Not one for the avid haters. And I expect a lot would prefer shimano deore
But chain reaction have new avid elixir 3 for £28 an end.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/avid-elixir-3-disc-brake-2014/rp-prod85973?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ENG_28_10_14_top_trending_(1)&utm_content=&_$ja=tsid:41391%7Ccn:ENG_28_10_14_top_trending_(1)

Doesn’t matter about the price, it would be like paying for a car with no engine.

^^^ 😆

are they really crap or are they ok?
Tempting price but i dont want to fettle

FWIW i did not mind my Juicy 3’s

I have Elixer 5s and they are absolutely fine. Still got some Juicy 3s too, the Elixers are better.

Hmmm, deore are 60 quid the pair at ribble. Wouldn’t bother with the elixirs from crc.

They will be inexplicably noisy and work ok until you bleed them.

Even the brand new Avid SRAM brakes are noisy and crap to bleed. How can a massive company like SRAM make such bad products?

At least the Elixirs can be serviced when they break. I’ve just binned a set of Deores whose piston seals have failed, whereas Avid offer spare parts for everything.

I’ve got the Elixir Rs nowt wrong with them also have the deores not much difference really.

Was about to get the deores, im seeing them at £70 a pair. Do you have a discount code?

Ran avids for years, now on Shimano.

Avids were nowhere near as powerful and a bit messier to bleed, but they rarely need bled whereas my shimanos (deore, SLX, XT, XTR and Saint) need bled a lot more often

Had Elixir 1s on my Horsethief. Good brakes. Good shopping power, feel and reliability

Good shopping power,

What, like my Mrs?

I’d rather eat worms than put Avids on my bikes.

Wasn’t keen on the Juicy 7s I had on a bike though.
Elixir > Juicy

Was about to get the deores, im seeing them at £70 a pair. Do you have a discount code?

Stock13 has expired I think.

Having had Elixir’s I would agree there is not much in the use between them and Deore, but for £10 more for Deore, I wouldn’t even look at Elixir

I actually swapped the Elixir 1s for Deores.
Functionally not much difference – no way I could tell in a blind test.

However the Elixir 1s were white and it was distracting as hell in gloomy forest. Plus I’m planning on getting a CX bike with Shimano hydros so it’d be easier to share pads/bleeding stuff. Shimano fluid doesn’t absorb moisture over time so doesn’t go ‘off’

I have some Deores on my ten year old bike and they have never been bled .They work fine .

Did anyone buy these?
I took a punt and the plastic pad separator was in so tight it would not remove without considerable force- lever out with a screwdriver both ends!! The pads then wont fully retract and there is a gap between the back of the brake pad and the calliper – is this normal for Avids?
Did i just get unlucky, are avids like this or is this a CRC OEM omnishambles

I have e-mailed CRC and I am waiitng a reply

Cheers all

I have six year old Juicy 3 on my bike , which are still working fine. Admittedly getting a decent bleed when servicing them was a total lottery , but these days it’s easier to get right first time. Elixirs on the o/h’s bike are fine too.
Tempted to buy some for when either if ours become just too much to sort.

EDIT . Just noticed …old post.

They are still available I just wanted to now if they are all borked OEM stuff or if I just got unlucky – i did get two sets though so if I did i was really unlucky.

The pads then wont fully retract and there is a gap between the back of the brake pad and the calliper – is this normal for Avids?

My experience of Avid says this is par for the course.

Hence why lots of folk said don’t bother, go with Shimano!

MMM may be cheap for a reason – they look like they were bled with the pads slightly out but I am reluctant to start trying to fix /remove fluid from new brakes

run several pairs elixir r’s – can’t understand the hate for them. plenty powerful, a doodle to bleed, never had any issue with them other than snapping a lever when i crashed once.

ok but when they are bled I assume the pads sit flush with calliper as this is what they are not doing

Yes, the pistons should be flush with the calliper, so there’s no gap between the pad and the body of the calliper. You may need to work the pistons in with a lever of some kind, but if wiggling the plastic spacer isn’t enough to do it then it suggests something may be amiss.

If they weren’t brand new, I’d remove the pads and get a ring spanner in there and ease the pistons back into the bores.

If they won’t go all the way back in obvious candidates are air in the system, too much fluid (unlikely IMO) or sticky pistons. My money’s on air in the system.

brand new so my desire to fettle is nil as I will mark them and be left with them

I tend to agree on your assessment though

Guy at work bought these, minute he fitted them they started leaking out the lever. He’s now getting Shimano.

I’ve had 3 pairs over the years. Somewhat foolishly, I toyed with Shimano when I bought the last pair, but got Elixirs instead so I only had to buy one type of brake pad for both bikes.

Next brakes will definitely not be Avid.

The most recent set I bought have had hardly any riding on them, really. Way less than 1000 miles & they have needed rebleeding several times & the pistons don’t retract. One is so far over on the front brake that the caliper body has been skimming the disc.
My old Julie’s were about 8 year old before I finally got shot of them. These Elixirs haven’t managed two years.

I’m thinking it’s all about disc size and what you weigh as i actually hate them but when bleeding them up.for friends etc they do feel.ok on a test ride etc.
Also to get better feel when bleeding pull brake lever a few times when calipers are off bike then place a piece of 2-3mm cardboard in pads bleed as normal then when finished push the pads ?bah

Back in plush with a flat screw driver and the lever as a better plusher feel with around 3-5mm pull(if you like your brakes this way) that is.

I had no real issues when I owned them before but there is a few mm gaps each side of the caliper and this means that one wont even go over a disc and two are tight. I never tried to fit them though as i was – stupidly without realising- trying to fettle the worst [narrowest gap] one.

Either way the pistons wont retract with gentle , but firm, pressure on the pads and I am not doing anything industrial to new brakes but i would

my new elixirs (came with a bike i bought) didn’t even manage 1 ride before they turned to 5h1t.

free to a good home (+postage).

1) the levers leak.
2) the pistons can’t be pushed ‘home’.

#2 can’t be due to ‘too much fluid’ as quite of lot of fluid has now leaked out – see #1

What is weird with Elixirs is that even when you use the correct bleed block, the pistons aren’t fully retracted. I keep meaning to use a feeler gauge or some shim material (coke can, perhaps) to bulk out bleed block a bit, so the pistoons are fully retracted when it comes to bleeding.

When they work, I love the way they work. They are poweful, but without that on/off feel that you get with some brakes. You can really modulate your braking.
But, I don’t have time to keep up with bike maintenance as it is and brakes are one more thing I’d prefer not to mess around with. So when the time comes, I will definitely be replacing them with another brand; probably Shimano SLXs.

free to a good home (+postage)

I’m interested in having a tinker if you genuinely want rid,will PM you.

I’m a bit of a Shimano brake convert.
I have replaced an old Juicy Carbon with a new Deore Rear. Running mix and match on my old Trance they feel quite similar or maybe I have just got used to them. Have used Juicys and Elixirs for years. The Elixirs are very powerful when you want them to be but I have less of a problem with sticking pistons with Shimano especially in winter corrosive conditions.