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Just changed my rotors and pads on the gravel bike due to a switch from organic to sintered pads and not being sure the old rotors were playing nice. Â
Front went absolutely fine. Minor tweak to caliper position for subtle difference in rotor position as they weren't like for like. Â
The rear brake lever went straight back to the bars after exactly the same steps (it wasn't doing this before). Nothing.
In my head that says either low fluid level OR air (or both) but it worked fine before.  There's no sign of leakage anywhere.Â
I've wound out the lever on the bite point adjuster and I've now got acceptable feeling braking (subject to test ride). Â
Ordinarily I'd go and bleed them BUT the bleed kit and fluid is currently c. 300 miles away. I have only a couple of days between this trip and a week touring in France on that bike. Â
I'm thinking a bleed will solve this but are there any warning signs of bigger issues here based on symptoms / actions? Â
If I can find one I'd be prepared to buy another bleed kit and sell it on when I'm done if there's one in a local shop but if this sounds more a sinister issue I need other plans!Â
Help Obi Wan Kenobi STW you are my only a source of hope. 🙂
If you can pump the lever enough to get some pressure and set it to the longest reach setting, then put a ziptie round the lever and bar to hold it on overnight.  It probably needs a bleed but that's usually enough to get any air up into the reservoir where it won't do any harm in the short term.
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sticky pistons - not moving to compensate for the thinner disc?
Thanks both. I gritted my teeth bought (another) bleed kit in the LBS and a pot of 5.1 and bled the thing using the two syringe upward bleed method. I reckon 2ml+ of air came straight out of the system on the first push up and it was rock solid after.
There's no sign of any leakage and I can only assume that the system had a number of smaller bubbles that have finally amassed into one mega bubble during the pad swap. Since I bought the bike (back in COVID) it's had a gentle/smooth feeling to the rear brake and I assumed that was just a SRAM thing combined with the long hose run (this is the only bike I have with SRAM brakes).Â
Thumbs up for Ride Bikes and Leisure Lakes in Ulverston who've both had visits and money from me this week. Great service and well stocked in both. Â
I can recommend the GCN bleed video for the Rivals. Â
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Sounds right. I had the same experience with rivals, no leaks, but definitely needs bleeding. I think an annual preventative bleed is the way forward and not waiting until the lever feels bad.Â