Avid Juicy 3 brakes - is it necessary to bleed

nbuuifx

My rear brake was making a nasty noise so I took the wheel off and took the pads out. One pad had completely gone and was a good way through the metal backing. It turned out the piston on the other side had seized in place so only the one side was working and in turn had worn out fast.

I couldn't get the piston to shift, so I took the caliper off and disconnected the hydraulic line to it. A good few drops of fluid dripped out of the caliper. I soaked the piston and got it moving again. Pushed the pistons both back and put new pads in. I put the caliper back on and reconnected the hose. On pressing the lever it did nothing no brakes at all. I kept trying pumping the brake lever but nothing changed.

I remembered using a zip tie to hold the lever against the handle bard over night to improve brakes - so left it like that over night and they seem to work fine this morning. I've only tested by the fact that the lever feels normal and holds the wheel - I've not actually been out to test properly.

The reason I'm asking, I guess, is because I can't really understand what holding the lever in did! Can anyone explain it to me?

Thanks

steve_sordy

It compresses the air bubbles so that they can move up to the lever end more easily. There should be a clear upward path available for the bubbles from caliper to lever reservoir. So unless you tipped the bike up onto its rear wheel, a proportion of the air bubbles will have been trapped. You really should do the lever trick again with the bike upended. Then I would recommend that you do a mini bleed as a minimum (lever end only).

Epic Bleed Solutions are extremely helpful and will reply to emails. Here is a guide to a mini-bleed for Shimano brakes. You should be able to adapt for your Avid Juicy brakes.

https://epicbleedsolutions.com/blogs/guides/5-minute-shimano-mini-bleed

PS: Do not forget to bed in your new pads or you will never get best braking.

nbuuifx

Thanks, so zip tie on again, and put the bike up on the hook on the wall overnight so that all the bubbles rise to the reservoir?

You don't happen to know what type of brake fluid these use do you? I think from what I have read it is Dot 4 or 5.

Thanks

steve_sordy

Epic bleed solutions will have which DOT on their website.

When you hang the bike up, it is important that there is a continuous upward path on the rear brake hose. If there is a loop that goes horizontal or downwards, even a little bit, then the bubbles will stop rising at that point.

It will be better to do a complete bleed, the lever bleed is a quick fix and often has good results, but a complete bleed always works.