troubles with my XX brakes

[steve24]

Many people (including myself) are stating their experience with what is a troublesome product. Does chiming in with "they work fine for me" cancel or falsify the negative experiences?
[/I]

No but i question statements like "the majority are temperamental dross"
because i have used more than 12 sets of Avids without problems.....

 

[rone]

No but i question statements like "the majority are temperamental dross"
because i have used more than 12 sets of Avids without problems.....

Sorry - I retract that statement. What I meant to say is that a large percentage are temperamental dross.

 

[scbullit]

i have used more than 12 sets of Avids

If you had used Shimano, you would have only needed one set... Sorry - just being a smart a^$e - He he.

 

[Capone]

I have found Avid's to be a bit hit and miss depending on the models

My Elixr's on the XC bikes are a nightmare and have never felt right.

However in saying that my 2011 codes on the DH rig are the best brakes ever, so much power and modulation and have only been bleed (Out of the box) once in 6 months, I know a few riders with Saint who are considering buying the new codes.

My advise is to watch the SRAM video on bleeding the brakes, learn it until you can do it blind folded. Its very easy to stuff up, but if you get it right happy happy joy joy

 

[Yellm]

Avid and Formula brakes

Hi,

I've had one set of Avid Ultimates and had many issues with them. Including a mastercylinder breaking in two with no apparent reason (no crash or anything) and the brakes not working well, having them bled at the LBS and the brakes not feeling any better etc was not happy with them...

Since several years I've been running Formula brakes on all my bikes including R1's (two sets) and TheOne's (two sets) and they've been great.

Contrary to some above comments, I've found them very simple and easy to bleed, 5 min and done. Although I've founs they last forever without needind any maintenance (apart from the usual bleed to replace the brake fluid as with every other DOT brake). The only thing to watch for is to bed them in properly, they do require that, and then they are great low maintenance brakes.

I dunno about the new formula brakes, but I didn't have great luck with them. Yeah, they had great power/feel, and were really light too, but they tended to need a lot more maintenance than any other brake I've ever had. After riding truly maintenance-free hopes for years (about 4 sets of them), after a while those formulas (both the oro puro and the original 'the one' brakes) would start getting into a habit of going to the bars and needing a bleed.

1) Did you bleed them as regularly as any DOT brake needs bleeding to prevent the fluid from getting old and the brakes feeling "spongy"?
2) Also, did you have the mastercylinder piston replaced in the oro/TheOne MY09? That would have likely solved that issue of the lever pulling in towards the handle bars - some had the issue that a small groove developed over time in one of the mastercylinderpiston seals allowing fluid bypass causing the issue you've mentioned which can easily be repaired, possibly even under warranty.

 

[bear the bear]

Hi,

I've had one set of Avid Ultimates and had many issues with them. Including a mastercylinder breaking in two with no apparent reason (no crash or anything) and the brakes not working well, having them bled at the LBS and the brakes not feeling any better etc was not happy with them...

Since several years I've been running Formula brakes on all my bikes including R1's (two sets) and TheOne's (two sets) and they've been great.

Contrary to some above comments, I've found them very simple and easy to bleed, 5 min and done. Although I've founs they last forever without needind any maintenance (apart from the usual bleed to replace the brake fluid as with every other DOT brake). The only thing to watch for is to bed them in properly, they do require that, and then they are great low maintenance brakes.



1) Did you bleed them as regularly as any DOT brake needs bleeding to prevent the fluid from getting old and the brakes feeling "spongy"?
2) Also, did you have the mastercylinder piston replaced in the oro/TheOne MY09? That would have likely solved that issue of the lever pulling in towards the handle bars - some had the issue that a small groove developed over time in one of the mastercylinderpiston seals allowing fluid bypass causing the issue you've mentioned which can easily be repaired, possibly even under warranty.

You do know that Formula designed Avid's brakes from them right?
Funny how one works well and the other...lets say would be more at home on a k-mart special :devilish:

 

[floody]

Avid/SRAM brakes are very easy to bleed, indeed, which is lucky because of the constant need.

Of late I'm starting to notice the opposite to levers pulling to the bar, numerous new sets of Elixirs seem to be rock hard with no lever freeplay and sticky, uneven, misaligned piston movement.

My theory is they just run the tooling too long and end up with rubbish tolerances.


I had M765 XT brakes for a while and they were trouble free, if not the most powerful things ever they were certainly reliable. I will sell my Elixirs to some sucker soon and get XTR Trail.

 

[Electric Panda]

Hi,

I've had one set of Avid Ultimates and had many issues with them. Including a mastercylinder breaking in two with no apparent reason (no crash or anything) and the brakes not working well, having them bled at the LBS and the brakes not feeling any better etc was not happy with them...

uh ohh... I have just sent in my 2 mth old XO's for doing that... I hope Avids warranty dept is running well

 

[sclyde2]

1) Did you bleed them as regularly as any DOT brake needs bleeding to prevent the fluid from getting old and the brakes feeling "spongy"?
2) Also, did you have the mastercylinder piston replaced in the oro/TheOne MY09? That would have likely solved that issue of the lever pulling in towards the handle bars - some had the issue that a small groove developed over time in one of the mastercylinderpiston seals allowing fluid bypass causing the issue you've mentioned which can easily be repaired, possibly even under warranty.

While I realise that DOT fluid goes off after while (can slowly absorb water etc), I never changed the fluid on any of my hopes. On my commuter, I am running a set of original mono minis with the original fluid in them - now at least 5 years old and still feel fine.

I doubt the problems were from old fluid in those formulas. The fluid was flushed a few times in those, as I had a lot of problems with them. I never replaced the mastercylinder piston - neither I or the LBS knew of this as a "fix" for the issue. Maybe that could've fixed them. I do realise that a lot of my problems with those formula brakes is the fact that they were pretty rare when I got them, and it was hard to find anyone with any experience with servicing them.

Back on topic...... I have since heard that 2 of the guys I regularly ride with (when I'm not injured) are now having big problems with their avid elixir brakes. Apparently, they are dumping them and getting shimano brakes. Hopefully, my XX brakes don't go the same way.

 

[WLewis]

I've spoken pretty extensively with the guys from SRAM/Avid and it looks like they had some major quality control issues with the 2011 XX's. The summary of the whole thing is that the initial factory bleed had some contamination issues and the materials QC wasn't quite up to snuff and not dealing with a closed system required for hydros. They've stated that the 2012's are significantly better. You may have some luck speaking to a local shop assuming you bought them locally and not online.

 

[Cap]

I've spoken pretty extensively with the guys from SRAM/Avid and it looks like they had some major quality control issues with the 2011 XX's. The summary of the whole thing is that the initial factory bleed had some contamination issues and the materials QC wasn't quite up to snuff and not dealing with a closed system required for hydros. They've stated that the 2012's are significantly better. You may have some luck speaking to a local shop assuming you bought them locally and not online.

That's pretty close to the mark.

 

[Electric Panda]

I've spoken pretty extensively with the guys from SRAM/Avid and it looks like they had some major quality control issues with the 2011 XX's. The summary of the whole thing is that the initial factory bleed had some contamination issues and the materials QC wasn't quite up to snuff and not dealing with a closed system required for hydros. They've stated that the 2012's are significantly better. You may have some luck speaking to a local shop assuming you bought them locally and not online.

So given a lot of the internals are the same I am guessing by inference that XO is also on the dud list? Do you happen to know if Monza are putting the new bladders in any 2011 Warranty returns - or just scrapping them and giving whole new lever assemblys?

 

[jathanas]

So given a lot of the internals are the same I am guessing by inference that XO is also on the dud list? Do you happen to know if Monza are putting the new bladders in any 2011 Warranty returns - or just scrapping them and giving whole new lever assemblys?

I'm just cutting my losses with SRAM braking and (gradually) moving all my bikes over to XTR for stoppers. If they released this rubbish in 2011 what says that 2012 will not be found wanting?

 

[Gnarly one]

I solved my frustrations with having to frequently bleed my XX brakes by replacing them with a set of Formula R1s.

 

[jathanas]

Fixed my 2011 XX World Cup

I'm confident that my troubles are now over. Bye-bye turkey wobble and fortnightly bleed. :clap2:

 

[ozimad]

İ have had Avids on all my bikes and have never experienced any issues.. İ wouldnt buy anything else

 

[Electric Panda]

Just received a brand new set from Avid as replacement for my XO fronts that fell in two pieces at the lever pad contact adjuster. I'll shorten the hose, bleed etc and hope like hell I don't have any more problems...

 

[Yeti2390]

I was given have a front set XX brake as a gift for putting a bike together for a friend and they still sitting in that same box they came in after the issues that I had with a set of Juiceys that I had on my ARC. I went overseas for a few months and had to my stuff storage. When I got back my brakes were ceased. My LBS at the time said it was a problem with avids in the tropics when they aren’t used for a while. When you compare them to the set of XT that I still have use from 2004 that have only been bleed once when I changed bikes, give me XT any day of the week. I run sram everything else except brakes.

 

[Electric Panda]

Just received a brand new set from Avid as replacement for my XO fronts that fell in two pieces at the lever pad contact adjuster. I'll shorten the hose, bleed etc and hope like hell I don't have any more problems...

well that was short lived... Just sent these off for a 2nd go at replacing for some working brakes... these would not hold a bleed ie they would start to soften up after a few weeks... I had to bleed them 3 times in 2mths... yet my rear XO's have been absolutley fine - I would even say they are good brakes - powerful yet good modulation... In fact while I have bled them twice it was only when I shortened the hose and once more to fine tune for the hell of it when I changed to metal pads.