I bought a set of juicy ultimates off here a month ago and only just got round to fitting them today (wasnt in a rush as was off work post surgery and couldnt ride anyway). The top screw on the clamp of the left brake does not tighten. It just turns around without biting. Unfortunately one bolt is not secure enough hold the brake firmly (i guess thats why theres 2 🙂 ) is there anything i can do to fix it? please help me as i cant afford to replace them….

Dont really know Avid Ultimates but depends on if the hole goes straight through or blind and then how deep it goes, you may be able to Helicoil it if straight through and enough meat on the clamp, if its deep enough – should be – same applies!

Its a blind hole. Im not sure how this helicoil thing works or what diameter my bolt / bolts holes are and what i would need to make them etc etc….. 😕

Basically, they're nice and easy, (if you know what you are doing/used them before – i only say this as i guess if its a first go then a fiddly small and expensive brake clamp might be a bit tricky to learn the technique on!) all that you need to do is find the original size of the bolt/hole then get a helicoil kit for that size, drill out to larger size, re-tap hole, put in helicoil to reduce down to original size and Bobs ya uncle!

Alternatively find a friendly engineer or if you are very lucky a good bike shop!?!? (prob best to go for old school engineering / mechanic type places)

aww jesus….. 😕

jesus

I am not sure he will be able to help. Unless he has gone into engineering of course.

I think it's sweet of you to be putting up with having been sold an expensive borked brake. I believe I would consider making a fuss.

I think i may have to. If it could be fixed easily i wouldve probably gone down that route. However its looking like a costly and probably problematic fix. This is the first time ive looked at them properly since the purchase. Theyve been stuck in a box whilst i practice walking again… 😐

If you take just the bare brake in, it won't cost a huge amount, i'd probably be looking a charging a tenner, maybe less.Also worth checking if you can get a longer bolt to bite on the remaining threads(would be worth running a third-cut/plug tap in first to maximise the thread depth).

Those bolts are M5x18mm IIRC, you may as well try, as they're no use at the moment anyway! You may find there's a bit more thread if you got a longer bolt, I'd be inclined to try that first.

Any reason you've not gone back to the seller though? I'd be a bit annoyed if I bought some top end brakes and they were buggered!

Helicoils can be put in blind holes. It shouldn't be too expensive in an engineering shop to have it done.

Other options are to glue a stud in the hole or tap to the next larger size if enough metal around the hole

I've had avid juicy ultimates.

They BOTH failed at the bar clamp. I bet you'll find the lever body is cracked! Its a design flaw. SRAM replaced mine under warranty at just under 2 years old.

They are magnesium, i doubt they are repairable. replacement levers are 150 quid. they are however compaitbale with other avid levers, so i'd just get some of them.

Theres a special way of tightning them too, you have to make sure the clamp plates are the correct way up and tighten one bolt all the way, then do the other, can't remember which though…

I bought some of those silly light mono minis off the classifieds for a bargain price because a thread was buggered, cost a fiver at a local engineering firm that mainly does massive CNC orders (minimum run was somethign like 2000, normaly closer to 20,000) to fix, they seemed quite interested when I told them how much they cost, maybe hope will have some competition soon.

Ride the tiger….you can see his stripes but you know he's clean.

coatesy – i may be in touch soon.

njee20 – cheers mate, i thought that was the size, thanks for confirming. Yes i am annoyed to be honest. I have emailed the seller but have yet to receive a reply. They havent been touched since i bought them 4 weeks ago.

tandemjeremy – cheers, couple options there. I will try and find a local engineers. Failing that i will visit the local bike shops and test their metal 🙂

HoratioHufnagel – the magnesium thing is giving me some doubts as to the possibility of a repair job

dufresneorama – hmmm, you been visiting your tambourine man again? 🙂

Have a go. Easy peasy. Cletus is quite amusing too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIVzE5cOWac

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/M5-X-0-8MM-HELICOIL-THREAD-REPAIR-KIT-127589-SILVERLINE-/190383016660?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c53b64ad4http:

Believe it or not I have purchased a new set of avid ultimates from merlin cycles with this exact problem.

Must be a QC issue. (maybe)

are these brakes plagued with problems then? 😐

Merely implying that Avid QC probably isn't as good as others, even Rockshox forks under the Sram group were plagued with minor issues like leaking oil from new forks on arrival in their boxed up state.

Maybe it's down to so much demand for them that, that's why they have to just get them out the factory asap.

Apart from the bolt to thread problem, Avid Ultimates are stonkingly good brakes from experience.