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Rear Brake


The Saint

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Hi All, I recently purchased an MTB with hydraulic disk brakes. The front one feels great if I grab the lever I can feel the brake "bite" and stopping power is good and immediate.

 

The rear one however feels like it is just "sliding" over the disk and has no real stopping power. In fact if I lean forward with my weight on the front wheel and pull the rear brake I cannot lock the wheel.

 

Can anyone help with a possible cause and or fix?

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One possible cause is that they are Avid Juicy brakes.

 

Other causes range from no pads in the caliper, to no fluid in the system to a lever that doesn't engage the master cyclinder to an ambiguous description of the problem.

 

For instance, why would you want to lean on the front wheel in order to test the rear brake?

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Is the bike new or 'previously owned'? You can start by checking how much brake pad is left and that the rotor is clean. Sounds like a dirty rotor or brake pad to me.

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One possible cause is that they are Avid Juicy brakes.

 

Other causes range from no pads in the caliper, to no fluid in the system to a lever that doesn't engage the master cyclinder to an ambiguous description of the problem.

 

For instance, why would you want to lean on the front wheel in order to test the rear brake?

 

Lol! :D

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if its second hand , start fresh .

bleed the break and fit new pads after that see whats its like ( at least you would have covered the basics ).if its still the same then you need to look at other more interesting problems

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Not going to argue with Johan around kit :rolleyes: he knows more than most, though i have had a whole series of brakes from hays Magura, Shimano, and my Avid elixer's kick all of them down the tube. That said I run sintered pads in front, and organic pads at the back, most say sintered gives them better stopping power, however i find the organic gives the best stopping power, they just get chowed.

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I test rode a bike the other day with some elixer's on and they felt great, better than my xt's. Had a 180mm front rotor on which helped a lot too. And I like the resin / organic pads more as well. Had some sintered pads on the front and they were squaling and never bit as much as the organics I previously had on.

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I test rode a bike the other day with some elixer's on and they felt great, better than my xt's. Had a 180mm front rotor on which helped a lot too. And I like the resin / organic pads more as well. Had some sintered pads on the front and they were squaling and never bit as much as the organics I previously had on.

 

Feel is of course subjective and highly personal. I can't make a judgement there. My approach is more from the maintenance and longevity side of things. Avid has a very poor record in that regard and in any repair shop you'll find that Avid brakes are a headache. Shimano, as close to perfect as can be. They bleed easy, they don't have fragile spings as pad retainers, they have far, far less problems with sticky pistons and never require a rebuild. The lever bushings on Avid turn sloppy after just a year of use. I'm yet to come accross a sloppy XT lever.

 

Also, the same brake set evaluted with metal and resin pads will feel very different. It won't be productive to compare one type with resin to another with metal pads. Its horses for courses.

 

Although most people don't bleed their own brakes, I still think the oil in Shimano and Magura brakes is an excellent idea. It keeps things lubricated without the squeaking associated with older DOT fluid brakes.

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I test rode a bike the other day with some elixer's on and they felt great, better than my xt's. Had a 180mm front rotor on which helped a lot too. And I like the resin / organic pads more as well. Had some sintered pads on the front and they were squaling and never bit as much as the organics I previously had on.

 

Brakes must first work properly before you can start playing with bigger discs or pad material. Sponginess or too much lever travel or pads "biting" too late must all be sorted before you play with the other stuff. My XTs were amazing even with a 140mm on the back. But then again my Juicy 3s never gave me a day's problems either.

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One possible cause is that they are Avid Juicy brakes.

 

Other causes range from no pads in the caliper, to no fluid in the system to a lever that doesn't engage the master cyclinder to an ambiguous description of the problem.

 

For instance, why would you want to lean on the front wheel in order to test the rear brake?

 

Hi Johan,

 

You obviously do not approve of these brakes. I have Avid Juicy 3's and I also suffer from the same problem. Have had the pads in for over a year and am actually going to replace them tomorrow. Is the problem "bigger"than this?

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Feel is of course subjective and highly personal. I can't make a judgement there. My approach is more from the maintenance and longevity side of things. Avid has a very poor record in that regard and in any repair shop you'll find that Avid brakes are a headache. Shimano, as close to perfect as can be. They bleed easy, they don't have fragile spings as pad retainers, they have far, far less problems with sticky pistons and never require a rebuild. The lever bushings on Avid turn sloppy after just a year of use. I'm yet to come accross a sloppy XT lever.

 

Also, the same brake set evaluted with metal and resin pads will feel very different. It won't be productive to compare one type with resin to another with metal pads. Its horses for courses.

 

Although most people don't bleed their own brakes, I still think the oil in Shimano and Magura brakes is an excellent idea. It keeps things lubricated without the squeaking associated with older DOT fluid brakes.

 

 

Lol Johan here i agree with you again, maintenance on AVID is pure hell, but as you correctly state, i dont care cause thats my LBS's problem. They are however great breaks better modulation and stopping power than both the shimano and the hays and the magura, (my opinion off course) The only breaks ill change too besides these are Formula's.

 

Besides the maintenance drawbacks, The avids are noisy when wet, but besides that never had a bad day with mine. Though i hear the new XT's are the bomb. Would like to compare them against the old ones.

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