[Closed] AVID DISC Brakes.. Are they any good?

My Elixr 5s are perfectly adequate. I pull the lever and the bike stops. That'll do for me.

I know no-one with Avids that has enjoyed the experience. Fiddly, unreliable - most people change them out pretty quickly for something else....at least up here in Aberdeenshire.

what would you recommend then?
Hopes?

Great when new. 😉

And 'tool-free' pad replacement - is there a more pointless 'innovation'?

Eventually I binned mine (Juicy 7/carbon) and went to Hope's - job done.

My favourite bike has old juicys. They are great. Others have current saint, xtr or formula ones.

I've yet to see a convincing argument for buying anything other than Shimano.

no problems with mine

got Juicy 7s in 2005 and gave them away this summer to a kid who needed some brakes for his bike - they were still working perfectly well despite 6 years of abuse all over the UK, Canada and Europe on 6 different bikes with different rotor sizes

bled them twice a year, new pads as needed, changed the master cylinder diaphragm on the rear after 2 years, never changed the pistons or seals in the caliper

also have Elixir CRs, also no problems to report - now 3 years old and have been on 3 different bikes, lots of muddy / wet riding and downhills

the Elixirs are tricker to bleed, it takes some experience and knowledge to get a good reliable bleed and also set them up properly to ensure balanced performance - Avid's CPS mounting system does not help in this respect as it allows a bad initial setup which can cause premature pad / piston wear, squealing, etc.

something I would say about Avid (and SRAM in general) is that we have seen a decrease in their quality control pretty much every season

the "new" Avid is not as reliable as the old "Avid" in my opinion having worked on 100s of sets of Juicys and Elixirs

however we are seeing reduced QC on many brands (cheaper parts, wonky wheelbuilds, poorly aligned or defective frames) as they cut costs to try and maintain competitive pricepoints

one of the best things about Avid / Sram is the stellar backup you now get from UK distrib. Fisher Outdoor, as long as you guy from a proper dealer then you have a solid warranty on Avid

i got rid of my bb7 id had for years and got a set of elixir r brakes earlier this year . im loving them so much power and feel to them ! they squeel a bit towards the end of a ride but im fairly sure thats just a layer of dirt coz wheels spin free enuf ! pads are piss easy to change and bleading is simple enough once you get used to it .

2002 Magura Martas, bled them 3 years ago, had a new master cylinder on the left (£26 from Magura) last year. Flawless. Can remove pads in the dark and whatever the conditions. Brilliant pad life with sintered. Usually a bargain 2nd hand on STW.

Like Druidh said Shimano are excellent too....they copied magura massively in the early days. Very reliable.

Lots of people I ride with also like hope but I'm not a big fan as I think the levers go floppy quickly and the power output is a lot lower than the magura and shimano offerings.

I love mine. I'm using juicy 7s, XX and XO at the moment, but have had good experiences with Elixir Rs and CRs as well. There were problems with early XXs, but 2011s seem sorted (or mine are at least) and the XO and 2012 Elixir 7s are mega in my experience. All a lot more subtle looking than the Shimano alternatives too.

All my bikes have Avid. Work fine. Pad change much easier on the Elixir. No points in going for anything other than bottom of the range IMO as all you gain is adjustment and very slight weight loss.

Agree about the backup. I broke some Avid Juicy Ultimates nearly 2 year after buying them, both replaced without question.

i've not had any problems bleeding using the proper kit.

Don't seem to be able to get all the spares as easily as for Hope, but they are so much cheaper to start with i'm not too fussed.

Had bad experience with Hope Tech M4's, very underwhelming given they were 2-3x the cost of the avids.

I got rid of my Shimano brakes for avid Elixir's when I built my bike up in February, predominately because I wanted white brakes 😳 but also because the seals on my Deore brakes failed in the cold weather and rendered them useless.

I really rate the Avids, so much so that when I built my 29er up the other month I slung a set on there too.

The majority of my riding mates have Avid Elixirs too and have not had a problem with them in any condition, great amount of power and feel too. Better than the equivalent Shimano IMHO

why would you want to adjust pad contact ? if your brakes have good modulation you pull lever a small amount and get a small amount of braking right ?!
you pull some more you get . . . some more braking power .
my elixirs lock front or rear tyre long before the lever reaches the bar and you can adjust the position of the lever or, were the hole process starts from, so unless your disc is warped
why ? surly they are within a mm or two of disc to start with ??
or am i just a bit simple ???

I liked my Elixer CR power and feel (prefer them over XX), but found they were pad killers and didn't blead as easily as my Shimano. I'm running Shimanos on most of my bikes now (love my XTR Trails especially) and will be sticking with them after trying a few different brakes over the years.

If you want to try Avids from that range I'd recommend Elixer CR, otherwise 2012 Shimano XT is a similar price range.

Had some Juicy's that were at best inconsistent. I only like stuff I can service myself so I bought Hopes.

A mate has Juicy's and had to wait over a month for spares to get them going again.

I wouldn't bother.

Shimano disc brakes are amazing, ive had saints and xt's and they have been faultless. The avid codes I had needed bleeding alot and didnt offer as much power, and the juicy's I had were similar

as someone who works professionally as a bike mechanic; something I would say is that all the Avid brakes we've had through our workshops (in 4 different stores) with ongoing "bleed" problems have had bad bleeds, often when a customer has tried to bleed them at home or had an inexperienced mechanic work on them

if they need bleeding alot or feel inconsistent, this is because they still have air in the brake system - this doesn't magically work its way in 😉

perhaps this is Avid's problem - their bleeding process on the Elixir is "tricky" and best left to experienced bike wrenches

I can count on one hand the number of times there has been a genuine
problem like a leaking MC diaphragm or faulty piston seal

spare parts are readily available for both Juicy and Elixir if you shop around and the brakes are super simple to work on even at home with basic tools, silicon grease (for piston seals) and Avid bleed kit with Dot 5.1 fluid

Do any of you guys know if avid brakes come ready to use, or will i have to add the fluid.

Also as they will be going on a full suspension bike, has anyone used them on one?

cheers

Yes we think they are good.

Avids on on 5 bikes here and Shimanos and Haynes on two others. Some of the Avids my 7s on the SS have not been touched for years, its my most ridden bike and they are great. Some of the other 7s have required more attention but less than the Hopes we used to run through out the house hold. Two pairs of Elixirs, so far they are even better.

I work on lots of brakes, we like the Avids, pretty easy to work on effective and powerful, Hopes easy to work on, older ones not so powerful, newer ones better, I quite like the 'steampunk' engineering but find them expensive and a little clunky. Like the newer Shimanos also well worthy of recommendation.

Avid's are great, but if you're ham-fisted like the majority on here seem to be then don't bother 'cos you'll convince yourself that avid brakes are crap. 😉

My BB7s are the dogs danglies

I have elixir 5's on both my transition tr450 and my transition covert. I am a reknowned fat overbraker. They are brilliant.

Elixirs are fantastic until they need bleeding after that it becomes a bit of a gamble 🙁

My 7s have been faultless over 4 years or so now including two bleeds using the correct kit, correctly. I can't complain as my previous hopes we less than stellar.

juicy 5's have been faultless and were easy to bleed with the right kit. Bb7 i set up last week was every bit as good with new Shimano cables.

I like my Juicy 5s when they work which is actually quite a bit of the time now I've replaced and greased the pistons. Finally got the hang of bleeding them (didn't follow the avid guide as that never seems to work for me). Very reliable over 2 months of Whistler and pad wear was very good - same can't be said for the Formula K18 I had on the rear which was a bit shite. That being said I'll probably switch to something else when they do eventually die, hopes or shimano I reckon.

Love the BB7 I have as well but its not great at modulation.

I have Avid Code 5s (juicy lever, code calliper). Really like them and found them easy to set up, powerful, reliable and easy to bleed with the syringe kit. Probably bleed x2 per year. Much better than previous Hayes or shimano brakes I've had (at a lower price point) - mainly in respect to fluid fade and pad life. They look pretty too.

Down side for me is that I cant easily get pads.

There was an issue with a crimped hose out the box but it was warrantied very quickly and with out question.

For some reason you cant use them with braided hoses. Voids the warranty and I have read some where about bursting the seals... but I cant see how it would do that (?)

I've got a set of Juicy 5s and two sets of Elixir CRs...all work well and have been no hassle. Pad changes are the only niggle I've had with the Juicy 5.

I have Elixir CR's. Work well. Likewise the Juicies I've had.
If you want fit & forget you need to look at Shimano though.

Elixir r on both bikes - brilliant IMO - easy to bleed with the proper kit if you follow the instructions. Those xx deals look awesome

AVID DISC Brakes.. Are they any good?

No

Well does anyone have any avid elixir r or cr that they want to sell, that are also working well.

Cheers

Got a set of brand new elixir 3's (changed from r's to 3's for the 2012 ones) that I am selling for £85 posted, come with the new rotors in 180 and 160 with adapters ( post mount front and is rear) email in profile if your interested

they are utter dross,

I love my BB7s - dislike the Avid hydro versions though ( working on them and seeing mates have issues esp changing pads ! )- I would say shimano all the way for hydro....

tried hope / formula too - all ok but nothing comes close to shimano

paul

I've used many different brakes, avid and formula being my faves avid r are about the best for the money generally but if you can get xx for £99 per end then go for it , ive never used xx but they will surely be lighter with the same amount of power as the r's.

Elixir can be awkward to bleed but when working correctly I don't think anything matches them at similiar price point for power.

It's rare people talk about the lower end formulas i.e k18's on here but they are very powerfull and feel great.

As for hope as much as I love them as a brand I just cannot get on with their brakes ( ducks head ) I personally find them underpowered, the adjustability is great though and they are second to none for customer service.

If you are happy getting your head around the avid bleed process I'd go for the xx or the r

Just my ten cents for what it's worth.

I have BB7s on both mountain bikes. I love cable-actuated brakes. Simple to fit. Never pump up. No bleeding. No pad rubbing or dragging. Lots of adjustment for if your mounts aren't aligned correctly. Brilliant, and that's despite having non-disc-brake specific levers. Got Shitmano hydraulics on my commuter. Horrible rattly draggy things yuk.

I've had two sets from new, one bought from Evans at full whack (Elixer 5's) and another set that came on my new 5. The set from Evans were horrendous, I used them with 203mm rotars and they were full of air from the start and never worked properly, even when I took them back to eVans. Second set on the Orange is just the same and thats routed internally....magic.

Buy a set of R1's and be amazed - they really are worth the money

Oh, and +1 for the cheaper formulas, I've got a set of K18's that have never needed touching - absolutely spot on for the money

I've also got a set of MT8's sat in a box looking all badass - just need to fit them to a bike now!

the only thing I would watch out for is the cost of pads for the XXs. You (according to SRAM) can't use sintered or semi-sintered, and the organic pads don't last long in the wet. other than that, a great brake if bled properly

I have Elixer 5s, i would buy them again no problem, they have been faultless. Two years down the line and I haven’t needed to bleed them yet. The standard rotors are also good.

I've got Elixir R's and have found them to be great but have had bleed issues recently after attempting to shorten the hoses. As it turns out I need to order threaded hose barbs to shorten them as the current ones don’t appear to be removable but that’s a separate issue. I’ve been using a borrowed [url= http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/products/bleed-kits/avid/basic-kit/ ]non-Avid bleed kit[/url] and following [url= http://www.pinkbike.com/news/tech-tuesday-bleeding-avid-brakes-2010.html ]this guide and video on how to bleed them[/url] but I really struggled to do it properly due to air and fluid leaking at the syringe tube fittings. I [i]think[/i] I’ve got the front brake bled properly and will be having another go with the back brake tonight, I’ve warned the missus in advance about the cursing!

To get to the point my question is does anyone have experience of both the cheap copy bleed kits and the proper Avid bleed kits and is it worth spending the extra on the proper one? As I need to buy barbs anyway it would effectively only cost an extra £10 to get the proper kit.

Also anyone got any tips for bleeding that isn’t covered in the guide I linked? I’m fairly competent at spannering and have rebuilt a few motorbikes but they have different brake systems.

I don't understand the problems people are having with bleeding. You fit the 2 syringes and pump the fluid up and down until all of the air has come out. I don't think it could be any more simple. My M975s are a pain to bleed compared to Juicys and Elixirs.

I've used the proper bleed kit, followed the instructions carefully and never had any problems.

What will the weight difference be between a 160mm rotor and a 203mm rotor, as on one only have the 203s left, also as it is a rear one, does this mean that the size does not matter, will it definitely fit my trek ex 9.

Cheers

AFAIC most problems with Avids are user-inflicted... Though, they have all sorts of weird bugbears- hard to bleed well, horrible pad fitting on some, and the daft tri-align whose entire purpose is to add another dimension in which you can set the brakes up wrong.

None of that makes them bad, but I can't really see why anyone would ever buy them considering the strength of the competition. Especially with Formula and Shimano priced as they are now- you can spend more per end on Avid than it costs for a whole set of either of those, and get worse results.

NO

good tip on the xx pads two, i wasnt aware of that, nealy on the kits ive used that are non avid some are better than others but i they have all let a bit of air in and i think thats the biggest problem with bleeding them tbh. on the basis that you need the barbs id buy the kit, crc had a kit without 5.1 fluid, i think it worked about about 24 quid with the uk ten code.

[quote="paulo6624"]nealy on the kits ive used that are non avid some are better than others but i they have all let a bit of air in and i think thats the biggest problem with bleeding them tbh. on the basis that you need the barbs id buy the kit, crc had a kit without 5.1 fluid, i think it worked about about 24 quid with the uk ten code.

I've bled the back brake tonight with no problems at all with the same non-avid kit so I must have been doing something wrong with the front one yesterday. End result is both levers are now firm so I'm happy with that. I might still get the proper Avid kit when I get round to shortening the lines. There's no denying it's a fiddly process but I can see the sense in it to get as much air out as possible but perhaps a different master cylinder and calliper design would make a normal bleed possible.

Formula use a pretty similiar bleed process to Avid, but for whatever reason it's much easier to get a good bleed. Or at least it is, now that I stopped assuming i know best and actually follow the instructions 😉

The piss poor effort I made of bleeding the brakes before I read the instructions properly and watch the video was laughable. Following the instruction does seem to have worked but I'll keep my powder dry on the celebrations until it's been a few weeks and any air in the system finds its way into the lines. I must admit bleeding my old motorbike brakes used to be a pain but nowhere near as messy and hard work as the Avid's.

If you want to have a go with Avid brakes for not much money I have a front 203mm and a rear 185mm Elixir 5 brake for sale, £20 posted. They will need bleeding but at that price they're great value.

[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6476764197_4bc2abd23c_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6476764197_4bc2abd23c_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/33251520@N07/6476764197/ ]P1010240m[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/33251520@N07/ ]eddkh[/url], on Flickr

[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6476764023_69c4ca6470_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6476764023_69c4ca6470_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/33251520@N07/6476764023/ ]P1010232m[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/33251520@N07/ ]eddkh[/url], on Flickr

E-mail if interested:
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/33251520@N07/5059009807/ ]e-mail[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/33251520@N07/ ]eddkh[/url], on Flickr

YGM

Just to be clear it's £20 per brake, not £20 for the pair.

Edd

OK & done

We've 2 sets of Juicy 3s at home, on both the stepkids' bikes. Because they've never been touched aside from pad changes they're absolutely fine.

Ham fisted maintenence will make brakes feel rubbish, it took me some practice before I learned to bleed my brakes properly but my Hopes feel absolutely fine. I've a set of Hayes Strokers on my xc bike, which are very powerful but they seem to share the same bleeding setup as Avid, so when they're due they'll be off to the LBS.

Sold to epicyclo. Thanks epicyclo!

Had juicy 3's which I find are plenty good enough for light xc. Also run Elixir R's which are powerful enough for me esp with organic pads it seems.

No issues, although after 3 years one of the elixIr's seemed to need more regular bleeding although i'm going to bite the bullet and start doing it myself. Hopefully its one of those jobs after a bit of practice you wonder what all the fuss was about.

No. They aren't. HTH.

damn,
i should check my own thread more reguarly, good have got some cheap brakes... :/

this site up and down a lot eh? anyway

open any issue of Dirt magazine from the last year.. notice how all the bikes have Elixirs on them.

I suppose this is because they are 1) good and 2) cheap to OEMs.
unfortunately not such a good deal retail. i still buy them though, because of 1)

now glad i didn't buy the XXs thanks for the info (not taking sintered pads? useless in the UK!).

are Elixirs perfect? no. not enough pad clearance. even the tiniest imperfection on rotor = annoying noises. going through mud also a problem 'cos of this. and at least pre 2012, tend to not work after the bike is upside down, but a few pumps usually sorts them out.

sorry if i raised a dead thread.

Ask Realman. I think he used to have a pair of avid disk brakes.