Dear all-knowing STW,

Couple of things I’m having trouble with.

1) Maverick Speedball (with remote)

Bought this yonks ago. For a few months it was brilliant, but then it stopped returning so quickly. Despite regular strip downs and lots of grease, it wasn’t happy. I sent it off to the distributor (forgotten who!) who fixed it under warranty – or so we all thought. Unfortunately I didn’t use said seatpost for the next six months (I was out of the country) and when I did come to use it, despite being wonderfully shiny, it didn’t hold my weight – slipping down if I sit on it over about 30 seconds.

Anyone know what I need to do to fix that? (the wee lever on the top of the post is returning fully btw)

2) Formula Oros

So I have two issues with these.

Firstly, when I go to change pads the pistons don’t want to return fully, so I can’t get the new pads in with enough space for the rotor. I’ve removed a little fluid from the system, but still when I push them back fully they spring back by say 0.5-1mm each. How do I fix this?

Secondly, one of my levers is stiff to move and doesn’t spring back. I THINK it’s the pivot of the ball-ended arm thing that moves the piston that’s gummed up, but I’m not sure. I’ve given it a good dousing in GT85 which helped for a bit, but after the weekend’s ride it’s stiff again. Any ideas?

Many thanks all!

Bob

oros have a sqaure profiled O ring inside the master cylinder which can rotate and cause the slow return of the lever. This happened to me after a crash.

you can either strip the lever or, what i did, was go and crash again a week later which sorted it.

with my oros i have to bleed the brakes when i change pads. i have the same issue as you. i`ve not worked out why this is.

Cheers Van Halen – I have popped the lever out recently in a crash, but the lever was stiff before then so I’m not sure. Bleeding is gonna be a total pain in the ass given the rate I go through pads at.

fyi maverick speedball is mechanically identical to the crank brothers joplin. theres loads of service guides for the joplin on the tinterweb and you’ll have more luck searching on joplin than speedball.

Thanks – I’ll have a google…

I usually bleed my oros when changing pads. But, with the springing back thing… You say you’ve removed some fluid, did you leave the system open when you pushed them back or did you remove fluid, nip it back up then push the pads? If the latter, try the former 😉

I’ve always found refitting oro levers to be a god awful bas***d of a job, love the brakes, hate the levers.

http://www.crankbrothers.com/support/product_documentation/instructions_seatpost.pdf