New brakes - joy oh joy!

Jono_blackheart

Old School Hero
Well,

I've just replaced the disc brakes (from shimano 765 brifters to avid exlixir r's)on my whyte 19 team - the good news is the horrific squealing has gone!

Problem is... The discs are rubbing a bit....

I've sorted out shimano discs before, but I'm a little lost on the avids - I'm used to removing the cover before pushing the pads / pistons in, but there doesn't seem to be a top cover to remove on the avid Brakes - can I just push the pads in without damaging the brakes? They are brand-new and I don't want to brake them...
 
Cover :?What cover?
Take off the wheel,take out the pads and use a plastic thing to push each piston back in(i find a pedros tyre lever or the plastic covered handle from say a pair of pliers or the like
Replace pads,replace wheel

I under stand cover now. You mean the cover on the lever and if so that not critical to remove the cover,ive never removed mine on any of my brakes unless its for filling and bleeding.
 
The Av(o)ids don't have a reservoir, as such, just a lever bleed port, accessed with a T10 screw. If you can't get the pistons back enough for the pads to clear the disc then you might have to loosen it to release a little fluid.
I have no first hand experience with Avid brakes of any kind but a friend of mine had some and he used to swear by them.
No, I've got that wrong - swear at them. Anyway, he soon got rid of them and fitted some Shimano XT brakes instead.
The interweb consensus seems to be that they often need bleeding straight out of the box too.
 
Sorry - probably didn't explain very well - I was referring to the reservoir cover...

Thanks for the info - I'll have a go at pushing the pads back. Just didn't want to break anything

Goods news is that the brakes actually work without squealing like a banshee - the missus was refusing to go riding with me!

Tbh I would have stuck with the xt 765 brakes I had, but the pistons were seeping and contaminating the pads - couldn't get replacement seals or calipers so ended up with the new brakes :-(
 
That is the one downside to Shimano brakes - no spares available. However, they've always worked well for me.

I've no experience of Avid's, but there doesn't seem to be much love for them. The Juicy's could do no wrong when they first came out but e en they don't have a good rep now.

As others have said, there's no reservoir cover like there is in a Hope or Shimano brake, so if there's too much fluid in there meaning that the pistons don't retract you'll need to undo the torx bolt.
 
Jono_blackheart":1prxgudm said:
Tbh I would have stuck with the xt 765 brakes I had, but the pistons were seeping and contaminating the pads - couldn't get replacement seals or calipers so ended up with the new brakes :-(

First off a tip for contaminated pads-
Buy a blowlamp, nothing fancy one of those kitchen ones is more than sufficient.
Place the contaminated pads onto some heat resistant surface like the cooker and heat the pads up. This has the effect of burning off the solvent(if hydraulic) or the fluid itself(if mineral).
You are not trying to heat the pads up to their red hot just enough till the fluid/solvent starts smoking. Also dont keep the blowlamp permanently against the pads as this will heat them beyond the point where they can separate from the backing so carefully does it.
After that you want to sand the pad surface using a bit of fine wet&dry(not sandpaper) To do this well its best you place the wet&dry on something like a piece of glass or a spare tile as these are perfectly flat. sand toil its a uniform colour because of the roasting you just gave them. You see exactly what i mean as you start to sand them.
Fit and away you go :D

Next bit :oops:
Bit late now as youve made yer bed :p
I happen to have some shimano XT m765 brakes in my spares box. They consist of new left and right levers and one new caliper. I've fitted the caliper to the front lever and am hoping another brand new m765 caliper turns up eventually. However, I also have a new rear shimano saint m800 rear brake[caliper/lever] and apart from the colour are totally identical to the XT stuff. I've been considering putting the saint caliper on the XT lever and looking for a home for them :?
The levers arent a mach via the numbers .One is m765 the other is m756 Theyre both XT levers and are identical in every way except the m765 lever cover says shimano XT the m756 lever cover just has shimano on it
 
Always the way - summat turns up too late!

I have been told the blowtorch trick, but didn't seem worn it as I had the bike serviced and the caliper looked at and it remained fine for all of two weeks :-( Not the bike shops fault - they did worn me it was leaking

Now unsure what to do with the shifters - they are m765 dual control. The shifters and actual brake levers are fine! Just don't think here would be much demand, given how much trouble i had trying to get replacement calipers
 
The dual controls were always a bit of an acquired taste :? i personally didnt like the look of them probably for the same reason everyone else thought there would be ,namely the accidental braking while changing gear or accidental changing gear while braking :?
They came up on CRC clearance about 6 months ago at some crazy price like £18 a pair and im reckoning theres a number of nos ones being kept for a rainy day. Probably best you stick them in the parts box after draining them. or take the caliper apart and see if there is anyway you could bodge replacement seals. They had to fit them in there in the first place and its not like it was done by magic :?
 
Know what you mea about them being a little marmite :) personally I like them, and have the v-brake version in another bike ....

But there again, I was a fan of Sachs waveys BITD...
 
Jono_blackheart":3dov6yht said:
Know what you mea about them being a little marmite :) personally I like them, and have the v-brake version in another bike ....
...

the V-brake STI that I am familiar with were two units: brake lever and shfters merged into one, the brake lever did the brakes and the two shitter levers did the gears - the hydraulic combo uses the brake lever as the shifter lever whcih makes them totally different.
 

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