It sounds like a bad bleed. You can pull the plug at the lever and see if there is fluid visible.

 

There is no pad contact adjustment. You can move the lever farther out and that can help in some cases. You can also try to rebleed the brakes and make sure you have the lever adjusted to the correct position so that the system is full of the proper amount of fluid. If you just can't get it feeling right, an "adjustment" that I have done before is to remove the wheel and gently press the brakes to push the pads out some. It may take a few times of pushing the pads out and then pushing them slightly back in, to get them in the ideal location.

 

Most likely the pistons are sticky/not advancing. My Level TLs had the exact same behavior. The SRAM procedure worked for me. I used a pipe cleaner with rubbing alcohol to clean the pistons, and another pipe cleaner to apply brake fluid. The pipe cleaner will wrap around the sides of the pistons nicely in the tight confines of the caliper. After applying the brake fluid to the pistons, I had to push them in and push them out a couple of times to get them moving freely again.

 

I have Rival HRD on my road bike and I've been unable to wear a couple of pads without having to mess with the brake at least twice.

Sticky pistons and excess travel on the lever are the usual culprits.

They brake well, but I'm tired of bleeding and cleaning the pistons.

 

With a proper rear brake bleed it will feel the same as the front, both levers push the same fluid and both calipers have the same size pads, so, something between the lever and rear caliper are off.


To slightly change the bite point you can 'over fill' the system with a little boost with the syringe without the bleed block installed. You can do also do this with wheel/rotor installed and one of those thin steel caliper centering aids installed over the rotor, then just lean on the syringe so that the pads are right against the centering aids.

DT

 

It definitely sounds like a bleed issue. It's very possible that the compression nut at the hose/level junction isn't properly installed. The olive/stalk parts inside need DOT grease during installation (or else the threaded part of the stalk can rupture the inner lining of the hose when it's threaded in), and the compression nut needs 8Nm with a crow's foot wrench. If these steps aren't followed, that will always be a point for air ingress into the system.