Sram Rival HRD disc brake lever travel

joey54321
joey54321 Posts: 1,297
edited November 2018 in Workshop
I'm looking for a bit of help. Last March I had a local mechanic bleed the brakes on my cross bike, I then put it away for summer and didn't use it. After a bit of faffing (seating tyres, wheels, caliper alignment, jockey wheels, ugh, it has seemed endless!) I went for a ride today and noticed a HUGE amount of level travel on the front brake, maybe 40% of the total distance before anything happens at the brake. Also, I seem to have to grab it a little more forcefully than I remember, no one finger braking here.

Since I haven't used it since it was last bled I would be surprised if that is the cause, but could it be? Did the mechanic just 'forget' to bleed the front or does a system degrade over time, even without use?

Comments

  • joey54321
    joey54321 Posts: 1,297
    Ok, bike shop tried bleeding the bike and it made no difference. They are saying its a warranty/send back to SRAM job and it'll be at least 2 weeks. Is anyone aware of a similar issue before? What was actually the problem?
  • dstev55
    dstev55 Posts: 742
    I have a lot of travel on mine, just thought that's how they were, grew to like it to be honest. No issues with stopping power though.
  • joey54321
    joey54321 Posts: 1,297
    Then it's probably a different issue as seem to run out of space before effective braking kicks in.
  • pedropete
    pedropete Posts: 227
    This is a worryingly common issue with SRAM's HRD systems, and occurs on brand new bikes just out of the box as well those that have been thrashed round the CX circuit all winter. I finally found this vid today that explains the likely cause and solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqEHA2dRgqs&t=980s

    I was looking as I've had the same issue on an OEM fitted Rival 1 lever and an older Rival 22 lever. Have had the OEM lever warrantied but am going to try and service the older Rival 22 lever myself.
  • joey54321
    joey54321 Posts: 1,297
    Thanks for the video, it's basically what I've had to do. The master cylinder in the shifter was getting stuck before the stop plate. It looks pretty dry so have bought some avid dot grease and hope greasing and reinstalling + a bleed will fix it.

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