why do avid brakes have a mind of their own. worked fine last week this week the lever is touching the grip. had them repaired at local bike shop 2 months ago for the same reason.WHAT ARE THE BEST BRAKES ON THE MARKET
well actually i think Avid brakes are.
I'll never buy Avids again. the Juicys are dogs.
I like Hope but there's those who don't. Formulas were OK.
Shimano are the best on the market without doubt.
Shimano every day of the week, any conditions, no matter how hard you thrash them.
I have no idea at all why anyone would consider buying any other brand of brake. Get some now.
Shimano for me too after a 2 pairs of Avid Juicys that I really didn't like, and a spin on some Formula K18 which left me slightly unimpressed. SLX from Merlin, look good are cheap and are pretty darn great brakes.
Shimano are the best on the market without doubt.
I'm sure you mean in your humble opinion.
Hopes are proper, not made of plastic in the far east. They are completely servicable, easy to bleed and offer the best customer service bar none.
[i]Hopes are proper, not made of plastic in the far east. They are completely servicable, easy to bleed and offer the best customer service bar none.[/i]
They also squeal like hell and are not that reliable (hence the need to be servicable?).
Shimano for me, any day of the week. Ample stopping power, so reliable, such much better value for money than anything else.
I hate the feel of the new Shimano's with Servo Wave, they are too spongy, so I suspect seeing as that is what goes 'wrong' with your Avids then Shimano may not be the brake for you, oh and the older versions are a dog to bleed, not sure about the newer ones.
I binned the Avids from my trail bike as I was getting through pads like you wouldn't believe, but they are now on my xc machine and are fine for those duties.
IMO Hayes Stroker Trail's work for me and you can get a really good deal for the full set from Merlin at the moment, £150 for the pair.
Hayes are nice and powerful, but always always end up going wrong. They don't like mud and they really don't like road salt. Magnesium is silly stuff to make callipers out of.
I'm on the bandwagon here. Shimano all the way! The slightly squishier feeling of the newer ones is great. More control through the stroke.
Avid all the way, although im hankering after some Formula ones now.
Magnesium is silly stuff to make callipers out of.
Stroker calipers are made from aluminium.
And there isn't much salt on the trails I ride anyway. I've never had trouble with mud either, but it does depend on the flavour of mud where you ride.
Indeed, I've been very happy with my strokers too. So much so that I've just bought another set for the better half's bike.
Hopes for the best if you want to buy one set of brakes and keep them for life. Need a bit of tinkering at times but are infinatly repairable unlike shiman Hopes tend to have much longer pad life as well.
Shimano are cheaper and work well until something goes wrong - when they are scrap
I have just removed shimanos of my new bike to fit second-hand hopes as I prefer them that much
Shimano here. 525 Deore calipers, as TJ suggests not user serviceable, but at £25 notes for a replacement, I don't care, and after 3 years if they fail now, I'll not loose any money. Goodridge hoses to take out the slight spongy-ness in all Shim brakes, and old style XT levers, as I like the shape. Easy to bleed and mineral oil won't strip your paint.
Hayes 9's all the way- wont buy anything else.
Bombproof, powerfull easy to setup/bleed, rarely go wrong....perfect
Swiss are there any signs of fluid leaking anywhere? If there's an actuall leak I can understand the problem you're having but if everything is dry then perhaps there was air in the system that was there when they were bled?
Personally, I don't really like Avids because they're not that reliable. If they were made by Hope (IE all metal components) or Shimano (IE well) they'd be an amazing design.
As it is I'd rate either Hope or Shimano as the best brakes on the market with my own choice being.... hmmm... actually that is a hard decision.
For cheapness/throw away = Shimano
For longevity/servicability = Hope
If you really don't mind how rubbish the warranty is, Magura brakes are good too.
I've just changed my Hayes Strokers for Shimano SLX after much debate (in my head and on here). They look good, are pretty light and are hopefully going to be atleast as good (but I reckon more powerful) as my Deore 525's which have been great brakes over the last 3 years.
Once the rear caliper sized, out came a long bladed screwdriver, a 10mm spanner, some chain lube and some WD-40, 10 minutes later caliper refitted and bled and have been faultless since - plenty serviceable in my book 😆
Magura anyone??!!
I actually really like my Avids in use, but they are a bugger to maintain. I once chose to complete a ride without a back brake rather than attempt to fit the spare set of pads I had in my backpack halfway through. I find bleeding quite easy though.
My friend's Deore 525s are impressively powerful considering that they have never been cleaned or even had a pad change in about 2 years.
I have two pairs of Hope C2s and one pair of Formula R1. Pad change is less than 10mins each end.
Just spent over an hour trying to get some pads into my girlfriend's Juicy 5s, only logged on to look for advice/manual. I'll be sticking with Formula I think.
Magura Louise, new Marta or the Julie HP. A wise choice in any circumstances. Tried Hopes and Formula for several years before grudgingly getting some Magura Louise FR's a few years back. Now have Maguras on all 4 MTB's as well as the wifes and 2 boys. All are used regularly, (one pair of mine daily for several years now), and have had no issues, other than a quick bleed needing done shortly after getting one of the sets of Louise brakes. 😀 Pad wear has also not been an issue, even after several visits to the Alps.
Feel and braking performance of Avids is really good in my opinion.. but their pad life and sticking pistons are DIABOLLICAL.. 😕
Am thinking of XT's now or Hope X2's, would like any views,
sorry to hi-jack.. 😯
LOVE my Juicy 5's, had them years, and never had to do anything to them!
My housemate has Juicy 3's, and they seem crap....
Maybe it's different batches?
How do Juicy 5's compare to other brakes in terms of retracting the pistons to change the pads?
They're the only brakes I've lived with for long and it is a fair bit of hassle. Usually I loosen the bleed screw a little to force them back more easily, but that then results in loss of fluid which then means the brakes lose power as the pads start to wear down!
shitmano all round here, my juicy ultimates on my epic are ok but have been tons more hassle than my fit and forget shimano's.
hope tech x2 with the braided hose and red rotors ftw ;p
Avid pad change now complete. 3 hours!
u need to bleed them properly. if they r blead properly they wont run out when u turn the bike upside down.
u need to bleed them properly. if they r blead properly they wont run out when u turn the bike upside down.
i used juicy 5's till they were nicked and know i have 3's...they r noticably worse...but the 5's were better than shimano saints which i found an effort to ride with...not sure about ease of maintenence on them tho
I'm still using the old Shimano XT 4-pots. 203mm rotor up front and 180mm rotor at the rear.
They're brilliant!
I did really like my Hope C2's as well.
Tie a piece of string round the levers and bars holding the brakes on overnight, The air will rise to the resovoir and your Avids work again,
Done this many a time and they actually work better for it, Binned mine off though for Hopes because i kept knocking the trialign out and fading them
