[Inclag]

I've never ever ever have had good luck with my disc brakes. Hayes Mag's, Hayes 9's, and Avid Juicy's. I never really understood why I had so many issues. Lever feel was always outstanding and never mushy, and I never had issues with the systems pumping on me during runs, but it always seemed that after any of my brakes initially broke in the overall performance of the brakes would fail. Coming into this year I attributed it to my braking habits and figured that maybe I just had serious glazing issues so I purchased some Avid Codes with the hope that the larger surface contact area would minimize this.

Firstly, I've had issues bleeding these breaks since there are a number of pockets that seem to trap air in the levers/calipers. I believe everything is all better now, but even so, the brakes are not overly powerful and were more or less useless this weekend when I was racing in some serious muck. I couldn't be any more disappointed with their performance. I'm going to pull the pads out and try to clean them if they are glazed/contaminated.

I know there have been others that have had trouble with bleeding these brakes, but bleeding aside can I get these things to start working properly and get the monster power I was kind of hoping they would have? Do these brakes glaze over as easily as other brakes? Is this a lost cause and have others come to the same conclusion on these things? Should I get some new pads, any recommendations?

 

[Banshee Rider]

If your lever power is there after bleeding and your simply not stopping, then it sounds like something may have been contaminated. (either your rotors or pads) This is my second season on Code's, and I find them to have plenty of power in all of our conditions here in the Northeast. They have noticably more stopping power than the Juicy series that I always used for racing in the past.

Avid has horrible factory bleeds, but are pretty phenominal brakes once you spend the time properly bleeding them by hand. If you have the means to buy a fresh set of pads (I honestly don't even bother cleaning them if they get contaminated) for both brakes, then I would recommend doing a thorough bleed and meticulous cleaning of everything.

I've done a couple pairs of codes and close to a half dozen pairs of juicy bleeds over the past month, and they always come out with noticably more power than before. Even the guys running Forumla One's around here comment on how powerful they feel. I'd give it one last shot before writing them off.

 

[Inclag]

If your lever power is there after bleeding and your simply not stopping, then it sounds like something may have been contaminated. (either your rotors or pads) This is my second season on Code's, and I find them to have plenty of power in all of our conditions here in the Northeast. They have noticably more stopping power than the Juicy series that I always used for racing in the past.

Avid has horrible factory bleeds, but are pretty phenominal brakes once you spend the time properly bleeding them by hand. If you have the means to buy a fresh set of pads (I honestly don't even bother cleaning them if they get contaminated) for both brakes, then I would recommend doing a thorough bleed and meticulous cleaning of everything.

I've bleed a couple pairs of codes and close to a half dozen pairs of juicy bleeds over the past month, and they always come out with noticably more power than before. Even the guys running Forumla One's around here comment on how powerful they feel. I'd give it one last shot before writing them off.

You use brakes?

I'm just lost as to why both brakes are working so poorly. I suppose both pads could be contaminated, so I will try a thorough cleaning. I'll try doing another full on bleed and see how that goes as well. It's just discerning that these brakes have worked the poorest of all brakes that I have used. At no point have they reached what their "potential" should be.

Guess that'll be a project for me come tomorrow.

*Edit

BTW, In the past I have used some disc brakes that would get air in the system and you would know off the bat and at the lever that things weren't right. Are the Codes necessarily like this? It seemed like with even the piss poor factory bleed the lever feel was still pretty positive even though air was in the system and I would assume this would give less than stellar performance.

 

[Spahman]

cook the pads! 20 mins at 250 degrees in the oven

works wonders

 

[Banshee Rider]

BTW, In the past I have used some disc brakes that would get air in the system and you would know off the bat and at the lever that things weren't right. Are the Codes necessarily like this? It seemed like with even the piss poor factory bleed the lever feel was still pretty positive even though air was in the system and I would assume this would give less than stellar performance.

As soon as you finish a good bleed on one brake, you'll feel the difference in the lever compared to the other that's unbled. Its most noticable when your doing it to brakes from the factory. There will be no "mush" in the lever when you've finished. You'll know when you've done a good job.

I know you're an engineer, but print off the manual and really follow the instructions if you haven't been up to this point. I'd use the avid bleed kit too; I haven't tried rigging a non-avid kit to work, but I've good luck with the real thing. And really, just start fresh if you can spare the $40 for pads. I'd also recommending bedding-in the new pads on the street before going straight to the chairlift. Getting some pad-on-(clean)rotor contact goodness before being sprayed with the elements may have part to do with your poor experience from the beginning. SRAM advises against installing and immediately hitting the trails, and it makes sense to some degree IMO. Best of luck! I wouldn't push you to give them one last fair shake if I hadn't been having absolutely amazing luck with mine!

 

[Inclag]

As soon as you finish a good bleed on one brake, you'll feel the difference in the lever compared to the other that's unbled. Its most noticable when your doing it to brakes from the factory. There will be no "mush" in the lever when you've finished. You'll know when you've done a good job.

I know you're an engineer, but print off the manual and really follow the instructions if you haven't been up to this point. I'd use the avid bleed kit, I haven't tried rigging a non-avid kit to work, but I've good luck with the real thing. And really, just start fresh if you can spare the $40 for pads. I'd also recommending bedding-in the new pads on the street before going straight to the chairlift. Getting some pad-on-(clean)rotor contact goodness before being sprayed with the elements may have part to do with your poor experience from the beginning. SRAM advises against installing and immediately hitting the trails, and it makes sense to some degree IMO. Best of luck! I wouldn't push you to give them one last fair shake if I hadn't been having absolutely amazing luck with mine!

Oh, I've bleed the brakes, followed the instructions, and have the kit. The lever feel is not mushy at all. Oh well, I'm off to fiddle with these things. I was going to wait till tomorrow, but now that this is bugging me, I'm going to give it a go tonight.

I trust that they can work great based on your experience with these brakes, but damn is it annoying that a) Avid/Sram sells brakes that need to be bleed out of the box and b) They designed a brake with so many nooks and cranny's that need to have the air pulled out of.

 

[gemini2k]

a) Avid/Sram sells brakes that need to be bleed out of the box and

2 sets of juicy's and 1 set of codes, I've never had to bleed them new. Maybe its just a QC issue.

 

[rollertoaster]

Aside from bleed issues I've never had power problems with my codes. My pads are almost gone and they are still fine. Even contaminated pads stop hard, they're just noisey. I have 5 codes so I have plenty of eperience with them.

 

[Bicyclist]

I feel the same way about my set of Elixirs, and a set of Juicys before them. 2 sets of Juicys ago, I never changed the pads for the time I owned them, and they were super powerful. My last 2 sets of Avids just haven't been powerful. Maybe I should just get some pads? I definitely know what you're talking about though.

 

[zebrahum]

I have a personal vendetta against Avid these days, but there's some good info above me to help you out. Here's my take:

Get some new pads, all it can take to contaminate your pads is a ride through a puddle if you're in an area with a lot of motos. You never know what can make your pads weak.

Before you even install your pads, clean the rotor and caliper with isopropyl alcohol. Dry it out, and you should be good to go.

The number one cause of weak brakes with good pads is bending the rotor under braking. Make sure when you squeeze the lever that the rotor doesn't bend. It may be visually centered, but the pistons may not move the same amount (which truthfully should also be fixed by cleaning and lubing the pistons). Squeeze the lever and watch the rotor, if it flexes even a little, that could be causing your problems.

 

[AzN_devil]

i am currently in the same situation as you are..for some reason my bikes never feels like it has any brakes after a while...here are some things you can try to solve the problem though...it has made my brakes better

a - get new discs..the avid g2/g3 discs are crap..i start seeing white powder + purple burn marks after a few months of install

you can try hope or formula floating discs..they improve cooling but..you might have to file 2-3mm off the tabs of the calipers since the rivet that holds the disc to the spider sticks out too much

b - get new brake fluids..they tend to improve lever feel especially during long runs where the brake fluid doesnt heat up as much or cools faster

c - get new brake pads..the original avid brake pads (organic/metallic) both glazed for me since i ride on brake heavy trails..i am currently using red ebc avid code pads and they seem to be better (i only got one ride on them)

d - get new main lever assembly...this is my next step if the pads dont work out...get juicy 7/ultimate or elixir cr assemblies..they are built better for some reason..less air leaks into the system and provide more modulation

hope this helps

 

[Yeti]

I know some people that have top of the shelf brakes and they always complain about them braking poorly. The common denominator: they aren't careful enough when cleaning their bike, transporting and lubricating it. They use sprays on the bike and there is always some drizzle that lands on the braking surfaces or details like that. Check this you might be doing it too.