Customer Reviews

Avid Elixir CR Hydraulic Bicycle Disc Brake

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Going from weak Vs to 203/185 (F/R) hydros was a HUGE difference. Once you break these puppies in, be careful. VERY powerful. If you just do light trail these are overkill, unless you are into high performance

At glance I was impressed with these brakes. Great looking, easy to bleed, light weight, easy to adjust and fair price. But after few rides my impression change dramatically. I notice that this combination: 220 pounds biker weight, Giant Trance X1 (2009) mountain bike large size and Avid Elixir CR simply didn't match. I got rear brake noise almost continuously. I change rotor, I change rotor diameter, I replace the pads type and I replace the caliper. After doing all these I notice that simply didn't work. Best result I got it after I placed metal pads. But even after that after two rides I still got a nasty noise on my rear brake.
After I replace Avid brakes with Hope Tech M4 the whole story changed. After I compared it I notice that the rotor of Avid has painted edges. They did that in order to do not be cut by sharp edges. The problem with that is the fact the paint at high temperature start to melt and is contaminating the braking surface. Also I notice that Avid has all pieces painted. This is not bad but if you paint the mounting surfaces then you have a less rigid mount. This is causing an ugly noise specialty is the mount is console type. I notice that on the 2011 Trace, Giant change the mounting type. So on 2011 bike rear mount is same type as front. So my advice is avoid Avid Elixir CR instead buy Hope Tech brakes.