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Are these brakes good to use straight out of the box i.e full of DOT 5.1 and bled ?
A quick look in the reservoir plug shows oil but I'm not getting any real brake force.
Any info much appreciated.
I’d expect the brakes to come ready to go. Are the pistons moving in to clamp the disc? If so, have you worn the pads in properly?
I'm getting some piston/pad movement but can pull the lever right to the handlebar. This with the lever adjusted max distance away and the contact adjuster only gives me a variance of hardly any brake force to a slight amount. Seems weird or more likely I'm missing something daft.
This is just trying the brake standing with the bike rather than riding.
Sounds like they need a bleed. Have you shortened the hoses during install? Have you followed the pad advancement technique recommended by SRAM (wheel out, pump levers to advance pads, reset with pad space, repeat 2/3 times)?
With a fresh bleed and levers adjusted fully out as you describe there should be hardly any movement in the brake lever before pad contact.
These brakes are excellent but need a good bleed (easy with bleeding edge) and need playing with (pad advancement) as the pads wear.
Put some pads in first.
Thanks for the replies.
Will have a go at the advancement but reckon I need to do a bleed. The brakes are as bought, so straight out of the box as a whole system,(pads included 🙂 I've not done anything but fasten it all to the bike and was expecting to be good to go.
Need to get myself a bleeding edge adaptor now.
Should be good to go so sounds odd. How many times have you pumped the lever - if the pistons are fully retracted you may need to pump a few times to get the pistons out. Otherwise it’s a bleed...
What he ^ said.
APF
I got the brake working. It needed a bleed - there was a lot of air in the system, and the pad advancement procedure was needed as well. Thanks for the info on that nickn.
Strange that it needed a bleed out of the box, but hopefully it’s now working well for you. I’d love to try a set of codes on my bike although there is nothing wrong with my guides to justify an upgrade!
It definitely can't be taken for granted that these brakes come ready to use out of the box. I've just installed the other brake (slight delay after CRC sent me 2 front brakes by mistake) and had to bleed a load of air out of it as well.
AAh. Everything was good. Front and back installed, both bled, pads advanced and had a ride with no problems. Great brakes.
BUT. Have just noticed the front pistons aren't advancing evenly - they were OK. Now the inner/pipe side advances but the opposite barely moves. I've re bled and got some more air out from the lever end but it's still the same.
Not sure how to proceed. Any advice very welcome.
Yeah they do that, I know yours are just new but I found they can stick... advance each piston out individually ( I use a hamfisted technique of a 10mm Allen and a flat bladed screwdriver to hold in the other pistons while advancing one) clean and lube with silicone grease.
After noticing more lever travel I found that one whole side of the pistons had seized, must clean my brakes calipers more often.
Cheers dumbbot. I'll give that a go.
It seems a bit crap that they start jamming after one ride.
My front pistons on my Guide RS stick or are lazy on one side more than the other, I did the lazy option and just moved the caliper over...Must remember to get round to bleeding it and working the pistons to free them up...
I "think" I've finally evened up the pistons. Tried it with pads out, but couldn't manage to isolate the troublesome pistons very well, with the pads in I just repeatedly operated and fully pushed back the pistons and it eventually all evened out.
A bedding in ride next so hopefully they'll stay good.