Avid Juicy 3 Upgrade

faceplant77

I have a specialized RockHopper Comp with Avid Juicy 3 disk brakes with 160mm rotors. I'm thinking of upgrading these to the Avid Elixir R with 185mm Rotors. Is there any advantage in having a larger rotor?

I have the Avid bleeding kit so I don't want to have wasted this hence why I'd like to stay with SRAMs AVID brakes.

The Avid Elixir R and Juicy 3.5 are in my price range of about £60 - £70 each.

I don't do competitions of a lot of downhill riding as the 203mm are better for these, i wanted to know what are the advantages/disadvantages of the 185mm rotors over the 160mm rotors

peter413

Get some Fomula Oro's from Formula direct, cheaper than Elixir's and plenty of rotor choices.

Bigger rotor gives more power but with less modulation.

I went from a rear Elixir to some Oro's and the difference is night and day, soooooo much nicer to use and more powerful. You can also use your Avid bleed kit with them so it won't go to waste.

.blitz

A bigger rotor will give you more power at the expense of modulation and a slight increase in weight.

Although big rotors look cool I think for trail riding a properly setup 160/160 combo is more than adequate although 185/160 gives a little more power if you are big/heavy/rad etc.

Thewaylander

from riding both 160/160 185/185 and 185/160 and a couple bigger, I definately feel 185/160 is min of what people want for all round riding, you can uplisft and do all sorts with out getting let down.

The other thing bigger discs means less over heating, and on my 160's even at afan skyline( it is a long decent at the end) you can overheat 160's very easily and get fade. so I run 185's now all round for more reliable stopping.

Raymondavalon

There's nothing wrong with Juicy 3's and the Elixirs are also an excellent brake. I've owned both.
I believe that rotor size does make a big difference, as TheWalander said, much less brake fade

I upgraded from a 185F/160R to 203F/85R on my All Mountain bike that came with Juicy 3's and the difference was noticeable, much less brake fade, especially on the rear
(I upgraded the All Mountain to Avid Code brakes and love them as I am heavy)

I also run 203F/185R on the Elixir shod 456 long travel hardtail, due to my weight (220LBS) I do prefer the bigger rotor combo

You can't go wrong with Avid brakes, they work well, but I also say go for the Cleansweep 3 rotors too

Anonymous

I've got the Avid bleed kit also and that's what tempts me to stick with Avid, but then again I keep thinking about how crap the Juicy 3s are. Noisy, difficult to align if the pistons get stuck or pushed in with the wheel off, and don't get me started on the stupid spring clip thing for the pads which clips the disc and "pings" frequently and the awkwardness of fitting the pads.

They're also a little spongy even after a good bleed. Though I've tested some Elixirs and they are more abrupt in their braking. I'm not sure I want them to be that sharp though.

Still, if the bleed kit works with other brands I'd be tempted to try others.

popstar

Elixirs aren't bad at all, while they're in working order. Formula's on the other hand, are something else. Don't think I would ever go back to Avids these days.

evernas

the bigger rotors size,the better.If you are after a brakes with good modulation try Shimano or Formula.good luck

popstar

Simply the bestest brakes for your money, you seriously would struggle to find something in it's league for power - modulation. Formula RX at ~ £156 or so.

Jack 123

deadkenny wrote:

I've got the Avid bleed kit also and that's what tempts me to stick with Avid, but then again I keep thinking about how crap the Juicy 3s are. Noisy, difficult to align if the pistons get stuck or pushed in with the wheel off, and don't get me started on the stupid spring clip thing for the pads which clips the disc and "pings" frequently and the awkwardness of fitting the pads.

They're also a little spongy even after a good bleed. Though I've tested some Elixirs and they are more abrupt in their braking. I'm not sure I want them to be that sharp though.

Still, if the bleed kit works with other brands I'd be tempted to try others.

You can use the avid bleed kit with most brakes

Anonymous

Cool. Sorted then. No more Juicy. Will look at the Formula stuff I think.