[Closed] Different brakes left and right

should be fine - I ran disk front V-brake back for a while on a frame with no disk mounts.

it'll be reet, I quite often run mismatched brakes

Shouldn't be a problem, you'll soon get used to any different feel in power, modulation, whatever.

I once ran a road bike I'd bought in USA with reversed handing whilst running all my other bikes with GB handing and was fine until one day I had to do an emergency stop... I swapped them to GB handing after that 😯

Have you tried bleeding them?

Run mismatched without any problem

I ran disk front V-brake back for a while on a frame with no disk mounts

I've been doing this for years with no issues. In fact it's quite well balanced when you apply equal pressure to both levers.

You could get a 2nd hand pair of SLX/XT and bung your Avids on a classified ad. However if you insist on new the 2012 Deore are really quite good! They feel a like the 665 SLX (the last style before the funnel thingy).

There's nothing wrong with odd parts, but I'm too particular for that sort of thing.

No i havent bled them, but that another £15 (either to lbs or for the bleed kit) that could also go towards new brakes.

Now someone has told me to save up for Hopes and I am more confused than before....

Just watch about buying the shimano brakes from rose bikes. They are a great brake, but they do come Eurobrake. I.e. the front brake s designed to be run on the left and the rear the right. The levers aren't really designed to be run upside down so might be a small problem. Might be ok but I thought I would say.

Depends what you want really, hope and shimano are quite different in feel. I fInd that shimano don't have much modulation and feel a bit on and off however hopes are the complete opposite. Loads of modulation and very easy to fix small problems, like seals etc. but shimano require a new caliper/lever

mattjevans - Member

I have Avid Elixir 3's on my bike. They are awful.

In what way are the awful? Do they not work?

No i havent bled them, but that another £15 (either to lbs or for the bleed kit) that could also go towards new brakes.

At some point, you will have to bleed your hydraulic brakes, no matter who makes them.

They work adequately in the dry, poorly in the wet, squeal like a stuck pig in both, are often randomly draggy and generally make me feel like my (now not so) shiny new bike is not as nice a thing to ride as it should be. So, who wants to buy them now....

Yes I realise all brakes have to be bled but I am reluctant to spend money on the avids knowing its 50/50 that I'll still hate them after....

I have always run right hand rear and always will, so Rose suits me better than CRC in that respect

As long as they're not too drastically different... It might feel weird but after all the 2 brakes are doing a different job, and dealing with different inputs and amounts of traction.

Get the SLX you won't regret it. All three of my bikes have unmatched pairs and it has never caused a problem.

Usually run unmatched pairs. Not an issue.

Buying from Rose bikes isn't a problem, as the hoses will have to be shortened anyway - so just swap them over at the same time.
It's really easy to do (plenty of tutorials on the internet) - and a bleed kit consists of a syringe scrounged from your local vet, and a length of windscreen washer hose from halfords.

"work adequately in the dry, poorly in the wet, squeal like a stuck pig in both"

Have they been like this since you bought them?

Sounds more like a problem with your pads, either the intial compound, they've glazed over and/or the pad and/or rotor is contaminated/just needs a clean
I'd be tempted to clean the rotors and roughen up the pads first

A problem with your brakes, hey go buy SLX
My brother did this, instead of starting to look into why his hayes weren't quite working right, went and bought some SLX. Worked fine for a while before they started to play up, wierdly had no power in the dry but worked great when wet. Tried loads of new pads/brake rotor cleaner etc, multiple rebleeds, eventually put it down to failed piston sealing after finding leaking. Couldn't seem to find a seal kit/piston kit* so bought complete new calipers. Problem sorted, for now
*I can't back up his search abilites for spares

I like my elixir r's btw, hence my leaning to at leasty try to get your elixirs running properly
I liked my juicy 3's too (once I'd chukced the clip thing of the top of the caliper to make pad changing a doodle)

They were better when I bought the bike, but they've always made a lot of noise. I am open minded if changing out the pads will really make a difference, but a lot of people seem to have bad things to say about Avids

Given that most of us run different sized rotors front and rear, I suspect you won't have any issues at all.

And yes, Juicy 3s are pretty pants.

XT from Rose are £130 for a pair posted.... just saying...

or you could spend £50 on a pair or Deore M595... 😉

I know, it seems pretty silly to spend £125 an end on Hopes when XT is available at that price

I've an M595 and it's bloody ace - I only bought it in an emergency when my front brake died mid-riding weekend. The feedback and braking power was a real surprise.

Am seriously thinking about going XT.

Based on james' comment I have bought new pads and a bleed kit. At least I can sell them with new pads and a bleed kit if they don't work out....

XT it is if I still can't get on with them after that.

Another + for SLX and a big, enormous minus for Avid. Only two people have them in our riding group and they have endless trouble. I'm not saying other people don't have problems but not as often and as annoying as the poor Avid boys.
I too can't see the point in buying Hope when SLX, XT and the excellent Deore are so cheap. Hope would have to be pretty good to be worth twice as much.
On another point all these brake threads seem to be Avid v Shimano v Hope, does anybody have any of the newer Maguras, are they any good?

I have read a few threads since starting researching this and few people seem to have/love Maguras, there is a lot of love for Hope but it really doesnt seem that they are dramatically different to Shimano, just a diffrent feel and obviously bling (which I'm all for in general, but maybe not in this case).

Formula's seem to be the top of the line in performance and price

elixir 3 should be fine and not unreliable. very common OEM on bikes. often the factory bleed isn't good though. bleed, new pads (cheap ones), some red rubber grease around pistons, clean rotors with alcohol, bet they'll be fine.