I have Fuel ex which I bought lightly used (2 rides) in April. Its my first FS bike and in general its been great.

But the rear brake has almost never been right. Part of the problem was I bent the rotor but thats now replaced. The pistons have never actually stuck but they always seem reluctant to retract. Its got worse now with the lever needing a quick flick out after use.

I’m not going to rebuild it myself. I don’t fancy Dot 5 every where and I’d probably muck something up.

I’ve tried working the pistons in and out with no pads and spraying in GT85. TD will tell me off for this but there you go

Question

Anything else easy I can try?

Would you replace the brake (with a Shimano Deore? I don’t mind the brakes not matching front and rear) or get the brake rebuilt?

If I put on a Shimano Deore brake can I keep the old rotor and adaptor? Currently its a 185 mm

Embrace the madness and rebuild it yourself, albeit you’ll need a bleed kit.

It’s as simple as 2 caliper halves, each half has an O ring/seal and piston. There’s an o ring between the two halves. Rebuild kit was cheap from my LBS and the mechanic did tell me that the Juicy is prone to a bit of wear along the edge of the piston as pads wear and more piston’s exposed, so they need replacing from time to time. I don’t recall if this is because of a moulding ‘bead’ or because they’re made out of Edam. Sadly they’re not fit and forget, IME, but they’re easy to repair.

If you can’t be bothered lots of folk seem to get on with Deore.

Its not something daft like a kinked hose or broken pad spring is it ?

My juicy’s need a fettle once in a while, but on the whole they work well.

If anyone has a spare piston they can let me have, I wouldnt mind measuring one up & trying a nice machined one. 🙂

And ditto what was said. Good few years here on various Deores & never a single problem. They dont offer the performance of the Juicy’s though.

I have a set of juicy 3’s in my possession which you can have for £30 posted If you want, I replaced them off of my xtc alliance about 3 months ago and they’re sitting here doing nothing, all working fine and just have the usual wear and tear marks.
Everything Is there rotors (both 160) etc. Pads are quite new in both.

Let me know.

They dont offer the performance of the Juicy’s though.

True. They’re generally better…….

I had juicy 3’s on one bike and have Deore’s on another – the Deore was waaay better, more powerful and better modulation. lever wasn’t as nice but apart from that they were amazing. I replaced the Juicy’s with some oro’s.

avid brakes are just bin-filler.

if you try and fix them i promise you will throw good money after bad trying to get them to work.

they never will.

how much is an avid bleed-kit?

how much will the spares be?

how much will the other spares be?

answer: about the same as buying new brakes, except your avids still won’t work properly.

and then the levers will start leaking.

Thanks folks. Individaully great advice. Collectively you’ve left me still scartching my head

I think I’ll have to price up the options

cheers Ollie I’ll leave your offer for. Now I’ll send a private message if the other options look too pricey. I need to measure my current hose length before we talk again….

You say you bought in april, was it new (and shop bought)?

If so you it ought to still be covered by warranty?

When you mentioned the lever needing ‘flicked’ to make it return indicates that either the master cylinder bore or master cylinder seals may be the problem. It’s actually very common with Avids. I would be looking at rebuilding the lever first before faffing with the caliper…

I was continually bleeding my Juicy 3s to keep them working properly – got some Hopes off Ton on here and never looked back.

Another bad experience but with Avids, Juicy 5s on this occasion. Constantly bleeding and fettling. When they worked they were fine, but far, far more work they were worth. FWIW, I’ve had nothing but joy with Hayes. Nines and Strokers, like them both. Nines inparticular can be picked up for very little money and are bomb proof. Bit tricky to bleed but they don’t need it often, about once a year as TJ said. Deores are pretty good. Had a pair for three years before they started to fade. If you can stretch to them, them XTs are probably the bench mark. Very reliable and very little maintenance.

The bike was not a private sale, so no warranty or dealer back up. But as it was £500 less than retail I’m not going to be unhappy if I have to change the brakes. Particularly as I’ve now had a 6 month test ride and know its the right bike for me.