I have a pr of SRAM Guide rs brakes. One lever was disconected from the hose when i removed them from the bike.

However when i have come to reuse them the lever is solid and i cant pull it back.

What has happened and how can i fix it?

Thanks

Ian

Oddly enough I had this happen to me this week on a pair I bought from ebay. The piston is stuck in the barrel. You can buy a rebuild kit for about £25 and SRAM service docs have step by step instructions. Looks quite tricky though.

I was quoted £50 to repair by a local shop.

However, this was apparently a common problem with the Guides and if you are the first owner then SRAM should replace them without much issue.

The lever is easy to strip down. Just sand down the front part of the plastic piston and it’ll be reet.

Thanks guys, i will now investigate

Much appreciated.

Ian

Top tip. Do not try and remove the rubber seals on the piston, they will rip. I made that fatal mistake. You can buy new pistons without buying the entire kit. I bought the kit and then just bought just the piston from Taiwan of ebay. Both are the same and have been good for two years.

It’s not a hard job, probably the worst bit is the dam c clip.

Thank you 🙂

Also had issues today. Lever wouldn’t return when pulled after bike was left out in the sun during maintenance session. Looked it up – also a known issue. Cheers Jim for posting the video, will take a look.

The heat issue is with the older models. The newer models are fixed. You should be able to get them fixed under warranty, and even outside of warranty, arguably under your 6 year Consumer Rights Act rights being a design flaw.

Though it’s a faff to go through the process and it’s not too hard to do the lever service or replace with just the piston from an ebay special.

Note, RSC is a bit different to the lower models. Lower ones need circlip pliers to remove a tiny circlip. RSC relies on the adjuster to keep bits in place. However with RSC you need a special SRAM tool to set the plunger swing arm.