I have a spare set of elixir 5 brakes intended for another bike.

Are they any better than shimano M575, worth swaping over?

My Avid Juicy has a stuck piston and sticky lever so I took it into my lbs. Their reaction was Avid brakes are unreliable and it wasn’t worth fixing as it would probably need repairing again in 6 months. Seams like if you want reliability and brakes that can be repaired stick with Shimano!

Seams like if you want reliability and brakes that can be repaired stick with Shimano!

POSTED 14 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Thats definitely not true, you can only buy levers and calipers from shimano if you have a problem, no spare seals available!

Shimanos are pretty much impossible to service in my experience.

Thats definitely not true, you can only buy levers and calipers from shimano if you have a problem, no spare seals available

Really? As part of telling me how good Shimano are the mechanic showed me a 2003 box of Shimano disc brake spares which they were still using, at a very slow rate. Do Shimano only sell in bulk to shops and individual parts aren’t available to buy?

No seals other than reservoir diaphragms available for shimano brakes, other parts are available, but often costly.

I prefer the feel of Avids. That makes me choose them over Shimano. If you dont like fettling, (& need to take it to a bike shop to deal with a sticky piston) 😉 then Shimano are without doubt the better choice. Never had to fix a Shimano disc brake. Avids just need some attention periodically, that doesnt make them unreliable though.

the 575’s can be a bit rubbish IMHO, having tried a set and my mate having had a set and binning them for SLX

It’s very stuck! 🙂 Also he said the recommended service interval on Avid brakes is 40hrs.