All New SRAM/Avid XX and XX World Cup Brakes Revealed

ok the million dollar question is, will they be quieter, mild squeak/squealing, turkey gobblin, grinding like metal on metal? i work in the industry and field lots and lots of complaints on this exact issue. do a google search about avid brakes squealing, ask my mechanics how many times they’ve had to warranty for new brakes. proper bed in procedure, organic pads, clean sweep vs. straight sweep rotors. im not tryin to be a shit stirrer, but this is clearly an issue, i’ve had it personally. rotor swaps, organic pads did nothing. just once id like to hear sram/avid or someone within that organization acknowledge the issue and openly/honestly talk about it. i want to like and use avid stuff, but seem to get the same troubleshoot runaround and the problem still exists on my new warranty XO brakes. please just an open and honest discussion

Why is the price for XX and XXWC identical?

Answer to the Avid issues? >>>>>FORMULA

@Brandon It’s not just Dan, I’ve had the exact same experience, just about every Elixir I’ve come across suffers from the same issues, but some people are more sensitive to them than others. I’ve talked to many shop guys and pro wrenches for big companies that are all fed up with the Elixir from the start. They have gotten better over time, and G2 rotors and different pads goes a long way (look at some of the Avid press photos from last year, a lot of their bikes even were running G2s). The Elixir was FAR from a stellar brake, but I guess this is Avid’s way of finally admitting there was a problem in the first place. Notice all the new “features” sound a lot like fixes to problems everyone has complained about.

I’m also with Dan…and some of the other posters. I’ve got some of the ‘original’ Elixer R’s and the rear brake was horrible on my Jabberwocky. Recently moved them to an On-One Scandal and now they’re perfectly quiet. And it wasn’t set up/contamination/etc, they just didn’t work well with the Jabber, some sort of vibration frequency matching issues I guess. Noise, vibration, squeal, etc. Bad. But they’re fine on the Scandal. And the old Hayes So1e’s I put on the Jabber to replace the Elixers are totally quiet.

It does seem like A LOT of people have had issues with Avid brakes though.

all they trying to do is kill their competitor shimano appreciate their innovation and marketing strategy but for an average rider we just need a simple brake that works and less maintenance. I used many brands so far shimano has better value over all! Avid just not my cup of tea..

Hi I recently bought an S-Works epic, ive had a few problems with my XXWC brakes if the bike is sitting for a week unused the front brake loses pressure and also starts grinning i was told it was when you take the wheel out and accidentally hit the brake . The brakes have been looked at 4 times in a period of two months and have left the wheel in so i don’t get this issue. I’m not to sure whether just to get formula R1’s or not, if i knew my XXWC were always going to work each weekend i wouldn’t mind anyone got any advice?

Cheers

Don’t clean avid rotors with standard disc brake cleaning fluid. i did and they became very noisy. Then i burnt the residue off with a small bunsen burner. Very lightly and carefully. Burns off the residue and now I have no noise from the brakes 🙂

Hi, I am a big fan of Shimano and recently started using Avid on my new Specialized Stumpjumper and had the same vibratating scream from my Avid brakes, notably the front. A mate made a comment that directly after I have washed my bike i must ride it up and down my drive way using the brakes as much as I can. It’s weird but it made a huge difference to the performance and noise.

Good morning everyone, and in advance, excuse my french.
To BB. Yes it seems that there is a “Break in” period before the “sticky” feeling disapear. After that, and you experienced that is’nt it… these brakes are pretty good, infitelly more better that the Juicy7 I had before.
Some of you guys complained about the pressure drop happening from time to time. First thing first, Never, ever ever, mix Sram Disk with other brand. Second Do not, at any cost, mix Sram XX Caliper with other brand – or else your brakes will literaly die. I mean It! As some of you smart guys know, It is just because the caliper system cannot tolerate exessive heat, because it cannot dissipate – so that the rubber seal melts, which fuse your bank account – This is exactly what happend with the Chalenger Shuttle, heat constraint around a rubber sealling.
Beyond that, pressure drop appears from time to time, so well it is advised to bleed the whole system every eight weeks. Buy yourself a formula bleeding kit, or even better is the owner related Avid kit, and one bottle of dot 5.1. Just follow the instruction of SRAM (see youtube AND Sram instruction kit). It goes pretty fast and well. Most of it, it reaches 88miles an hours Marty, it is just like the first kiss.
You may be overwhelmed by blog posts of usual rider complaining about their XX Brakes. Hell Prevail. You may be well aware that these brakes are made for people who love repair, tune, set, clean, their bikes – with their stinky sticky fingers. If you are defenetly not that brand, bounce. These stuff need extra special care – and at the proper time – which litteraly means before the problem appears.

Nevertheless I have this whistelling issue, at very low rotational speed, for a few weeks, even with no significant friction between the disk and the overall system. Tomorrow I will buy meself Isopropyl Alcohol by my nextest drugstore. I will keep you informed with the very last update.

My french betray my feelings. I do appreciate Sram XX 2012 Stuff. The minigroup itself is… beyond my french. A pure merveille. It is far beyond the XTR stuff (Remember the J.Nickolson quote : Swiftly and softly an armoured division).

But the brakes suffer from a F***ing important flaw no-one of you, rider-made Roger Ebert, complained about. This was beyond the realm of my worst disapointment.
Listen to this : “I broke my SRAM XX WC lever at its very first serious XC riding. I broke It in half! My first fall! At my first mile!! At my first 20% up on roots!!! Beware! Seriously! YOU could be the next!.
It is just because the 20 Year Old Chief Ingeneer of SRAM is an hamster – just like his nasty related rodant. Engeneering school 101 : The Mecanical link between the Matchmaker and the lever is 1.2 gram lighter than the previous one (halleluva), but it is also intrinsically fragile. So that when you fall from your bike at low speed, if the lever touches the ground, edgeface-like, it levers-out the system out of the handlebar. So that the momentum applied on the handlebar is higher than that the MatchMaker/Lever link can tolerate – As a result it breaks the link. And you’ve just lost your front brake. And two hickers mock-arounds echoes on your sudden wildest French 101 the forest and the nest did not diggest.
By the way, the matchmaker is stronger than the lever. for those wondering. (Usually it is the matchmaker that MUST broke before the pricy stuff… SameOldSong)
Hopefully, I repaired it in soldering the matckmacker and the broken lever on the handlebar using epoxy glue (Araldite). It woks perfectly well, well enough to stick the matchmaker out after a few resting days so that it looks and works just like the first kiss nowaday.

FYI…. My brake never felt right. They were spongy and weak. Finally the front seized closed and the wheel wouldn’t turn. I took my bike to my LBS and they sent the entire brake package back to SRAM. It took about 2 weeks and SRAM sent back new everything and they work great! Compliments to my LBS that but on a set of Elixir III’s to keep me going during the wait.