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I have a set of these in my bike, and when I went out last night for a trip round CV I was having problems with my back brake. The lever has all of a sudden went very spongy and now need to press the lever before the brakes work. By the time I got half way round my second lap it felt like I had no back break at all. I am very new to Hydraulics and was wondering if they need bled. I did have to push apart the pads slightly the other night and wonder if I have done this too quickly and put air into the system. Ether that or is there a way to adjust them?
If this is the case I guess the question is where do I get a cheap bleed kit from (this is the cheapest I can find on Google [URL] http://shop.d2leisuregroup.co.uk/product215170265catno0.html [/URL] )
and is there anything I should be careful about. I am assuming that it is easy enough to do. Should I also do both at the same time so the both react similarly?
If you have to pump the lever to get it to work, it sounds like air in the system so it should be bled.
I doubt the air was from pushing your pads back a bit.
I wouldn't call it 'easy' to do. But it is quite a methodical routine. If you follow the instructions, it will work and give good results. Things to watch out for are:
~ contaminating pads with brake fluid - when you attach/detach the syringes small amounts of fluid can leak out. Just make sure you've got a rag to stop it dripping onto pads
~ being too heavy-handed with the syringes - you don't need to really force them. If you do you might squirt fluid past the connectors (or draw air in)
That looks like the cheapest bleed kit on-line.
you might as well do both ends while you've got the kit out.
that was teh one thing that was throwing me off was that when I pumped it, it wasnt getting that much better. I have only done about 500 miles since I got the bike and aint particiculary heavy on the brakes. Surely I don't need pads already??
It might be worth checking the pads themselves too. The organic pads that came in my Juicys all wore out pretty quicky.
For info (and others may have other recommendations) I tend to use Avid Sintered, Goodridge Sintered or Superstars Sintered in all my Avid brakes (two and a half sets). They all seem to work well and last well. I save the organics for the Alps.
I'll take them out later and have a look. Thanks for that.
higgo - don't all juicys come with sintered pads? all my avid brakes have (4 sets)
Pretty sure mine all came with organics but I've had them for ages so...
1) they may have changed what they put in them
2) I may have mis-remembered
Also, my Juicy 3 was an OEM one - bargain from Merlin as it had a very short hose (stripped off a bike - presumably the customer wanted a different brake) so they may have put a different pad in OEM c.f. 'normal' sales.
i had similar problems with my juicy threes and i thought it was a problem that needed sorted by bleeding. it turns out that it wasnt. my problems with poor brake performance tend to be a combination of me heating the brakes to buggery by dragging them - thus causing massive amounts of fade halfway through a ride and getting oil on the pads - thus causing a very unnerving my back brake doesnt work situation. because juicys threes tend to be quite spongy anyway both problems feel like a fluid problem.
try this before you bleed the brakes:
clean the disc, either with proper disc brake cleaner or mucoff or whatever to get any contaminants off.
take the pads out and give them a scrub down to get any contaminants off.
refit and go and hare down some hills slamming the brakes on.
hope that brake performance starts to come back.