Looking at buying some Juicy 3's for the wifes bike, but can't see any mention of reach adjustment on product descriptions. As the wife has small hands, I really need to get her brakes with reach adjustment.

Are there any Juicy 3 owners that can advise please.

Cheers.

you adjust the reach with an allen key inside the lever, really easy to do!

Thanks renton. That's good news – no probs with allen key job, 'cos hopefully it'll be a one off adjustment.

The problem with the juicy 3s if im right is that while you can adjust reack, theyve got quite a long freestroke, so if you wind them in too far you might hit the bars before you get full power.
I really like them as brakes but the freestroke is annoying.

Free stroke on these can be reduced by a strip/clean/silicone greasing of the caliper pistons and seals, and obviously bleeding afterwards.I've done this many times, and ended up with old brakes that feel far better than a fully bled brand new set, I guess they don't grease them during assembly and the dragging seals keep retracting the pistons more than is necessary.

Cheers for the advice. Sounds like they're quite serviceable then(?). Do they have a 2 piece 'split-able' caliper like the original Hope Minis? ('cos they were a doddle to strip and service).

yes you can split them no problem

as sweepy said, some sets of juicys (of all numbers) end up biting quite close to the bars as it is. But a well bled set of juicys (get a bleed kit where you can de-gas the fluid helps a lot) is nice and bitey. I had a set of 5's from merlin which were like that straight out of the packet, and mrs julian's as came fitted on her specialized myka fsr are also great.

Failing that I have found the older style shimano's (565, 765, lx, m800) are both inexpensive, easy to bleed (you don't even need a bleed kit, just a tube and do them like you would a car) and easy to get a nice 'quick' bite and short lever throw on. Only downside being that you can't get seals to service a duff set, you just spend £30 on a new capplier or lever and replace the whole unit. Not that they go wrong much.

Cheers for the beta on the Shimanos – like the sound of the easy bleeding. If I do end up with the Juicy 3's, I guess I'm gonna have to shell out for a proper Avid bleed kit at some point, as I've just bought a bike with Elixirs on it. (Elixirs are great at the mo, but just thinking of when I come to renewing fluid in them)

You won't get away with bleeding your elixirs without a bleed kit to securely fit in the bleed ports (never tried any of the cheaper ebay versions). The other day I went from my 203mm m800 saint to do a downhill run on my mate's bike with elixir cr's on 203mm and lordy, the difference was 'arresting' !! 😆