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Juicy Carbon vs Elixir R

JTN

JTN

Chimp
Feb 15, 2002
59
0
Norway
I tried searching, but coulden't find a compaison between the two.
My current bike has Elixirs, and I love them, but I have a new one on the way that comes with the Juicy Carbons..
I race downhill, so I need power for the most part, but also modulation..

Should I leave the Carbons on my new bike, or swap them for the Elixirs before I sell my old bike?
 
frango

frango

Turbo Monkey
Jun 13, 2007
1,454
5
I've had Juicy 7 on one of my previous bikes. As far as I know Carbon version is just lighter version. They were very nice, but not very powerful.
There is a significant power difference between Juicys and Elixirs. If You can live w/o Pad Contact adjustment, You should swap Elixirs to the new bike.
 
PatBranch

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
Aluminum snaps too. If you crash hard enough to break a lever in a race run, it might be the least of your worries anyway.

I had Juicy Carbons. They felt really good, but my set screw threads stripped waay too easily when I was replacing the pin. I thought the carbon blades had aluminum threads, but the threads are just in the carbon...

I'm now using Elixir CR's and haven't had any issues.
 
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Delimeat

Delimeat

Monkey
Feb 3, 2009
195
0
Canada
I've had lots of time on both Elixir CR's and Juicy 7's and Carbons...

I just gave up on my Elixir's after about 8 months of convincing myself they were an upgrade. I found the modulation and lever feel to be far behind the Juicy's, as well as reliability. I had 2 warranty MC issues w/ the Elixir brakes, although lots of other users have not have any mechanical issues so I wouldn't factor that in too much... I think I just got a dud as far as that goes.

My real issue was a lack of power and consistency. If I had to guess I'd say that they are 10-20% less powerful than the J7's, requiring a lot more hand strength to do the same thing. The most annoying trait was that the changing lever feel: one day they were firm and the next they pulled twice as far. No amount of bleeding could ever solve this issue for more than a few days at a time. Funny thing though, there is a large number of Elixir and Code brakes around town and I think every rider who has a pair has the same issue but they all seem to think that thats how it is and are ok with it. My old J7's, along with everyone else's around here, had more power and more consistency.
 
djjohnr

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,107
1,799
Northern California
Delimeat said:
I've had lots of time on both Elixir CR's and Juicy 7's and Carbons...

I just gave up on my Elixir's after about 8 months of convincing myself they were an upgrade. I found the modulation and lever feel to be far behind the Juicy's, as well as reliability. I had 2 warranty MC issues w/ the Elixir brakes, although lots of other users have not have any mechanical issues so I wouldn't factor that in too much... I think I just got a dud as far as that goes.

My real issue was a lack of power and consistency. If I had to guess I'd say that they are 10-20% less powerful than the J7's, requiring a lot more hand strength to do the same thing. The most annoying trait was that the changing lever feel: one day they were firm and the next they pulled twice as far. No amount of bleeding could ever solve this issue for more than a few days at a time. Funny thing though, there is a large number of Elixir and Code brakes around town and I think every rider who has a pair has the same issue but they all seem to think that thats how it is and are ok with it. My old J7's, along with everyone else's around here, had more power and more consistency.
Click to expand...

I had the exact opposite experience. My Juicy's had poor power, overheated easily and were inconsistent ride to ride. No problems with the two sets of Elixrs I have. I think the culprit is crap QC from SRAM in general.
 
B

bikeguru

Chimp
Aug 8, 2009
8
0
I had Juicy carbons on a couple of bikes including my dh bike, and love them! I currently have the carbon levers with Code calipers and it's an awesome combination... Every person i know who has elixirs has had some sort of issue with the master cylinder... Perhaps a slightly too complex design if you ask me
 
Biffff

Biffff

Monkey
Jan 10, 2006
913
0
Its interesting that many of the top Sram riders run the Juicy carbon lever.
I have a set of Juicy carbon's that I used for DH for several years, and our now on my Freeride/trail bike. They have been great brakes, good power and modulation. I installed goodridge lines on my from day one, and this cured the spongy inconsistent lever for good.
I've been running Formula The Ones for the past couple years and they have much more power and even better modulation.
I've never used Elixers for anything more then parking lot tests so I can't comment, but I know a few people who have had good luck with them.
 
Delimeat

Delimeat

Monkey
Feb 3, 2009
195
0
Canada
Exactly

Look at a lot of the top end Sram sponsored bikes and you'll find lots of those guys running older style Juicy mc's combined with Elixir, Code, and regular Juicy 7 calipers.

I'm about 90% sure Peat's bike at Worlds was running complete Juicy 7 Carbons (along w/ other riders as well). Wouldn't Sram want riders using the latest products.... unless said riders very much preferred the older version?
 
Prettym1k3

Prettym1k3

Turbo Monkey
Aug 21, 2006
2,864
0
In your pants
Newer Avid G3 rotors dissipate heat better, as to the caliper. The Elixirs offer better modulation than any of the Avid brakes before.

I just sold a pair of Juicy 7's to upgrade to Elixir R SL's. I couldn't be happier. I also sold a pair of Codes in perfect working order for Elixir CR's. Again, I couldn't be happier. Better modulation than 7's, almost the same power as the Codes, and less boil over. I actually cooked my Codes once.
 
JTN

JTN

Chimp
Feb 15, 2002
59
0
Norway
Thanks for the answers guys!
I got a new dillemma tho... a friend might want to trade the carbons for his set of codes.. and the most important thing for me is power. are the codes that much more powerfull?
 
C

cmoney

Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
154
0
I have Codes on my DH bike and Juicy 7's on my AM bike and I would say my Codes are at least three times as powerful.
 
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