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I'ved this issue for a while and tbh have been a bit lazy about getting it fixed. The front one I've bleed to a half decent standard and its good enough to put me on the front wheel. The back one in struggling with. It will lock up initially and then fade quickly. Subsequent braking I'd do better to jam my foot in the back wheel.

I'm getting to the point where I want to bin them and get some new brakes, although because I'm a tart I'd like to stick with Avid because a. Their white and match my pimp colour scheme and b. They fit my matchmaker clamps and look neat and tidy.

I know theres decent braking in there somewhere so my question is, is anyone any good with these or can anyone recommend a decent shop that could do them? I'm in the Witham local but willing to travel for decent service.

Cheers in advance.

Hi Craig I can recommend http://www.pedal-worx.co.uk/ as will a number of people on this forum

Hey I've pulled mine apart several times to get a decent bleed/ fix crash damage and the one thing that seamed to make all the difference was servicing the brake callipers. Just stripped them right back lubed them and put them back together and bugger me even the pad adjust worked properly. Changed a great feeling but unreliable pair of avid cr into a really great brake

Thanks for the recommendation and advice. I know Avids have a bad reputation so its good to see that someone has a working set. I'll try striping the caliper down. Did you just use a normal grease to lube the pistons? If this fails I'll give pedalworx a try.

You can use grease and it will Probobly last longer. I didn't have any grease dot fluid wouldn't dissolve so I just ran a drop of dot fluid around the o ring inside the calliper and a drop around the edge of the piston body. Don't over do it and wipe it down with lighter fluid/ acetone once you've put it back together so none of it get near the pads. You can do it without stripping it down fully by pumping out the piston body, cleaning it and then pushing it back in then repeating till it comes out clean. If you do this don't pump it all the way out or you'll lave to strip it right down anyway.
Avids can be temperamental but I love em. People ignore then and expect then to just keep working. If you left your drive train for as long as most people left there brakes it'd be hanging off.

I have Avid on my Rockrider 9.2, its only covered a low mileage but so far I've been blown away by how powerful they are. But the right Avid matchmaker clamp snapped at Swinley, just changing gear. Since read there is an issue with these breaking a lot, weak brittle alloy. Bought a left and right replacement pair, but if either of them goes again then will switch to separate brackets.
Its potentially dangerous if your brake lever and cable drops between your wheel spokes at speed....

Dont know much about avid brakes, a few points..

If the pads are contaminated in any way, theyll never work properally*, you can try sanding them down which may help, Ive noticed that if the system has air in it, the pads never grip properally and whilst they dont get contaminated they just get glazed and are crap.

The same can be said for rotors but they arnt as bad and can be cleaned using brake cleaner spray which evaporates off.

The main thing is to bleed them perfectly first time, I havnt owned Avids but with my Saints, I remove lever oil resevoir top, level levers out and put bowl underneat, I then swivel rear calipers so they are away from the rotors and put new pads in (NOT the block that some use), then pump oil back through system with tube/syringe, doing the banging pipe thing to remove air.

Then I stick a knide inbetween the now closed pads and force them out a bit untill it can be refitted over rotor, put level cap back on, give levers lots of squeezes, bang cables to get rid of air, some recommend putting rubber bands on levers and leaving them squeezed overnight.

If the calipers are knackered, as mentioned above you canb do limited bit of diy/fixing but I think Id buy new ones at that stage.

Wow. I'm amazed at all the responses for a noob question that's probably been asked a million times. Great forum! ! I'm going to lube and clean the pistons as recommend above. If not I'll take the bike over to pedal worx. I do have new pads and discs on the way in case that's the issue, although the current pads are fairly new. I guess as mentioned if they haven't been working properly their probably glazed. If they still won't work I'll just have to learn to corner quicker without braking. . I'll report back with what solved it.

Some pads need a good burning in, a nice dh run with short hard brakes should do it even better if they get real hot and you can smell the burning softer pads are easier to burn in, metal ones are hard to burn in on your average flat soggy woods trail, they ideally need a real nice steep longish run.

Brakes are one of the most asked questions along with, how the bloody hell do I fit my UST tyres. !?

Got fitted Shimano XT last July ' 13 and so far the only maintenance has been replacing worn pads and cleaning rotors.
Preious brakes were Avid elixir cr. Good but tons trouble.

Used to run Avid Elixir 5's also in white!, great stopping power but every time I lay the bike upside down I would loose the rear bake ! bleed the brake afew times which got the pressure back! In the end sent them back to Avid's under warranty, turned out to be a faulty seal in the lever which is a common problem I think!

Current crop of shimanos are great and a piece of piss to bleed.just waiting for my saints to turn up so I can put the xt's on the cross country bike and bin the avids!!

Yes you are right it must be a common problem as i got it too:)

Elixir 3s on mine. Fitted a new right side matchmaker bracket only a couple of weeks ago and it just snapped again at Thorndon this afternoon. What a pile of crap, going to order some separate brackets now.

Got sick of my Avid Codes and ditched them. Could never get a decent bleed no matter what, nor could the bike shop. I could get an okayish bleed, then leave them 3 days and they would pull straight to the bar.

Saying that, I do still have an old set of Avid 3's on another bike - never touched them and they still work perfect after 5 years!