Avid Elixir 7 - feeling spongey

dynebaruk

I bought Elixir 7s about 2-3 months ago and have been riding usually twice a week.

The back brake is now feeling a bit spongey and there's definitely less stopping power there.

The pads are fine. It started to feel this way during a long ride on Sunday.

What's the most likely cause and how do I resolve it?

cooldad

Have you lubed anything at the rear?

nasha48

Need a bleed?

mattshrops

Need shimano?

coulddobetter

Last thing I would do is bleed . First check for contamination . Second align pad and rotors loosen brakes at rear caliper , firmly pull brake lever and keep it there then re tighten caliper bolts . 2 to 3 months with nothing wrong then going off like that I doubt you suddenly have air in system . Bleeding could end up causing more probs if not done properly . Do you have lever reach adjustment you can dial in for a firmer feel & more immediate brake resonse ?

dynebaruk

What do you mean by contamination? I'll try the second thing you said, but there's no reach adjustment.

I would consider if I'd accidentally got lube on it or something like that, but the problem started to become apparent during a ride.

pots74

Sounds to me like you have air in the system, i would suggest bleeding the brake and see if that sorts it out.

poah

cooldad wrote:

Have you lubed anything at the rear?

what's his sex life got to do with anything

coulddobetter

Contamination , simply something like an over lubed chain or cassette allowing oil to fly around .

stevieboy308

how does pad contamination make it feel spongy?????

reach adjustment won't make it any less spongy. you'll just get more stopping power before the lever hits the bars. elixir 7's should have reach adjustment, my 5's did, but i had to always run them at the max reach setting, so were pretty pointless anyway.

they're avids, they'll need bleeding, just because they've been fine and nothing has been done to them, doesn't mean anything with avids