I’ve got 2 sets of Avid Elixir 5 brakes. When these are working I like them a lot. However they are often not working, requiring a bleed or other maintenance, e.g. piston service. In fact most of the time each bike has been out of action it is due to the brakes! Often they start out great on a ride, then by the end of it they need at least a caliper realign. In fact I think need to align the calipers pretty much before every ride

I’m thinking of swapping them and going for 2 sets of Shimano SLX M666. They get good reviews, look like a simpler bleed process and use mineral oil rather than toxic DOT 5.1.

Is this a wise move? Or can do anything to improve the reliability of the Elixirs?

Best thing to do to improve the reliability?

Bin ’em. Best thing for them.

Get a set of new Shimano Deore brakes – they are so cheap and work so well it makes my brain hurt.

You can even cut the hoses down to the right length and put them back to together without haveing to bleed them.

I ditched my Avids and have shimano on all my bikes. Sure reliabilty with the Shimano compared to Avid.

I went from 5’s to Deore’s recently. Great! They just work, with none of the fuss and, seemingly, luck required in Elixir ownership.

You can even cut the hoses down to the right length and put them back to together without haveing to bleed them.

This is true, unless you are a handless muppet, who tries to do the job on his own, with bodged tools.
On the plus side, the bleed is dead straightforward.

I’ve just ordered some M665s from bike discount.de. £124 delivered.

You can get XT for that?

I was a SRAM fanboy, and there was no changing my mind…..

…Im now running XT brakes and Zee 1×10. Best thing ive done in recent times on my bike!

Am a long time Hope user, but recently bought a second hand bike that had XTs on, am a total convert.

Bleeding takes moments too, none of that silly pump the lever flick a spanner, fluid dribbles everywhere, shenanigans. Just squeeze fluid in at the calliper and air comes out at the reservoir. Done.

Also I believe all Shimano breaks take the same pads. I stuck with Hope for simplicity but actually I have four different calliper sizes that take 4 different types of pad!

Sadly, Shimano have won this one I think. Game over.

Thanks for the replies, I think I’m converted…

Look out for my For Sale thread! 😀

You can get XT for that?

A pair? Where?

Conversely I went back to avid from shimano slx and I’m much happier with my elixir 3s 🙂 I may consider the deore ones for my cheap hardtail build though, depends whether I feel the need to change the bb7s – probably not tbh! Oh and I wouldn’t order cheap slx from rose, piss poor customer service.

Almost the same as mattjg above until halfway through…..I am a devoted Hope user but also bought an ex-demo bike with Shimano brakes. I was going to just remove them and sell them as I generally don’t like Shimano stuff but never got round to it.

I would say they are OK (to my surprise), but seem a bit on / off with nothing in between. Pad sizes ARE different as I found to my cost miles from anywhere a couple of weeks ago – mine has those big daft finned pads which have the bolt hole in the middle. The rest seem to have the bolt hole up one end…..

I wasn’t aware that Shimano brakes could even be bled. That’s good to know.

OK, I didn’t know re the pads. The ones I bought clearly say “Deore SLX XT XTR” on the packet. Perhaps I;ve got that wrong.

I don’t find my XTs binary. They are sharper than my Hopes, sure, but I very quickly got used to applying a more delicate touch, no bad thing.

Also I believe all Shimano breaks take the same pads. I stuck with Hope for simplicity but actually I have four different calliper sizes that take 4 different types of pad!

Nope, theres about 5+ different pads for Shimano brakes, but usually SLX / XT / XTR usually have the same pad design.

Xt Gone up since I bought mine though 🙁

Having gone from Avids to Shimanos on both bikes last year, I will never touch a brakeset with the name Avid on again

Another vote for XT here – nothing but trouble with Avid, nothing but smiles from XT.

I love my Avids, had them on a few bikes,

My old man and a mate have just got the new Deore brakes and they are really pleased with them. Look good for the money.

What’s wrong with STW today?
Everyone is agreeing 🙂

and another +1 for Shimano, genuinely fit and forget!

Replaced the avid 7s on my recently purchased camber 29er with XT…so glad I did, the difference is night and day. Bit miffed I spent couple of k on a bike and then had to buy some decent brakes for it though!

Yep.. did just that I hate my brakes

Bought some slx off rosebikes and haven’t looked back

Another vote for Shimano
Zee germans = £118.46 plus shipping
The only good Avid brakes are mechanical BB7s

Get a set of new Shimano Deore brakes – they are so cheap and work so well it makes my brain hurt.

You can even cut the hoses down to the right length and put them back to together without haveing to bleed them.

Didn’t have avids, but hayes nines on one bike, with Shimano on the others. The nines were good, but bleeding them was just a pain in the backside. Ditched the nines and Bought some Deores.

Had to do the hose cut on both…it’s too easy, and without the bleed. Result.

Shimano; fit and forget in my opinion. Reliable, robust easy to get pads for…

I bought the cheap and cheerful Shimanos from Merlin about 3 months ago, fitted and fogotten. Same pads, same fluids, same feel etc.. They just work and work well.

OK, they dont have the ultimate stopping power of some more expensive brakes… but i don’t have the skills to need more power than i have 🙂

but i don’t have the skills to need more power than i have

It’s t’other way round, if you have the skills you don’t need the power.

I swapped my elixir 5’s for some new deore ones there brilliant and the fact you back burp them if you get oil in the line is class no need to re bleed every time. The leaver shape is great as well.

Best move i ever made,stopping power on my XT’s compared to the avids that came on my Giant Reign is superb,i only rode the bike once with the avids,just because i was lazy and couldn’t be ar5ed swapping the brakes over,nearly went “pear shaped”
As i was used to 1 finger near instant stopping and the Avids were pi55 poor,i had a nice wee fast windy descent to go down and the brakes didn’t slow me enough and i just managed to swing round the switch back before stopping,sitting for a minute and thinking “that was f***in lucky”

Another vote for Shimano
Zee germans = £118.46 plus shipping

Seems like the non finned pads are supplied, anyone compared finned vs. non finned?

What do XT have over SLX?

I’m told it’s just the kind of pin that holds the pads in, but can’t substantiate that (and they have XT printed on the cover).