Brake working fine, couple of years old. Reset the pistons whilst fitting new pads, now the lever pulls all the way and the pads barely move. Bled them, no change. Bleed again or time for new seals?

bleed again my guess -or a sticky piston sitting too far from the disc ( they only move a tiny amount at any time)- lube pistons with the same fluid as is in the brake

pump/squeeze the lever a few times?

because it is made by Avid

Yep, Elixir CR Mag, how did you know!? LOL

Have you bled them in the special Avid way? and done the special Avid dance to make them work?

I can never get them to work the Avid way. 😡

As TJ said, either they’re not bled properly or the piston is sticking to the seal and is not getting any closer to the disc with repeated presses.

If it’s the latter, then one trick which can work is tieing the lever back to the bars and leaving it for a bit.

is it the front or the rear brake?

I had the same problem after replacing pads a few months ago and attempted to bleed the rear brake and ended up with mush (the front was perfect)

The issue was cause by the lack of height difference between the lever and caliper. I had a moment of insipration and hung the bike on a hook by the front wheel, repositioned the lever and bled it as per the Avid procedure – hey presto one rock solid brake that no longer went to mush when the bike was inverted.

Also – make sure you reset the pad spacing as per the Avid instructions (install pads, squeeze lever until they are a few mm apart and then insert the pad spacer between the pads to set the gap)

Like I said once I followed this procedure I ended up with perfect brakes. The draw back of Avid is that they require regularly maintenance to keep them tip top, something that I’m too lazy to do hence going for the new Shimanos. In fairness to the Avids though once they are setup properly they are very powerful.

I had exactly the same problem, with CR SLs! thats how I know. now loving my xt 785s

there is a set of CR SLs on ebay with a very honest description for anyone who knows the correct avid procedures…

because you touch yourself at night