Getting my Santa Cruz heckler ready for a visiting family member. I’m going to take him out to experience Colorado mountain biking. When I put the old heckler up in the repair stand i noticed the brakes felt horrible. They were very squishy and you could hear the air bubbles in the line. So I set off to bleed the brakes.
What you’ll Need:
- Avid Disc Brake Bleed Kit (purchase link)
- Paper Towels or rags
Links to good Instruction:
- Avid’s own Hydraulic Disc Brake Hose Length Adjustment & Bleed Guide pdf document.
- HB & Avid Avid Juicy 7 video on YouTube.
Of the two instructional options listed above I found the HB video the most helpful. I highly recommend watching his video as its good to see it at least once before attempting it your self. I used the avid written directions for torque settings and because I didn’t have a PC handy in my shop (ah someday I will).
Bleeding your Juicy brakes is done in 3 phases.
- Bleeding the caliper
- Bleeding the line
- Bleeding the lever
A trick for the caliper is to make the seringe tube the highest point on the caliper. If your bike is angled down too much air will get trapped in the end of the caliper. Instead try leveling your bike so the tube is the highest point. You’ll extract more air than normal and reduce overall time.
I left my wheels on the bike during the bleeding process. Call me lazy, but I hate removing the rear wheel unless I need to.
When bleeding your levers loosen your levers and twist them up so they are pararell to the ground. This does two things. First your seringe is the highest point for easy air extraction and prevents oil from runing out when you remove the seringe.
Be prepared to spend some time extracting all the air. This process must be done gentley or you will pull air around the seals on the seringe. Instead lightly pump the seringe until no air is pulled from the system. This took a long time on my brakes, but the wait was worth it.
End result was a pair of extremely well dialed in brakes. Powerful, firm, and quick. After bleeding the Avid I am now a big fan of their brakes. I’m looking to upgrade my 2001 Hope C2 “closed system” on my titus with Juicy Ultimates or Elixers CRs. I’m even looking at upgrading other bikes in our stable (wife’s titus, single speed, and commuting bike).
