Bleeding 3 week old Avid brakes?

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strezd

Likes Bikes
Ive had my bike 3 weeks now.
I've ridden it a lot.
Had 1 spill.
I have Avid 5 brakes.

I usually have a slow and steady breaking style with about 60-70% front brake and the rest rear.
Now I need I need to pull the rear brake lever all the way back to the handgrip to get a Full lock.

I'm guessing I need a bleed but so early?
Would a normal shop warranty cover this?
Should I invest in my own bleed kit?
What would cause a brake to need bleeding after only three weeks?

My little spill was two days before it developed the problem.
Ahhh!! The day the problem came up I was breaking a lot more than usual as I had to wait for my girlfriend to keep up. Maybe some subtle guilt placement would be in order and I could use the moment to tell her I want to buy $200 carbon handlebars amount other things.

Any help help/advice appreciated.
 
SuperSix

SuperSix

Likes Dirt
When you said you had a spill, did you damage the rotors, banjo or brake lines? Did brake fluid ooozed out?
 
S

strezd

Likes Bikes
No break fluid leakage anywhere.
Rotor perfectly straight.
Everything looks good.

What is a banjo?
 
Trigger02

Trigger02

Likes Bikes and Dirt
HAHAHAHA... HE IS A HANSOM YOUNG DEVIL!!!

I use to think Avid were the ants pants. then used shimano bottom of the line breaks and even they are better.
 
S

strezd

Likes Bikes
So the answer is give up the guitar and take up the banjo because shimano have better brakes?

I think I need to buy a bleed kit.
 
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moorey

moorey

call me Mia
strezd said:
So the answer is give up the guitar and take up the banjo because shimano have better brakes?
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I didn't say 'better'....consensus is that WORKING avids are superior.....but you'll notice that 'working' is the catch....
I've mentioned this before, but i recently bled mt 04 saints for the first time EVER recently, and only because I felt guilty, not because they needed it:nono:
 
Dozer

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
moorey said:
Buy shimano. I'm staggered you got 3 weeks out of them:rant:
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moorey said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzae_SqbmDE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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Geez you're an asset to this forum, you're so helpful.


I'd book them in for a bleed and even suggest to the store that they haven't felt as good as the opposite brake since you bought it. It is possible that they have some air in the system making thm squeeze in a touch further but that is easily fixed. If you're competent and know the dealio, I suggest getting your own bleed kit for Avid brakes and doing it yourself. I also suggest you get the professional version of the bleed kit as the fittings don't bulge and leak any fluid when you force the fluid through. It is a touch dearer but you shouldn't pay over $100 for it.
The Avid bleeding process is pretty simple but I recommend checking a video to do it. One thing I will say that not many instructions so is to wind your lever out if you have reach adjust) to enable that extra bit of fluid into the system thus making it more responsive.
 
Wellsey

Wellsey

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I've had five sets of Avid brakes on different bikes over the years, and am just now having to rebuild my first one. This is after it's done 2500k's on my hardtail, and it was 2nd hand when I got it, so no idea of it's previous history. I bleed them about once a year.

I think a lot of Avids reputation is due to the fact that they are OEM issue across most of the bike market, so it could be something as simple as there are just millions of them out there. The ratio of issues to units may not be much different to other brands.
 
SuperSix

SuperSix

Likes Dirt
Gunzee's Juicy3s haven't been bleed since he bought the pups. Still strong as hell and requires a fine tuned finger to modulate those braking power.

I got Juicy5s that are so sweet when squeezed, I swear the brake lines have a good mix of bourbon and Dot5.1s :D
 
fatboyonabike

fatboyonabike

Captain oblivious
why the hell would any company make a brake that needed to be bled once a week?
i have juicy ultimates, and yes it is a time consuming process to get them right, but when you do , they work so damn well..(have only had to bleed them once so far!)
i think that half of the problems you hear is user error, being too impatient to get going...lets face facts, who the hell likes to follow instructions to the letter, but when it comes to brakes, i think its pretty important..
i tried to bleed a set of shimano brakes on my wifes giant, what a shitshow that turned out to be!.you cant expect avid juicy 3's to work as good as XTR or saint, nor can you expect deore to work as good as code's..some work well, some are crap!
 
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W

Webby82

Likes Bikes
I must be one of e lucky ones. I've Ben using my juicy 7's for a long time and only had to bleed them twice...
I'll be looking at avid brakes again for sure.
 
skinnyboy73

skinnyboy73

Likes Bikes
Nic Webb said:
I must be one of e lucky ones. I've Ben using my juicy 7's for a long time and only had to bleed them twice...
I'll be looking at avid brakes again for sure.
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Not lucky mate just probably did them right. Its like anything mechanical, there is a set procedure to achieve the designed solution. With Avids, its a 2 syringe job and a faff, but done to the letter, they work. Its just the way they are designed. Now, don't get me started on Ashima PCB brakes... simply awful.
 
C

Cycle Technic

Likes Bikes
The good thing about Avids is that they're very easy and quick to bleed. The problem is that they require a variation on the normal bleed technique in order to extract all the air from under the reservoir bladder. The Avid kit is pretty cheap, the instructions are good.

Some Avids come OEM with a poor factory bleed, this usually presents itself in performance losses pretty quickly as the pads wear. Bleeding the brakes from new is worth doing, and I've done it many times on new bikes.

Shimano make great brakes, but not so much better that it's worth throwing away a (probably) perfectly good Avid just because it needs 15 minutes of work.

CT
 
skinnyboy73

skinnyboy73

Likes Bikes
Cycle Technic said:
The good thing about Avids is that they're very easy and quick to bleed. The problem is that they require a variation on the normal bleed technique in order to extract all the air from under the reservoir bladder. The Avid kit is pretty cheap, the instructions are good.

Some Avids come OEM with a poor factory bleed, this usually presents itself in performance losses pretty quickly as the pads wear. Bleeding the brakes from new is worth doing, and I've done it many times on new bikes.

Shimano make great brakes, but not so much better that it's worth throwing away a (probably) perfectly good Avid just because it needs 15 minutes of work.

CT
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Shhhhhh... that way we can pick up perfectly serviceable Avids for nix, whilst the terminally inept spunk their cash on some new Shimano stuff
 
A

asdfben

Likes Bikes
If you have 1/4 of a brain and actually know how to bleed a brake rather than just following the procedure, you will not have a problem with avid brakes..
 
fatboyonabike

fatboyonabike

Captain oblivious
asdfben said:
If you have 1/4 of a brain and actually know how to bleed a brake rather than just following the procedure, you will not have a problem with avid brakes..
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that makes no sense!...is'nt the procedure based on actually knowing how to bleed a brake?..all brands are different, but the end result is essentially the same/replace the air with a non compressable fluid, without giving it a path to leak from under pressure!
 
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