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Elixer R's cooked after a day at mountain creek?

TrumbullHucker

trumbullruxer
Aug 29, 2005
2,284
719
shimzbury, ct
fresh bleed and pads and after a day at mountain creek resort they feel terrible now

other then the fact that im a fuff for riding the brakes too much, what can i do to make my brakes feel better? scuff up the rotors / pads?

thanks
jordan
 

jnooth

Monkey
Sep 19, 2008
384
1
Vermont Country
Jordan it could just be a bad bleed. avid brakes can feel amazing but they are really tricky to get a good bleed. I would have it bled again. if your doing it yourself watch srams step by step video on youtube. there are some helpful tricks
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
So the caliper feels terrible? Is there anything good you can put on the caliper? Maybe something terrific you can paint on there? Maybe some crushed velvet?
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,919
borcester rhymes
SRAM- Stop riding and maintain.

Good luck! I can't imagine you could possibly boil the fluid, but then again, these are SRAM parts. I don't even think I ever did that with my incredibly inferior hopes, from back when leaking fluid was "AOK". A quick bleed on those and they still felt like crap.
 

BigBoi

Monkey
Oct 31, 2011
310
50
Long Island, NY
Re-bleed. The only time my Elixer R's give me trouble is after a REALLY long descent, like top to bottom without stopping, at Trestle for example. Nothing on the East coast has enough vert to cause them to feel that way.
 

TrumbullHucker

trumbullruxer
Aug 29, 2005
2,284
719
shimzbury, ct
Re-bleed. The only time my Elixer R's give me trouble is after a REALLY long descent, like top to bottom without stopping, at Trestle for example. Nothing on the East coast has enough vert to cause them to feel that way.


Mmmmm The Boulevard! i miss it so much



its hard to describe how they feel now. barely any grab with the 8" rotors and avid pads i bought off jenson. it feels hard and solid, but no grab


some chap at the bike shop at mountain creek did it last time and 6 hours later brakes were shot

ill overnight some brake bleed kit stuff while keeping my eyes peeled for better brakes?
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
SRAM- Stop riding and maintain.

Good luck! I can't imagine you could possibly boil the fluid, but then again, these are SRAM parts. I don't even think I ever did that with my incredibly inferior hopes, from back when leaking fluid was "AOK". A quick bleed on those and they still felt like crap.
Easy enough if the bleed didn't use fluid from a fresh bottle. A bit of moisture absorbed into the fluid and a longish decent and you're done, especially on smaller rotors etc.
 

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
fresh bleed and pads and after a day at mountain creek resort they feel terrible now

other then the fact that im a fuff for riding the brakes too much, what can i do to make my brakes feel better? scuff up the rotors / pads?

thanks
jordan
When you do the bleed and do the 1/2 full pushed to the 1/4 full syringe. I like to push the fluid back and forth a few times. I see a lot of bubbles come out.

Have never had issue with Elixir's. Have them on 2 bikes. Rarely bleed them, maybe once a year if that....
 

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
Also, i think the pro bleed kit is rip-off. I can never get a good consistent seal on the syringe.

I use the cheap one, works better for me at least.....can get tired hands though.
 

wydopen

Turbo Monkey
Jan 16, 2005
1,229
60
805
i had to scuff up the pads when i installed new ones on my elixirs...

my rides typically involve almost 3000' of descending and i haven't had a problem with those brakes fading..
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,288
5,028
Ottawa, Canada
could you have glazed the pads? contaminated them? gotten the rotors dirty? I washed my rotors at the beginning of the season and was amazed at the difference it makes.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
so Elixrs arent suppose to feel terrible on a dh bike?
I had codes a few years ago that just couldn't make power. The lever feel was fine, never "pumped" or did anything weird, but there was never enough power. Tried multiple pads, but eventually got the rotor switched out AND new pads, that did the trick. I'm pretty sure it was glazed over. They were still crappy brakes after that, but at least they actually slowed me down. Don't even get me started on elixirs...
 

TrumbullHucker

trumbullruxer
Aug 29, 2005
2,284
719
shimzbury, ct
now that i think of it, the lever feel was real weird, sometimes they would pump all the way to the bars like there was next to no fluid

hopefully cleaning the rotors and another fresh bleed will do the trick

if not i am selling them and getting good dh brakes