Avid rolled out its all-new Elixir brakes for Model Year 2012 a bit early. So early that we were less than two months into 2011. But who am I to quibble about these kinds of things?

They're new, they're sweet and they're supposed to deal with some of the bleed issues associated with other Avid brakes.

Read up on the new Elixirs here.

Can I get a meh?

The only thing noticeable is new rotor sizes…

At this point I must conclude changing the size of the rotor is strictly to avoid compatibility with other brands or product years.

What about those new frames with the direct brake mounts on the frame…

when are they going to start rolling em out to public?

Wasn't taperbore supposed to fix all the bleed issues last time?

Wasn't taperbore supposed to fix all the bleed issues last time?

I thought it was all about the modulation?

regardless, I'll stick with my Shimanos.

This kind of pisses me off. I don't much like my Elixirs because they require a bleed often. You hear other people complaining about them on the boards. But there's no specific information out there about this issue that SRAM knew about all along? No reviews suggesting this was a problem? No fixes or bleed tips from SRAM?

Just "buy our new brakes because our old brakes weren't as good as we said they were."

That's kind of bullshit. I've thought about switching to XTR Trails and this is a pretty good argument for doing that.

I've never had a problem with bubbles in my avid brakes. I usually bleed them like car brakes and put the system under vacuum before I add new fluid.

I thought it was all about the modulation?

regardless, I'll stick with my Shimanos.

I think the current Elixirs are great brakes, and it was a bit fiddly to bleed, but really not as bad as most people make it out. I only had to do it once. Get it right and they're good for a year+. Yes, they should be easier to bleed, and yes, they should be bled better from the factory.

I had '07 Shimano XTs, Juicys and Elixirs for a while. I'd rather bleed my elixirs 10 times than use the Shimanos once. I even prefer the Juicy-Fives to the XTs, but neither of them are anywhere near the feel of the Elixirs.

The Shimano's start to feel "gummy" every 6 months, have crap for power, horrible feeling skinny little levers, and god forbid you try to use them in sub-freezing weather. Only upside is they're super easy to bleed.

If the new Elixirs feel the same as the current ones and are easy to bleed, then I say we have a real winner on our hands.

I had my hands on a lot of Elixirs,
3 sets I own and maybe 100+ in the shop were I used to work.

A lot (!) of them have very bad bleeds.
Surprisingly, bleeding them really carefully improves lever feel dramatically, sometimes not.
And the rear levers (longer line) have a very soft lever feel on maybe 3 out of 10 brakes.

I really like them though, when they work properly. Good power, modulation, affordable and light.

Sram marketing seems pretty not straight forward though.

They bring two-step as the holy grail. It fails.
They bring a revamped version in the recent 32mm forks and it is hit and miss again.

They say 1:1 actuation is king (which is true) and soon after they go 10spd with a different actuation (and the x.9 and x.7 suck big time now, shifting is as crispy as a rancid donut on the 10spd versions)

Somewhere between the engineering and the production there must be a problem. (probably some really clever guys who decide to produce cheaper…)

As they do so much OEM these days, I will be buying a bike at some point which has them equipped. And they will be ok. But shelling out big time :orly:

Greetinsg Znarf

Zsnarf - Please define "careful bleeding"?

And about SRAM 10 Speed. Is Shimano better?

This kind of pisses me off. I don't much like my Elixirs because they require a bleed often. You hear other people complaining about them on the boards. But there's no specific information out there about this issue that SRAM knew about all along? No reviews suggesting this was a problem? No fixes or bleed tips from SRAM?

Just "buy our new brakes because our old brakes weren't as good as we said they were."

That's kind of bullshit. I've thought about switching to XTR Trails and this is a pretty good argument for doing that.

i guess you don't own any apple products?

…And the rear levers (longer line) have a very soft lever feel on maybe 3 out of 10 brakes…

Why is that? Mine have always been gummy, even worse if they have been siting for few days unused, need to be pumped up - bite great, just gummy feel (3-10).

Interestingly a friend has the same year and model on the same bike, and his rear brakes are rock solid (7 of 10).

Why is that? Mine have always been gummy, even worse if they have been siting for few days unused, need to be pumped up - bite great, just gummy feel (3-10).

Interestingly a friend has the same year and model on the same bike, and his rear brakes are rock solid (7 of 10).

you need to bleed it if you need to pump up the brakes.

they work flawlessly if you take you time and bleed it. friend of mine took it to a shop to have it bled and they bled it like an ass.