Hey, having recently bought some brand new Avid Juicy 3s from CRC, they have a lot of travel and pull back nearly to the bar, shall I get them bled or shall I adjust the lever reach screw? If the second one, which way do I turn the screw, left or right? 😳
Thanks,
Dan.

The lever reach screw will move the whole lever in and out as well as the bite point. You might find you end up with the levers further out than you want to get the bite point where you want it, if you see what I mean.

Bleeding them should help, though I think Juicys just do have quite a bit of lever travel. Can never remember which way is which sorry but you should see the lever move very slightly either way when you turn it.

Pulling the levers tight then tying them up and leaving overnight is a tip I read somewhere, and it does seem to help, but I'm not sure if it works in the long term really.

Bleed them,they come from the factory with enough air in them to float the Titanic.Tying the levers back will, if you're lucky, transfer the air to the reservoir, if you then pull the lever with the bike tilted back it'll go back into the system and you'll be back to square one.

They need a bleed. Juicy's should have very little lever throw when properly bled.

Very faffy though. I'd use 5.1 dot fluid too.

Sram have put bleeding guides up on Youtube but I'd recommend doubling up the number of 'vacums' you pull.

Is it worth doing it myself (bearing in mind this is my first time) or shall I take it to the shop?

Pretty time consuming job, so will cost a fair bit in labour charges, i'd recommend doing it yourself.I do it for a living and reckon about £25 min. to bleed a pair of Avids, i'd be charging closer to £40 if i'm honest.

I had the same issue. Bleeding it sorted it out. I got a bleed kit here Red dog

Comes with full explaination, it's easy to follow, also check out the vid on youtube as said above.

Thanks guys, I will give that a go on Saturday, what's the worst that could happen? 😉

Why are you all telling him to bleed brand new brakes?????

FFS, even if it turns out that they DO need it in the end, surely to god he should try the reach adjust FIRST!!!!!

You're all potentially making a mountain out of a mole hill! 🙂

Screwing the lever adjuster in, ie clockwise will move the lever away from the bar. This will also move the bite point away from the bar and possibly solve your problem. If you get the latest avid bleed kit follow the instuctions to the letter and then do it all again to make sure. Earlier kits had slightly different instructions which complicated issues immensely. Either way its a job that requires a chair, patience and a sixpack on hand.

Either way its a job that requires a chair, patience and a sixpack on hand.

I often failed at this as my shed doesnt contain any of the above… 😉

I had a set of juicy threes, they worked fine until they broke, and then I gave up as I couldn't get them to work again…

The lever travel was quite normal for mine despite how I bleed them btw – the replacement brakes (hayes stocker trails) feel a lot better.

Also the bleed kit is expensive – do a quick google and someone had some tips for a home made one. Not tried it though as I bought the legit bleed kit…

Before bleeding perhaps email CRC and see what they say? They might do you a deal on a bleed kit or offer to replace them if they are still new?

David.

£40 to bleed a pair of Juicys? You are kidding aren't you. It's a five minute job at most. They are incredibly easy brakes to bleed.

Just thought the same Goan, takes me about 15mins to do front and back. Danny, if you take your time and read how to do it 2 or 3 times before you start, you'll be fine….just take your time.

get them bled…in my experience when you buy them new they always seem to be alittle airy

get them bled…in my experience when you buy them new they always seem to be alittle airy

BUT FOR GODS SAKE TRY THE ADJUSTERS FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
😀

the adjusters make sod all difference ime.

The adjusters work very well IME, on my J3s. 🙂

Not kidding about £40 to bleed two brakes at all, they're the biggest PITA to bleed ever, and having a duty of care to the customer means they have to be done properly.I do this day-in and day-out, and estimate spending a good half hour getting every last bubble out.Probably bleed you a pair of Hope or Shimano for less than half of that cost.
As for not needing bleeding just because they're new,after building literally hundreds of new bikes fitted with them, i've only come across one set that didn't need it.

What do you find makes them a pain in the arse?

As for the duty of care thing – what kind of idiot would take more care over someone elses brakes than they would their own?

Just the fact they take an age to do properly really, i've got enough to do without having to faff about with every new set of brakes I come across.
Seeing the state of some brakes on bikes that come in for service, with owners seemingly oblivious to any faults, somebody needs to take care of them i'm afraid.

Yes they are a pain in the arse reliability wise and the pistons have more seizures than the epilepsy unit at the local hospital, but bleeding them is a piece of piss.

OP – also if you do play with bleeding them then you really need to be careful of the brake fluid – do it outside, wear plastic gloves and eye protection – its perfectly do-able to squirt brake fluid out of these if you squeeze the levers at the wrong time etc.

If you do spill it on you then rinse straight away with plenty of water. Also dont get it on your rotors or pads or you will be buying new pads… 😉

Seriously – drop CRC a quick mail before bleeding them.

As to Goan and coatesy I can bleed them one handed with a eye patch on so my willy is bigger than yours. 😉

I know this is going to sound silly but how shall I come across with the mail to CRC?

I was thinking of something like; "I recently ordered an Avid Juicy 3 front brake from you, and I have found that in the position the lever came in, the lever pulls back nearly to the bar, about 1-2cm away, and when they are this far back, the bite is terrible, what do you advise I do?"

Anything I missed, should change etc.?

You see if you pump the lever does the bite point move out from the bars?

Andy from CRC cuts about the forum sometimes – he might have already seen this… 🙂

I would say something like:

"Hi,

I recently got a set of Avid Juicy Threes (order number: ) from yourselves.

I have found that there seems to be a lot of travel on the lever before they bite – is this normal as the levers are straight out of the box?

A few people have suggested that they need bled out of the box – is this normal?

Is this something you would expect or something that can be covered under warranty?

Cheers,

Danny"

It doesnt come across as being arsey (one of the things I hate at work is emails or phone calls that start with "Under the trade description act this is not fit for purpose and I will take you to the small claims court for damages unless you do this: <insert unreasonable list of demands here> also I will tell the whole internet how rubbish you are!") but sets out the issue and gives them plenty of scope to come back with something like:

"Hi Danny,

Something seems to be wrong here! Please post them back and we will bleed them / swap them for another set.

Love CRC"

Or at worst an email saying:

"Hi Danny,

This is normal – we would expect this.

Love CRC".

In the second case it might be worth getting a LBS to bleed them or return them to CRC if you can under the distance selling act thingy.

At least if you start the dialog friendly you catch more flies with honey etc and can get evil if you need to later on 😈

Let us know how you get on!

PeterPoddy – Member

get them bled…in my experience when you buy them new they always seem to be alittle airy

BUT FOR GODS SAKE TRY THE ADJUSTERS FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The reason I'm saying the brakes need bleeding is this statement by the OP

they have a lot of travel and pull back nearly to the bar,

Juicy's should have little, almost zero throw in the lever. If they have a lot of throw then there's air in the system or it's not properly filled. The lever reach adjustment does nothing to change this. As previously said, the lever could end up being too far away from the bars.