Had a bit of a mare tonight trying to change the front pads.

The retaining bolt had jammed solid and I managed to round it off and eventually managed to get it out by stripping the brake off the bike and knocking the bolt round with a hammer and chisel to release it.

My LBS let me have a new bolt but, in the meantime I’ve managed to lose the end clip.

I know they are available for about £6 for 2 bolts and clips, but just wondered if anyone had found a replacement for the clip as the bolts are fine now and it seems a bit much paying £6 for essentially 2 tiny clips.

get hold of a Shimano split pin…. works. no tools needed. nothing to go wrong (other than losing it).

i swapped the bolt for a pin on the GF’s bike when i, too, lost the retaining clip.

ebay.
You may end up with 1000 but always handy to have a few in the tool box. My Avids use split pins rather than circlips. Again ebay but look for stainless otherwise they’ll go rusty in a day.

I’ve done about 500 miles since I lost the circlip.

Not died or lost a brake pad yet.

I’m not recommending this you understand, but I lost both my clips and just ran the bolts with some threadlock & no circlip.

Been like that over a year & narry a sign of them working loose.

There’s loads of E clips on the Bay, anyone know what size the pins are or how to measure them to get the correct size ?

if you ask in your local bike shop they usually stock a box of avid spares, they charged me 50p, failing that a stainless split pin works just aswell.

Lost mine a few years ago and the pin’s not fallen out of either caliper. I wouldn’t worry about it

I’ve not had the circlips for years. The bolts don’t take Much force iirc since the caliper takes the strain when braking the bolt just stops the pads bouncing out. That is how shimano get away with a simple split pin.

I did the same, so stuck a zip tie on it, still running strong.

My LBS let me have a new bolt but, in the meantime I’ve managed to lose the end clip.

Back to lbs, buy something and ask them for a circlip

I use split pins from ebay too, after a similar incident to yours. Hope brakes use a bigger pin, less likely to stick or round off.

Avid supplies the bolt and clip with their replacement pads. Aftermarket brands generally do not.

Lost the clips years ago and never had a problem

I did this last year and found a lot of people on other forums talking about how they had replaced the clip with a thin bit of wire and it did the job fine. I haven’t tried this though because I found a spare one in my garage but it should be fine.