Avids Vs Hayes

[92se-r]

After bleeding some Avid brakes tonight, I have to admit, I am hating on Avids more and more. I have Avids on 3 of my 4 bikes, and Hayes on the other one. The Hayes have been nothing but bulletproof for me, and SUPER easy to maintain. The Avids have been nothing but headaches for me. Pads take forever to break in before they start grabbing hard. Whatever material they use also makes horrific squeeling noises, like metal on metal. My BB7's, 2 sets of Juicy 5's, and my roommates' Juicy 7's all make the same noises. The pad retaining clip is a pain in the ass. Bleeding them is a pain the ass. They use DOT 5 brake fluid, instead of more common DOT3/4 brake fluid. The only good thing I can say about them is that they work. But so do the Hayes without all the hassles. Thoughts? Any other companies you would suggest?

[mtnbikerdude87]

I love the Avids juicy 7s. The CPS adjusting system adjusting the caplier a lot easier. As for bleeding, I spent probably 20 min both front and rear. I think bleeding juicys are a lot easier and cleaner. I think their syringe style makes it easy. The first time is a little tricky but after that its simple.

The hayes on my brothers bike OTOH rubs constantly. I spent maybe 30 min to quiet the rubbing. It might be that the rotor is bent in one spot. I like the feel of the juicys than the hayes. But thats just my preference.

[bighit8]

For me personally, I like the feel of hayes better. More positive feeling of an engagement. I have had rubbing problems with the rotors though.The avids are good just fell soft to me. However some of the best brakes I have had were avid rival 7 rim brakes.

[DeeZee]

Originally Posted by 92se-r

After bleeding some Avid brakes tonight, I have to admit, I am hating on Avids more and more. I have Avids on 3 of my 4 bikes, and Hayes on the other one. The Hayes have been nothing but bulletproof for me, and SUPER easy to maintain. The Avids have been nothing but headaches for me. Pads take forever to break in before they start grabbing hard. Whatever material they use also makes horrific squeeling noises, like metal on metal. My BB7's, 2 sets of Juicy 5's, and my roommates' Juicy 7's all make the same noises. The pad retaining clip is a pain in the ass. Bleeding them is a pain the ass. They use DOT 5 brake fluid, instead of more common DOT3/4 brake fluid. The only good thing I can say about them is that they work. But so do the Hayes without all the hassles. Thoughts? Any other companies you would suggest?

"After bleeding some Avid brakes tonight, I have to admit, I am hating on Avids more and more."

I have both Avid 7's and Hopes. Hopes are a way better brake. I am going to pick-up another set of Hopes and sell the Avids.

I bled my Hopes once three years ago and still feel brand new

[Rivet]

Originally Posted by 92se-r

After bleeding some Avid brakes tonight, I have to admit, I am hating on Avids more and more. I have Avids on 3 of my 4 bikes, and Hayes on the other one. The Hayes have been nothing but bulletproof for me, and SUPER easy to maintain. The Avids have been nothing but headaches for me. Pads take forever to break in before they start grabbing hard. Whatever material they use also makes horrific squeeling noises, like metal on metal. My BB7's, 2 sets of Juicy 5's, and my roommates' Juicy 7's all make the same noises. The pad retaining clip is a pain in the ass. Bleeding them is a pain the ass. They use DOT 5 brake fluid, instead of more common DOT3/4 brake fluid. The only good thing I can say about them is that they work. But so do the Hayes without all the hassles. Thoughts? Any other companies you would suggest?

Hayes actually aren't a bad XC brake but for the type of riding I do they just weren't strong enough and faded too badly even with 8" rotors. By the bottom of certain trails I'd have to resort to 3 finger death grips to get them to stop. With my Avids I need one finger to stop even after long steep downs. I also have no problems bleeding Avids, actually really easy with the syringes. I'd like to give Hopes a try, maybe my next set.

[dstepper]

I agree with Rivet, I have had great luck with Hayes until I went to Mammoth and rode down Kamikaze. Half way down I had brake fad so bad that rear brake lost all ability to stop the bike.

Avids can be problematic to keep quiet and with the right bleed kit are no harder than other brakes to bleed. My current favorite brakes are Formulas; light, very powerful, easy to setup, change pads with wheel on the bike and best of all seem to keep the same lever throw thru brake pads wear.

Dean

[thephat]

You can't judge a model off of one experience. One guy gets a good set of Hopes, and they are the best for him. All the folks who had a bad experience with Hope brakes (trust me I've felt this happen) will dissagree. Another guy will have issues with his set of Avids, so Avids suck to him.

If you sell and service them all of the time, you start to see patterns.

For the most consistently good brake results, I recomend Shimano.

Avid brakes are extraordinary. They outsell every other model by a landslide. The first couple of generations had some issues, and they can be squeel prone. They seem to have worked out the issues. The organic pads usually solve the squeeling. The qc, customer service, power, and modulation have been unmatched in my opinion.

Hope brakes are beatifull and they make a model for every application. I think the Hope lever shape is neerly perfect. Hope brakes can be prone to squeeling. The QC can be a little less than great, and the service parts availability and customer service can be a little short. The reliability compared to the market on Hope brakes is only so so. The customer response on these seems to be usually love, but sometimes hate.

Oh yeah,

Check out the new Formula One. Very hot.

[jonathan_sykes81]

Originally Posted by 92se-r

Any other companies you would suggest?

I am like a broken record, but I think you should get Formula brakes. They are the shizzle. Super strong, no fade, ease of maintenance, they simply have it all, along with some of the best customer service in the industry. Any time I have had a question, I have given them a call, and Greg or Chris have helped me out. They walked me through the bleed process, which is easy once you find the bleed port in the caliper. Overall, great brakes with the service to back it up. Here is a link to MTBR's review of disc brake systems, take a look at the top ten: http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/disc_bra...byrating.shtml

[92se-r]

For those of you with brake fade on the Hayes, is it from the pads fading or the fluid bubbling?

[theclayster]

i am running Juicy 7's and Hayes 9's, Avid's on my XC and Hayes on my freeride. Have to say that they both work really well. Hayes brakes seem like they are easier to bleed, i bled mine the other night, but have not yet tried bleeding the Juicy's, heard they are a pain in butt to bleed.

[FyrFytrRyn]

hey, brake fade doesnt matter. just stay off the brakes. sheesh.

[johnandjerri]

I just bled my first Juicy 7's . Usually that is something the shop did but I took the plunge and bought the bleed kit, went home , prayed, read direction (which i found to be the easiest ever) ,prayed some more and started bleeding my front brake. Cleaned up and bled the back one. I also replaced the pads. I have to say I am very pleased with my success and how easy it was to do that. I also love the AVID's vs. Hayes. I have used both in the past and right now the Avid juicy 7's are the best i have used.

[SAR_boats]

I like Magura. (end of sales pitch)

[schleppp]

Originally Posted by thephat

You can't judge a model off of one experience. One guy gets a good set of Hopes, and they are the best for him. All the folks who had a bad experience with Hope brakes (trust me I've felt this happen) will dissagree. Another guy will have issues with his set of Avids, so Avids suck to him.

If you sell and service them all of the time, you start to see patterns.

For the most consistently good brake results, I recomend Shimano.

Avid brakes are extraordinary. They outsell every other model by a landslide. The first couple of generations had some issues, and they can be squeel prone. They seem to have worked out the issues. The organic pads usually solve the squeeling. The qc, customer service, power, and modulation have been unmatched in my opinion.

Hope brakes are beatifull and they make a model for every application. I think the Hope lever shape is neerly perfect. Hope brakes can be prone to squeeling. The QC can be a little less than great, and the service parts availability and customer service can be a little short. The reliability compared to the market on Hope brakes is only so so. The customer response on these seems to be usually love, but sometimes hate.

Oh yeah,

Check out the new Formula One. Very hot.

That my friends is a well reasoned and thought out response... Thanks again.

[ODB]

Both brakes have their virtues, in my experience (I have Juicys on one bike, Hayes Mags on the other). The Juicys are way more powerful, but they're very finicky and need to be tended too more often. Hayes Mags, on the other hand, are "set it and forget it" and have good modulation, but do have that strange mushy feel overall, especially on the really steep stuff. I'm looking to switch both of my bikes to Formulas soon, cuz i've heard nothing but raves about them. And I really like the fact that you can remove the pads from them without taking your wheel off.