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Juicy 5 disc brake review revisited: a long term update
Last year I posted up a review of the Avid Juicy 5 disc brake. Overall, I was impressed with the way the brake felt and behaved during the initial testing period but, over time, there was a noticeable decline in the performance of the product.
For those of you who don’t go back and regularly read old reviews, I wanted to give you all an update about the current status of my Juicy 5s. Basically, after about 6 months of semi-regular use — my xc bike isn’t my primary ride — the front brake felt ‘mushy’ and cheap and the back brake engaged far too quickly for my liking. No amount of cleaning helped and brake bleeds were ineffective in getting rid of the problem, so I ended up taking it to a local bike shop where it was noted that there was something wrong with the piston in the lever body.
Fortunately for me, parts weren’t available from the local distributor (read on!) and after a well-timed call to SRAM it was discovered that, on my particular version of the brake, the ‘hole’ that the piston is supposed to move into was bored at an incorrect size. Specifically, the hole was too small for the piston and, over time, this manufacturer defect caused the lever to seize up. The matter was resolved after I was given a new lever body under warranty.
As I mentioned above, everything was taken care of to my satisfaction and, while it was a bit of a hassle, it doesn’t change my original evaluation of the brake. I hope this helps some of you out there, especially if you’re experiencing the same sort of problem that I encountered.