode well.

My R’s were great until Kielder*. There’s a bit of faff replacing pads as it’s not as straight forward as other brakes as you need to push the pistons back in.

*I appear to have worn down the pistons a bit on the front.

Wouldn’t touch shimano again until they fix the issue with the rubbish piston seals.

There amazing! definitely recommend them, very sharp and cant go wrong with them!

Great for braking power though mine continually emit high pitched whistle, no noticable drag but obviously something is making contact.

Pads are p155 easy to change, fronts were squealing like a pig on heat at Glentress a couple of months ago (must have got some WD on ’em), back to the van, disc wiped with degreaser, new pads fitted and back on the trail less than half the time it takes Danny Hart to win a world championship.

Set of Elixir R’s came on my (now) 18 month old hardtail & performance has been great – only had to replace pads & re-align the caliper once or twice (straight forward).

Pad fitting is much easier than my old Juicy’s, have also bought a set of Elixir 5’s for my Full Sus (for about a year) & have coped well with all I’ve asked of them (including all mountain riding in Italy).

if your after a set of elixir r i have set i will sell, just ordered some elixir 5 as i wanted white brakes

crazypondy at aol dot com

Got Elixir 5’s on two of my bikes, awesome. Way more powerful than the SLX they replaced

I have some.

Make sure you buy a bleed kit, you will need one.

Hope. Much easier to service than others, cheap second hand, easy to bleed and usually don’t break in the first place. With Avid you have to buy a (£50) bleed kit with special fittings.

@isitaboutabicycle, £50 is NOT right. Reddog Racing will do you one for £12.75.
I do agree however that you will need one! As for most brakes, no?

I have a pair, and would recommend them, have always preferred the avid lever shape, ever since the original single digit. SLX lever is not for me. Any brake is only as good as you set it up IMO.

Had Elixir Rs; worked fine but then back brake refused to hold pressure despite frequent bleeding. LBS reports this is a common problem with Elixir rears. They were more powerful than the Hope X2s that replaced them (but which haven’t needed bleeding despite being on the bike far longer than the Avids) though.

Andy

Cr,s here.
Absolutely crap when bought.
Quick rebleed and silicone spray round the pistons to get them moving nicely.
Then they became ace. 😉

I love ’em. I also love the fact that lots of people don’t. That means that I can buy them for silly money and run variations on the Elixir theme on all our bikes. The Rs are best value though.

Interesting fact: I bought a set of elixir 5s in perfect working and cosmetic order for little more than the price of a set of Shimano finned brake pads.

I’ve had these brakes for about 4 weeks now. Much prefer them to the 2011 XT’s they have replaced.

I’ve read about all kinds of problems with them though, will just have to wait and see.

Were a set on rented bike in Morzine I had. Failed on me, went right to the bar, still have the scars, very scary.

Totally unscientific, might have been my fault but there you are. Never known that on any other brake.

“They were more powerful than the Hope X2s”

I’ve found the same.

What’s the difference between Elixir R and Elixir 5? Any noticeable performance difference, namely stopping power?

The R has a banjo on the caliper and a slightly different (better?) lever?

Seem to be marmite brakes – you either love them or hate them.

I love mine, great stopping power and modulation, better than the Hopes they replaced (although they were ancient and had smaller rotors so not really a fair comparison I suppose) They do seem to eat pads (again compared to Hope) but at £18 for a set of four off superstar this isn’t really a problem. I did have to re-set a piston after a couple of particularily wet and gritty rides around Cwmcarn but they’ve been fine since. I rate them highly, especially at the price they are. I’m sure someone will be along in a bit with exactly the opposite opinion ‘tho 😀

Love mine – very powerful indeed and Superstar do really cheap pads for them. Setup is critical – after doing the pumping and tightening routine, it’s often necessary to look straight down the rotor to check any drag on the pads – if so a re-alaign by eye sorts out any dragging and screeching.

Ps Hope make rubbish brakes, shame really as I’d love to like them.

Ps Hope make rubbish brakes, shame really as I’d love to like them.

I am aware than n=1 is anecdote, but IME ‘rubbish’ is overstating things. It was a bit of a surprise that they are less powerful than the Avids (I’d assumed that all 160mm brakes were much of a muchness), but they’ve been much more reliable and less squeaky, for what it’s worth. V2s are supposed to be ace, but a 203mm vented rotor seems overkill on an XC hardtail, and the revised levers due out in Oct are meant to address some of the power issues on X2s.

Haven’t the cash to go changing brakes every year, but I wonder what eg. Hayes Primes are like. Certainly wouldn’t have Avids again.

Andy