Noticed that in the disc brake test in new issue of Singletrack that Avids have a history of corroded pistons. Being in the market for new brakes I was wondering how widespread a problem this was.

Pretty amazing when they have phenolic pistons, not metal.

The pistons won’t corrode as such being essentially plastic, but the main body’s are made of finest tinworm metal so corrode at the first sign of British winter.

Anyone else?

Never heard of this until the STW article, and neither has anyone else I’ve spoken to. I’d take it as hearsay tbh.

dunno about the specifics, but my m8 who run Avids, seem to have the worst issues with sticky pistons, totally put me off them….

My experience has Hopes down as worse for piston problems. My juicies have had two full winters with no maintenance, other than pads, and other than a bit of rust on bolts/fittings etc, absolutely no problems.

Maybe it depends where you ride, but my lbs has always said this is an Avid problem. Hayes HFX 9s aren’t flash, but they’re ultra reliable and almost free if you can still find some kicking around.

A mate had problems with his bb7 sticking – I needed to sonicate it in the lab to free it.

My bb7’s are still perfect but look like pooh.

Have a couple of sets of Juicys, the older ones (not sure how old they are, they were second hand) get jammed up pretty regularly and now the new ones (on their second winter) are getting stuck. The backs seem the main culprit. I assumed that this was pretty normal for any disc brake ridden in the UK, but it sounds like Hayes (at least) don’t suffer. Any others which don’t?

The missus has juicys on her bike, and the last time I had to change the pads on the front (so much for feminism, eh?) , the pistons did not want to retract fully at all until gt85ed overnight and more force applied than I had initially thought appropriate.

And then there was the fiddly pad insertion fun. I hate them. Never used them on my own bike though, so I don’t have an opinion on how well they work.

edit…come to think of it. I’ve probably ruined or rotted a seal in the caliper now with the gt85. Good!

my mates avids are very bad and they are only just over a year old

Wouldn’t rule Hayes out for corrosion problems, had to scrap a few caliper shells due to corrosion in the seal grooves, can’t say i’ve seen that many Hopes in the workshop with corrosion issues myself.

Wouldn’t rule Hayes out for corrosion problems, had to scrap a few caliper shells due to corrosion in the seal grooves, can’t say i’ve seen that many Hopes in the workshop with corrosion issues myself.

My experience as well.
IMO the poor quality of the castings & the shockingly flaky coating are the main culprit. Hayes are not immune from it but not as bad as Avid.

I must be lucky – run Hayes simultaneously on two bikes for years, riding loads, all year round, in darkest dampest Yorkshire – not the most stylish brakes, but they’ve been super reliable in every respect.

Have Juicy 5s on the patriot and they’re great. Got them off amate who has used them with no servicing for 4/5 years replacing only pads. I put pads inwhen I fitted them and they run perfect.

Juicy’s are rubbish ime, nasty cheap shite

I have some original Juicy 5’s and, sorry coatsey, they don’t[/u] have phenolic pistons.

Perhaps later models do, but then doesn’t the pad sort of clip to the piston pin ? I’m not sure phenolic could withstand that.

They quite often get sticky and need a fair amount of tlc. Never had a problem with pad fitting though.

Hmmm this seems to have opened a can of worms. First time I’ve seen anything about disk brake longevity (any make). Going from the mags you would think all hydraulics need is bleeding and new pads as and when and you’re sorted.

Is this another problem caused by basically us the consumers wanting “cheap” kit then moaning that the materials used are low grade and don’t last?

I’m not saying paying more is necessarily the answer but when a product is made to a price point savings have to come from
somewhere.

Later ones are definitely phenolic, taken enough apart to be sure of that. Depends on model, but some have a moulded peg to hold the pads, some have a metal pin, it’s not really subjected to any forces as the caliper body deals with those.