Brake choice – Elixir R or SLX?

As above, really. Looking at brakes for a new build project. Both the SLX and Elixir R full setups come in at a similar price from Merlin, so which to go for? I’m not biased against Avid, but I have had a few issues with my Juicy 5s, any thought from the STW Hive?

New SLX blow elixir out of the water in my experience

I really like Elixirs. Tonnes of power and modulation. Light and simple looking. Mine have been reliable too.

Another vote for Elixir’s here. Had a few sets now and they don’t disappoint (even when running 160F/140R set-up on my Stumpjumper). I had a set XTR brakes before the Elixir’s and they were good, although didn’t have the same ‘bite’, which may be a good/bad thing depending on your preference.

The Elixirs are much better than the older SLX, having had both I’d get the Avids any day of the week

I thought 2012 shimano brakes are leagues ahead of any other brake? Only from what I have read mind.

+1 for avids, got 2 sets of elixirs, and I love em

Get the new shimano.

Elixir Rs are really good brakes, definitely recommend them.

Fitted 2012 SLX brakes they’re really good, not owned Elixirs but friends have them, I prefer the feel of Shimano. A friend ridding saints was very impressed too and said they felt similar.

Got mine from Rose Bikes, ordered Monday, came Wednesday with a free mug & the price was super cheap, got RT76 discs 180 f&r with adaptors cheaper that merlin with RT75 160 discs!

Love my Elixirs. Find Shimano to feel wooden in comparison, with not nearly the same modulation.

Horses for courses though, innit!

Yeah, very much so! Cheers for the opinions folks. Neither one’s a decisive win, it seems, so we’ll see how we go. Cheers!

2012 SLX are amazing, great single finger power.

I don’t think you’ll be dissappointed with the 2012 SLXs if you get them as they peform the same as the 2012 XTs, which are much talked about in the PSA cheap XT brake love-in thread.

I’ve no experience of SLX (or any recent Shimano) brakes.

But I can tell you that Elixirs are way better than Juicys so don’t let previous experience of Juicys put you off Avid.

How bad were Juicy’s then? I’ve got some Elixir’s on my fs and they’re getting swapped out for some Hope’s as soon as I can aford it as they’re not a patch on my old mono m4’s. They seem to manage a couple of rides before they squealing and need adjusting again.

I can safely say that SLX’s work really well (I have SLX on 2 of my bikes, the others have XT, and I can’t notice a difference, other than the XT being shinier) and are very easy to bleed. From what I’ve heard of Avids they work really well but can be a bit of a faff to bleed/work on when they go wrong, don’t know what Avid are like for spares, but you can’t get specific get spares for Shimano (you have to buy either the lever or caliper as complete parts).

So, in summary, pick the ones that best match the colour of your bike 😉

if you want trouble free brakes and easy bleeding then based on my experience of working in a workshop of a bike rental shop where half the fleet had Shimano (SLX incidently) and the other half Avid, then i would advise you to buy Shimano.

the old SLX have plenty of stopping power (like lots) and the new ones are meant to have even more so.

you won’t get that scary “where TF is my brake!!!??” feeling after laying your bike down with Shimano, either.

nor need you spend extra mullar on a bleed kit.

Gribs – not fatally bad, but a tendency to lose power and go squishy, even when they’d just been bled. May have just been my set, or an issue with the master reservoir, but in the last year, even after a full service, I’ve not had a ride where both have functioned as I wanted them to for the whole ride. I’ve got very adept at riding without a rear brake, as it seemed to be the worse of the two.

My mates elixirs have failed, can’t replace parts so needs new levers, can get a set of XT from Rose Bike for less than the levers cost!

Most of our sets of elixirs have come from the classifieds on here. Normally from people paying the Hope tax on new bikes. I don’t think I’d pay full money for them over the cheap SLXs at the moment, but if you keep your eyes open you can get a virtually unused set for £90. The cheapest I’ve bought were a rather nice set of elixir 5s in white for £40. I’ve just picked up some box fresh 2012 elixir 7s with matchmakers for £100 from someone determined that Hopes were going to be better.

I went for teh deal that on one had on (elixir CR’s for £90 an end) and they did work great, however i managed to boil the ass off the rear in the alps, something shimano’s never did to me.

Avid are nice, but shimanos work, and work, and work.

Got elixir R on my FS, and new XT (very similar to SLX) on my hardtail. Side by side I’d say the shimanos just about edge it in terms of power and feel. It’s pretty close though.

Not had the shimano for long, but reports suggest the maintenance regime might be a bit simpler than the avids