Switching from Avid Elixir to Shimano

Been having fun and games with bleeding my Elixir 7s and everybody keeps telling me that Shimano is the way forward. I’m not about to swap until I need to replace something but I’m wondering… Can I just switch to XT without changing the rotors or do I need to swap the whole lot out?

I use my old Avid Elixir rotors in my Shimano XTs – seem to remember a little catching on the front brake but that was easily shimmed out.

I use my old Avid Elixir rotors in my Shimano XTs – seem to remember a little catching on the front brake but that was easily shimmed out.

Glad you made the switch?

Yeah, you should be able to swap straight over from one to the other without too much difficulty.

I’ve recently swapped the Elixirs 1’s that came on my new bike for my far superior Stroker Trails and it was just a case of unbolting one and bolting the other on and aligning them. would have taken about 10 minutes front & back if I hadn’t replaced the hoses at the same time.

OK, they’re not Shimano but the principle is the same.

Glad you made the switch?

yep, I’m one of the people who had continuing problems with Avids (Codes and Elixirs) and decided to go to Shimano (mainly for price) which have so far been fit and forget.

I recently went from Elixir R’s to SLX using the same rotors and caliper mount adaptors and I’m made up with them. Much easier to align and are powerful and consistent

Used some Elixers on a hire bike in the alps for a few hours (it was free!) and really didn’t get on with them, the modulation was strange. I much prefer the SLXs on my own bike. I’ve had the back one 3+ years now, over 3 different bikes, and never had to bleed it. It just works!

I recently went from Elixir R’s to SLX using the same rotors and caliper mount adaptors and I’m made up with them. Much easier to align and are powerful and consistent

Have you bled the SLX at all? Wondering if the Avid bleed kit can be used on the Shimano range

Avid is DOT brake fluid.
Shimano is mineral oil.
You get a better bleed with less faff if you buy the Shimano bleed funnel thing. It’s cheap enough and gets the last remaining bubbles out very effectively. This and a big syringe plus some hose is all you need.

Avid is DOT brake fluid.
Shimano is mineral oil.
You get a better bleed with less faff if you buy the Shimano bleed funnel thing. It’s cheap enough and gets the last remaining bubbles out very effectively. This and a big syringe plus some hose is all you need.

Same bleed port screws as Avid? I have syringes from the Avid bleed kit

Done the switch on all bikes. Better performance and easier to maintain. I thoroughly cleaned my avid bleed kit and reused the syringes, but they’re a tiny bit small, and you still need the funnel thing really.

I’m looking to replace old the brakes (Hayes HFX9s) on my 2nd bike at the moment. Can’t decide whether to get some new XTs to put on my “Good” bike and move its old XTs onto the 2nd bike, or whether to stay cheap and get some Deores for the 2nd bike and leave the 1st as it is…

Anyone seen any good offers on XTs at the moment? Merlin at £180 is the best I’ve seen so far.

Anyone seen any good offers on XTs at the moment?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=67208

No RH fronts in stock at the mo though.

Tweeks have them for £82.49 each, but I’ve never used them or heard of them, any recommendations?

Have been buying motorbike bits from Demon Tweeks for 10 years or so and more recently a few MTB parts. Not the cheapest or the fastest but if they’ve got them and you want them…

Cheers, ordered 🙂

Had good experiences of Tweeks cycles – bought my latest bike from there.

They couldn’t have been more helpful over the various questions I asked and there was always a rapid reply when phoning.

i got my XT’s from rose bikes in germany and swapped the hoses over (dead easy)

Went from Elixr 3’s to XT’s and well happy now. I now use the 185mm avid disc that was on the front at the rear and put a new shimano 203 on the front.
if you do use the avid disc and mount for the shimano brakes it’s worth taking your time to make sure they are lined up properly, and check the wear after a while to make sure it’s even on the pad

I put some Deores on my BFe when I was building it a year ago purely because they were very very cheap, as in £80 for the pair! They are great. I buggered them up shortening the hoses but they are easy and fast to bleed and are very powerful.

I had Elixirs on my FS which I really liked when they were working properly however they needed bleeding every month or so and I got offered some cheap brand new SLXs from my mate so put them on. I think the Shimanos take a bit of getting used to as the power is very sudden but when you do they are good.

I don’t think the SLXs have more power than the Deores but they do have the funky ice-tec pads.

Well, Tweeks get a thumbs up from me. I ordered about 4pm yesterday and they’ve just turned up! The free delivery option said 4-6 working days, in reality it was 4-6 working hours!

Apologies to the OP for the thread-hijack – to return the thread to being on topic, I plan to use them with my Hayes discs 🙂