Here’s the sad pic of my Ultimate lever assembly:

They’re about 8 months old, and no idea how it’s happened, don’t think I’ve hit that brake lever on anything, and there doesn’t appear to be any marks on it. I guess the whole world, and especially Avid would maintain it’s because I overtightened the bolts. I use a torque wrench however, and don’t think that’s the case. It managed to survive 8 months, and about 830 miles(use other bike mostly in bad conditions, and look after this one).

Basically what’s my way forward? I did ring Merlin today – where they came from – but he never got back to me. I’ve looked on Avid parts list, and the lever assembly complete is available, but the guy at Merlin, although he couldn’t find the part number, said it’d be £100 anyway if available. I think I may be able to drill right through, and put a longer bolt and nut as a temporary measure, but obviously that’d void any slim possibility of a claim. The guy at Merlin wanted me to send it in, but I can’t really see much point, as the problem won’t be any different when it’s there, and he knows what it is.

Damn – just I’ve I’ve bought larger rotors and adaptor brackets.

🙁

mine did exactly the same as that about a month or so ago! they also came from merlin, the ones they were selling off at £200 a set, bought em last september. i just assumed id bashed it or something so bought a single juicy 7 and swapped the carbon lever and ultimate caliper on to it. i then broke that too the other day, though not in the same way. ive now sold the front (after checking it!) and ordered some hopes. still got the broken bit in the shed though. this doesnt help you but suggests it might be an issue. maybe we are the pioneers of the 2009 verson of ‘black spokes break’ or maybe even ‘superstar pads are cr*p’! fame at last.

That’s interesting. Did you contact Merlin about it? They were the one’s they were selling of for around £200. I think I got mine a little before that.

Using a torque wrench it is still very easy to overtighten bolts – especially small ones like that. A torque wrench is notoriously unreliable at the extremes of its range. Usually it would rip the thread first tho IME

Way forward? Get a metallurgist to have a look at it – their might be a casting flaw or there might be carp metal used.

You could get it welded / built up with weld at re machined – probably less than £100

Use hopes where all parts are avilable rather than built up units?

send it back to Merlin like they asked you to?

send it via signed for mail and keep your receipt just in case 🙂

I have a J7 with a sticky piston, which if I can’t free up might lead us to a deal – ie buy a J7, I’ll have the caliper and you have the lever and each of us swop the relevant bits. Got to be cheaper than buying spares.

J7 is currently under £60 at Merlin so we’d be looking at £30 each I guess.

If I can’t unsticky the piston, I’ll give you a shout.

‘Course if Merlin don’t warranty it you may not want to go back there and if they do you may not have a problem.

Iain

Don’t know how easy that would be – metal is magnesium apparantly(they are as light as a feather).

I got them for their looks, not lightness. I wanted everything to be black or black and red for the bike, and they were a good price from Merlin.

Cheers for offer igm, but even if the J7 lever assembly looks the same, it won’t have the same writing etc on it, and I’ll never feel right about it.

Maybe Mr Nutt is right: Send it back, explain I’ve done nothing wrong, and not hit it, and want it warranty – put the ball in their court.

Absolutely – go for the warranty first and to be fair I’ve always liked dealing with Merlin.

That said, I thought the bit of the lever assembly you needed (ie just the bit with the clamp, reservoir and pivot point) didn’t just look the same but was common to both the 7 and the Ultimate (ie identical), the 3 and the 5 having two different assemblies. Could be wrong check on SRAM’s website for the parts list – it’s surprising how much is common.

They’re definitely a different part number, and maybe colour. The writing on them which seems painted is different, so they wont look the same unfortunately.

Hey ho – shows you you show never trust blind assertions on here – Merlin ought to sort you out though.

Can you see if there is a mark inside where the bolt may have bottomed out and caused the break?

I have tried zooming in to see from the pic but the resolution isnt high enough

send it back to merlin, I’ve sent back a few items for warranty and they have been very fair and honest.