[Closed] Avid Juicy 3's

I found them fine, had a set for 18 months no problems then my wife had them on her bike for 18 months, just changed o Juicy 5's found them for £99 brand new 😀

Good for that price. Mine needed bleeding too often for my liking though.

Personally I would consider getting BB7s which aren't much more - a lot less faff.

Bought mine secondhand 3 months ago, and done plenty of miles..

I like them, although the adjustment is annoying.

I have them on ST4 for 2 years now. They need a bleed every few months, I have to lube the pistons as they get sticky. Power is OK, feel is good, very good.
Compared to my 7 years use Deores (never bled at all, only changed pads...) and my Hayes Nines (sledgehammer power, solid, never bled in the year I had them) they are not as good.
But they work, and worth that.

I can't seem to get them to work reliably, but then I could be doing something wrong, I dunno.

I got through three of them last winter, each one ended up with a completely seized piston, which makes them squeally and rubbish at stopping you. I tried cleaning them thoroughly and changing the pads, manually pushing the pistons in and out a few times, lubing the pistons with DOT fluid, re-bleeding, stripping down and using that red rubber grease stuff to lube the seals, and even a complete piston and seal replacement. Some of those things worked a bit, but the problem always came back after a couple of rides.

I bought a third one cheap in January to see if I'd just got a duff batch on my bike, but that one went the same way after a couple of months. I'm sure they're great in other places but they just don't seem to like the mud round our way (Dark Peak/South Pennines).

I melted mine coming down some torridon hill in horribly wet and gritty weather, got 2 years out of them before that mind, if you can get a good bleed out of them they'll be alright, not great though.. I'm quite heavy though, so i'd imagine if you're skinny you'll be fine.

I've been happily using a set for a couple of years now.. 11 stone.. all year round riding in all weather.. with plenty of moorland mud and grit and even a bit of Devon sand.. a few pad changes and a bit of a wash now and then is all the maintenance I've needed to do..

never had a problem yet.. I haven't fettled with them though.. which seems to me to be the cause of most of the problems associated with them..

for the price you've seen them that's a steal..

I haven't fettled with them though.. which seems to me to be the cause of most of the problems associated with them.

Heh. For the record I would like to state that I didn't start fiddling with mine until after they started playing up. And I took them to the LBS first too, they couldn't sort it either...

Heh. For the record I would like to state that I didn't start fiddling with mine until after they started playing up.

Me neither.

Heh

hmm.. It's wierd why some are so reliable and others are made of cheese..

I shall count myself lucky.. 🙂

those people that had problems.. did you not even try bleeding them or anything..?

for that money, yes.

a mate's juicy 3's went on for 2 years without a problem and then suddenly the levers leaked and pistons pumped out. Mrs Julian's have been fine for 2+ years, nice and grabby and never overheated, didn't even feel much sharper after I bled them at 22 months than they did before, which for a dot 5.1 brake is pretty good going. However, often uneconomical to repair when seals go (at least you can buy spares mind!) and whatever you do stay well clear of them (including the levers) with anything like gt85 or *sharp intake of breath* wd40 as this knackers the seals both in levers and calipers. They are also a right faff to bleed and require a particular bleed kit which isn't always the case for other brakes.

Have you looked for shimano at circa £100 a set? No spares but very reliable, easy to bleed (like a car, basically) and the mineral oil they use doesn't absorb moisture and go spongey, so won't need bleeding unless you've actually damaged something.

Mine, like some others here have been a bit unreliable. I don't like the alignment method and it seems to promote sticky pistons which I've had trouble with. When they work they are good in the dry but are more for xc I would say. Mine have over heated quite easily on long steep stuff and don't work great in the wet at all. Maybe I've just been unlucky.

On the plus side I really like the feel of them when they work well and the levers are much more comfy than the Hopes I have now. My Hopes are so much better though. If I were you I'd save up for something better unless you're just going to be doing a bit of xc. My juicy 3's felt much better when I changed from organic pads to superstar sintered.

those people that had problems.. did you not even try bleeding them or anything..?

Yes bled them with DOT 5.1, they got a bit better for a while, but not very long - repeat........

Actually the front one was fine - the back one I could just never get right.

Morgs - I'm clearing out my spares at the moment (broke a frame and need the cash) so I could do them at £30 the set plus postage. It's a working set (actually a choice of two - black or white), though I have to admit that the pad changing is not as easy as more modern designs. Email in profile if you're interested.

I forgot about the bleeding. It is faff and I've had to do it quite regularly. I found that I had to work really hard at getting all the bubbles out to make them work well.

never bled mine.. maybe that's the key

haha, you keep repeatedly missing the key point - are you doing it on purpose?

Me? Sorry. No I wouldn't pay that for them, not if they turn out like mine did. I think I asked too much of my Juicy's though.

haha, you keep repeatedly missing the key point - are you doing it on purpose?

haha.. no

I get it.. you felt that your brakes weren't up to scratch.. you messed about with them.. they didn't work properly afterwards..

it happens I guess.. 😉

edit: too slow

those people that had problems.. did you not even try bleeding them or anything..?

never bled mine.. maybe that's the key

The brakes worked fine for a while, then became a bit crap - I made them a bit better again by bleeding, but they were never quite the same. Capiche? 👿

thanks for all the comments!

i'm not a light bloke and i'm building up a marin attack trail frame I picked up today. Although I'll be getting back into riding with the daily commute and a little bit of off road, I want to be heading back to places like Nanty very soon....

Given my bulk and some of the comments here (oh, and my memory of Hope minis, magura louise's and some Hayes HFX-9's [all names if memory serves correctly]) I think I'll leave them alone.

igm - thanks for the offer but i'll pass for the time being.

Now...new thread to be started..."Which disc brakes on a budget" lol