Pure, simple performance is what you can expect withThe Elixir R. ItfeaturesTaperBoreTechnology,Tool-free reach adjustment, Power ReserveGeometry,Tri-Align Caliper Positioning System, and drip-free bleedingjust like every AVID hydraulic disc brake. A great match forThe X7 family. 2 piston caliperTop loading pads AmbidextrousTool-free reach adjustmentTaperBoreTechnology Approximate weight 375 grams Include lever, caliper, rotor and hardware
Weaknesses: hard to get lined up perfect, lets you know when it isn't perfectly centered.
Bottom Line:
I got this set last spring from crc for 70% off, no rotors. I'm using them with non ice-tech xt rotors as a 180/160 combo. My brother also got a set for his 29er, and we split a bleed kit between us.
I bled both sets from the get go, we had to shorten his lines so it would've been necessary anyways. Bleeding went well, followed the Avid bleed procedure of de-gassing the fluid, although it seems odd, the bubles do seem to be trapped in the fluid. Patience is your friend, I found it helped to let the brakes sit for little bits in-between little bleeding sessions. I only used the top syringe for bleeding, I'll use both to flush the old fluid.
I ride around a bit to break in my breaks whenever I change something, pads, rotors, etc. Every time, these have impressed me with how much power they have from the first time I pull the lever, and they just get better the next couple times.
I've had to set up about 4 sets of brakes on my own bike incl. these, mech and these on my brothers, and some hayes 9's and aces for a friend. The avid CPS system blows. I cut my bolts short and used the lower set to space the caliper, but the bolt face squares it all up. On the rest, I flip the cup and cone around to lower the amount of rotation allowed, but any is still bad. The elixirs most definitely take the most time to set up and get squared/centered compared to any I have worked on, and the rotor needs to be pretty close to true to keep quiet. Its also time worth spending, even if it gets a little frustrating.
The reach adjust gets set for me once, doesn't get touched all season. I thought I'd want the cr's, but the bite point is excellent, and I've heard/read it makes bleeding more tricky. I could get away with elixir 5 levers no problem. The ajustable banjo angle is a really nice feature on the R's though, which the 5's don't have. With the way some forks angle the post mounts, and then the 180 adapters do it even more, makes for a pretty tough routing job if it weren't for that adjustment.
Came stock on my fuel ex 9 right away had nothing but problems the stopping power was good but could never center the rotters always rubbing some how. always leaking so sram ended up replacing them with CR they sucked too.
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Submitted by
adventum
a Downhiller
from Smolyan, Bulgaria
Date Reviewed: March 10, 2012
Strengths: Light, user-friendly, tremendous stopping power, very strong - I have hit a rock with either the disk, the handle and the body.
Weaknesses: Hard to bleed - for the best results give it to specialists in a bike shop.
Bottom Line:
This is something that at time of buying was the best for the price I could have. And for sure it was on of the greatest deals for this setup. I have abused them so hard that they begin to smell like something is burning, but never fail, and again and again. Really really strong and very precise in the hardest conditions on my favorite trails. I think that even second hand they are good deal.
Favorite Trail: The Patechkata, Saint Spirit, Orpheus Rocks
Duration Product Used: 1 Year
Price Paid:
$235.00
Purchased At: CRC
Similar Products Used: Various models of Hope, Hayes, Magura, Shimano!
Bike Setup: Front 203mm rear 160mm rotors on a Transition Dirtbag, Fox 32 float 180mm, SRAM X4-X9
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Submitted by
sec1crg
a Cross Country Rider
from Chino Hills
Date Reviewed: January 3, 2012
Strengths: When there is no air in the lines, they provide good braking.
Weaknesses: This is my second set of brakes in 1 1/2 years. In the first six months, a leak developed in the rear caliper, so Avid (through my Specialized dealer, replaced both front and back brakes under warranty. A year later, I've had to bleed my front brakes twice. And to this day, when I notice more than normal free play in the lever, if I repeatedly tap (feather) the brake lever (a trick told to me by my LBS), it draws the air back up to the reservoir. This then gets rid of the play in the lever. This happens on any given day, while my bike is idle garage.
Bottom Line:
Keep them serviced regularly and then they'll be there for you. Hardly any squealing from the rear, like I've read about from others. They come as standard equipment on all Specialized, and I don't necessarily advocate swapping them out. You just need to stay on top of the maintenance, including keeping fresh pads.
Submitted by
jeffbnz
a Weekend Warrior
from Auckland
Date Reviewed: December 9, 2011
Strengths: when they work they are fantastic
Weaknesses: poor reliability and poor backup in NZ. From 4 brakes, 3 have completely stopped working and one has locked on solid. they need bleeding way to often
Bottom Line:
get used to having to bleed the brakes a lot. I've got a set of Avid Juicy 7's and a set of Avid Elixir R. Both sets need bleeding often, even tho the Elixirs are new.
I've had races ruined, weekend rides cancelled all due to the brakes either completely failing, or locking on.
Haven't been able to get any real help, and cannot just go and buy a bleed kit - only available on special order in New Zealand.
I personally will never own another Avid brake setup. A quick google search shows they are problematic - not just my sets.
Similar Products Used: Shimano XT hydraulic, Hayes, - regret not keeping both for the new bikes.
Bike Setup: Merida 96, custom built wheels, a few carbon bits and pieces, XT components
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Submitted by
Mags Oi
a Cross Country Rider
from Santa Fe, NM
Date Reviewed: September 26, 2011
Strengths: Very good lever feel. Very good Stopping power.
Weaknesses: Very good lever feel went away for good. Six months into use the levers pulled all the way to the handlebar. Bleeding process was complicated and resulted in sticky calipers resulting in rubbing rotors.
Bottom Line:
At first it was a love affair. New, Elixir R's feel so good and stop so good. Like others posting here I stored my bike upside down for a period of time and it was all downhill (with crappy brakes)from there. The levers lost their great feel and pulled all the way to the handlebar. The pistons no longer retract and make the pads rub on the rotors constantly.
I purchased the bleed kit and was appalled at how complicated this process was. Multiple attempts to bleed and I finally got the procedure down resulting in proper lever feel. I followed Avid's instructions for reseating then eventually rebuilding the pistons several times and the pads still rub on the rotors...enough so that proper adjustment simply cannot be made and the bike cannot be ridden thanks to new permanent brake engagement.
Life long pro bike mechanic and industry tech here and I am absolutely steamed at these brakes. I appreciate that high end gear is needed to trail ride in the mountains (as I do) and that a higher level of tech is required by that gear, but come on! My old original Shimano XT dual piston brakes with Goodridge hoses on my hardtail have enjoyed hanging from hooks upside down in the garage for literally like ten years and I have never had to bleed those brakes. That's right...NEVER.
As this bike is set up for lowland around town trial riding I am going to replace the Elixir R's with BB&'s which I have used and had no problems with.
Never, ever again will I buy Avid hydraulics. It makes me think of the obsolescence built into all the crappy cars from the '70s.
Submitted by
greenblur
a Weekend Warrior
from Austin, TX
Date Reviewed: September 3, 2011
Strengths: Came stock on my Salsa Spearfish. I had them bled and set up at my LBS; all they do is work. They are much more progressive than mechanical brakes. I like that the pads are self adjusting; squeeze the lever a few times that the pads are the perfect distance from the rotors. If they ever get really out alignment, just loosen the mounting screws on the piston, pump the brakes a few times and tighten them back up.
Weaknesses: There is a huge dead spot in the lever travel. You don't get any brake action until about halfway through the pull.
Bottom Line:
My BB7 were very much an off/on affair, however, I could tune them so there was almost no travel in the brake lever (which I prefer). The Avid's stop much faster and have better modulation but I the dead spot in the lever is driving me nuts.
Bike Setup: Salsa Spearfish - Reba RL, X7/X9 shifters/derailleurs, RaceFace Atlas AM crank, Kenda Slant Six tires, ODB lock ons, Fizik seat
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Submitted by
Big Red Chris
a Cross Country Rider
from Madistone, Kent, United Kingdom
Date Reviewed: September 1, 2011
Strengths: Good modulation, great power when they work... Also with the Carbon Levers (mine) they look pretty slick aswell. Plus the lever feel is brilliant, by far the best I've had on all my brakes, lovely jubbly :
Weaknesses: Had some major issues bleeding and they took some major breaking (and a bleed) in to stop the pistons at the front to stop sticking. Needs some tinkering to get them 'just so' and prevent the disks from locking up...
Bottom Line:
There are better brakes out there especially at the £160-180 they're going for... for a start Formula Oro's are a breeze to bleed and start working almost instantaneously. There's no point comparing them to the R1's on my race bike but still, at this price look Formula (especially if Merlin are still doing the Oro's at £115).
Being entirely fair to these brakes, they are great in most conditions and as an XC'er plenty enough power, they're not the lightest but the lever feel makes up for that.
Although, to sum it up if you are looking at these for an upgrade to your Juicy 3's, Stroker Ryde Brakes or Shimano Deore/SLX's (unless they're going cheap) I'd either look at getting Elixir CR's for a bit more or Formula Oro K18's and if you search around on Ebay/bike forums possibly Formula RX's.
Similar Products Used: Shimano XT, Avid Elixir CR, Formula Oro K18, Formula R1, Formula RX and Hayes Stoker Trail
Bike Setup: The bike with these brakes: 2010 Boardman Pro HT: Rockshox Reba Race, the above ^ brakes, Ritchey WCS Finishing Kit (Bar some Easton Monkeylite XC's, Ritchey WCS Wheels, Carbon Railed Gobi XM, Schwalbe Nobby Nic and Racing Ralph respecitvely.
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Submitted by
GIJosh84
a Weekend Warrior
from Medina Ohio
Date Reviewed: August 9, 2011
Strengths: Quiet, great stopping power.
Weaknesses: I suppose weight but thats a trade off for the huge rotor and tremendous stopping power. Have to get the brake line trimmed because the kit I bought has way too much line
Bottom Line:
Love it. Quiet. I have a 203mm rotor on the front of my 26er because I want to STOP and it does just that.
Much more confident and quiet with this set up over the BB5s. I had to get rid of the BB5s because I'm pretty sure butter would have provided more friction than those.
Modulation is not a problem with the big rotor. I have flipped over the front end but their were other contributing factors to that incident.
Was a little iffy at first but the pads wore in and stopping power improved.
Bike Setup: 2011 Giant Revel 0, Iodine 11 Bars, Iodine 3 Stem, Eggbeater 2s, Elixer R
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Submitted by
mikrurk
a Cross Country Rider
from from Prijedor, Republic of Srpska
Date Reviewed: July 25, 2011
Strengths: Good power and modulation. There is not fading in power at long braking time
Weaknesses: Rotor clearance and pad adjustment, it's not easy but can be done
Bottom Line:
This brakes are excellent. There was a situation when I rode my bike at 50km/h, pulled the lever of the front brake for a very short time and instantly felt that my rear wheel was rised from the ground (I didn't crash). Once I pulled the same lever easier and rode the bike on the front wheel for 5-6m with the rear wheel about 10cm from the ground all the time... modulation is great. The man who sold me the brakes offered two kind of rotors: Avid G3 and Shimano RT75. He told that G3 makes infamous turkey gobble so I taked Shimano rotors 160/180, and now the brakes are very quiet.
The only problem is pad clearance, rotor must be flat. Since my front one is not, I pushed the pistons back into caliper, put layer of paper between pads and pistons, pulled the lever very strong, pull out the paper and got better pad clearance. And yes, I use metalic pads.
Submitted by
whydomylegshurt?
a Cross Country Rider
from Redondo Beach
Date Reviewed: June 28, 2011
Strengths: Good power and feel
Weaknesses: Pain to work on and adjust
Bottom Line:
The brake always works well, but never feels like it is going to. They are a pain to bleed and the pads always seem to shift from side to side. I clean the calipers more often than my shimano brakes but they still seem to have more friction on the return stroke. This makes them drag on the rotor more often than not. They work fine, but don't give me a great feeling of confidence.
Similar Products Used: Formula R1 and The One, Shimano XT and XTR, Hayes HFX9, Avid BB7
Bike Setup: Niner SIR 9
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Submitted by
John.M
a Cross Country Rider
from Niles, MI
Date Reviewed: June 26, 2011
Strengths: Strong - when they work.
Weaknesses: Front brake was bad out of the box. LBS tried bleeding it, only to make it worse. Avid sending warranty CR's to replace these (I have R SL's on my 2011 Specialized Stumpjumper). Rear brake makes the turkey gobble/howling/grinding noise.
Bottom Line:
These brakes came on a brand new Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29er. The first time out riding, there was still a bit of snow on the ground, but I already could tell I was going to enjoy them. This was my first pair of hydraulic brakes. Fast forward two weeks, and I'm getting ready to go out for a ride, and notice that the rear brake feels really good, but that the front brake is a little squishy. It's too easy to pull the lever all the way back to the grip. I take it into the LBS, and am informed that if you store your bike upside down (like I do), that it takes a while for the fluid to get back into the "right" spots. Ok - I buy it, and head off for a ride. I had a crash on that ride (my fault), and couldn't ride for 12 weeks.
Fast forward 12 weeks, and I'm getting some rides where the brakes are amazing (except for the noise, that I am somewhat used to because I ride with an iPod), and other ones where they are squishy. I take it back to the LBS the other day, and they said that they needed to be bled - ok - I'll be back in a couple of days for it. I get a call from the shop the next day saying that Avid is sending a replacement set under warranty.
Apparently the tech bled the brakes, and they started performing as they should. He then hung the bike upside down (as I would to store it), and then took it down, just to find that the brakes were squishy again.
When I went to pick it up, I was assured it was ok to ride - just not advised to hang it upside down. So, I bring it home, throw it on my stand, and then take it out for a ride this morning.
The brake went from bad to worse. I had maybe 20% stopping power on the front. Luckily the rear was still solid, but in the XC riding I was doing, I really needed a front brake.
I am very disappointed in this brake. Hopefully the new set doesn't have any issues, but this is a big turd.
Bike Setup: 2011 Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29er - stock, except for Stans in the tires.
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Submitted by
Dustin Sifford
a Downhiller
from Boise, Id, USA
Date Reviewed: June 21, 2011
Strengths: MODULATION - One of the smoothest curves out there. Hard to accidentally lock up.
POWER - Plenty for most downhill use on a high traffic trails but very forgiving at the same time.
ADJUSTMENT - The CPS spacers are great if you're mechanically inclined. A bike stand helps a lot. Come up with a better adjustment method than Avid's oversimplified method.
Weaknesses: PAD CLEARANCE - I've fixed this issue. For whatever reason, some piston/o-ring combos get sticky. The first thing you should check is an overfill. Look in the forum for instructions. The second is to lubricate/clean the pistons. Use only 5.1 fluid to free them up when they're stuck by removing the pads. Advance the pistons 2-3mm one at a time by holding one while squeezing the lever. Use a Qtip to scrub them with fresh fluid until the piston stays wet. If there's contamination (aka "The Problem") on the surface of the piston the fluid will shear off leaving a non-shiny/wet surface. Push the pads back flush with the caliper body. Repeat a few times. Don't get any on the pads. If that doesn't fix it, new O-rings cost $7-10 online and fluid cost me $9 at a motorcycle shop (I borrowed the bleed kit). It wasn't too hard.
RESONATING HOWL, usually on the rear - Mine went away when I overhauled the rear caliper. It may not be the brake's fault...maybe the seat stay amplifying small vibrations. Spiral wrap a chunk of tube around the seat stay (the bar the brake mounts to) and secure with electrical tape at both ends. I also take off the glaze on the rotor every few rides by pinching it between a piece of 600 grit sandpaper and spinning the wheel. Makes them silent.
Bottom Line:
It's an awesome brake...once you break it in and deal with the pad clearance issue. Some people never have either issue. Being a slightly higher end brake, it needs attention to detail. You can't just slap this one on and forget it. Do yourself a favor and buy the bleed kit so you can troubleshoot. 4 chilies overall for the hassle of overhauling a brand new brake.
Excellent Brake at a great price. Fade is hardly noticible, even on 5+ minute, 20% descents, with 160mm rotors.
It does without the problematic and pointless pad contact adjustment of the more expensive Elixir's. The lever throw is equal front to rear. At the first pad change, a bleed was necessary, and I was afraid the typical Elixir bleed problems were starting, but they've been solid in the three months since. I haven't had to think about them.
Pad clearance is tight, but that is a result of lever piston to caliper ratios that result in the excellent power and short throw of the levers. Not a problem if your bike has a reasonbly stiff axle/dropout interface. Would likely rub quite a bit on a flexy frame/fork.
Only thing I wish for is lighter weight, but at this price point, I can't complain.
