They stop me.

LOUD noise and whole bike vibration. My local shop seems NOT to be able to fix it. These brakes are on a very nice Gary Fisher/TREK Paragon. I love this bike, I've had it 5 years. And from the first time I took it out I when I started using the rear brake the noise and vibration started. Local shop said lets put new brake pads on - sure. NOPE didn't work. Then I talk to the owner. He says bring it in I think theyre recalling those brakes. I take it in, service guy says Oh you've had your bike more than a year, sorry we cant do anything.

This is crap. I'm riding a >$2K bike and I'm embarrassed every time I hit my rear brake.
My local shop does not seem to be able to fix the LOUD grind noise and whole bike vibration.

? Strengths? After 2-1/2 years I've got nothing here.

Noisy, Constant, and I do mean Constant maintenance, and oh yes, they don't work.

Yet another person who finally gave up and am currently having a set of Shimano brakes installed as I write this. I've had the avids reworked, bled, bled and bled again. If you like to have your brakes bled alot, like once a month, this may be the brake for you. Otherwise, find something else. The moment I gave up was commuting to work in 20 degree F weather. The rear brake,which worked the day before at 40 degrees had nothing. No among of pumping created any brake action. Later in the day after it warmed up, a first pull was still nothing but 4 to 5 pumps would yield about 20% of a normally stopping force. I need brakes that I can bet my life on, these aren't it.

stops right after its been to the shop.

doesn't stop 3 days after being worked on. Also tries to kill you.

2013 King Kahuna. first they needed to be bled. then the front brake warped somehow (I don't use it too hard), then it completely went out while doing a downhill trail on a ski slope and rewarded me with 5 days in the hospital.

Modulation
Reliability
Adjustability
Ease of maintenance

None

I'm very surprised by the negative reviews. I've had my Elixer 5 brakes for several years, riding the Rocky Mountains and doing some cross-country racing. Love the stopping power and reliability. They've been GREAT!

Similar Products Used:

Shimano XT

They have on occasion stopped the bike

The brakes seize and don't release...once nearly throwing me over the handle bars and once leaving me 8 miles into the Everglades....walking.... dragging the bike back to civilization.

Absolutely the worst brakes. Avid rebuilt them once and replaced them once. Sram replaced them too....same result. Let's face it neither of these companies (including Scott) care enough to fix the problem. I've junked the entire system and replaced it with Shimano. I fully expect somebody will get hurt...class action lawsuit...an apology and payout.

Similar Products Used:

Felt, Giant, Campy

They stop the bike.

They stop the bike ...even when you don't want them to.

These came standard on my Giant Anthem X29er. They work for a while, then start rubbing or completely lock up. We adjusted, tweak, bled etc.... and they always manage to screw up again for no apparent reason. More than one shop has worked on these brakes. Both recommended that I change to Shimano. Installed my MT785's last night. Hoping I will have a reliable braking system now.

They have worked well for a long time, but...

Modulation is near non-existent, they fade very quickly, adjustment is poor, pads tend to not self-correct very well, lever feel is spongy at best, and bike shops want to charge me high $$$ to bleed them (bleeding process is meant to be difficult).

I'm comparing these to Shimano XT M785 and SLX M675 brakes, and they are both light years ahead of the Avids. The SLX brakes replaced the Elixir 5's, as several bike shops wanted to charge large sums of money to bleed them as they are a "pain in the ass to bleed". So I just bought a new set of SLX's off Chain Reaction for AUD $139 (No, I wasn't paid by them to promote this). Bargain, and SO much better.

Similar Products Used:

Shimano XT M785 and SLX M675

I have only had my used 2013 Trek X-Caliber for about 2 1/2 weeks and have ridden my bike about 7 times so far. (maybe 30-35 miles, total) My bike came with the Avid Elixer 1 Hydraulic brakes.

From the few times I've rode my bike so far, I think the brakes are absolutely wonderful. They have excellent stopping power, almost too sensitive, no squeaks, free-ups, or any of the other problems I've read from other reviewers as of yet.

Hopefully I will still feel that way after a few months of riding it, and not find the same kinds of issues other shave found? I will post/update again in a couple months.

None that I can see yet.

In summary, again, I have had my bike only a few weeks with low miles, but so far, I think the brakes are excellent! I will post again once I've have put a couple hundred miles on my bike and give an update on the Avids.

NONE

EVERYTHING, THEY ARE ABSOLUTE GARBAGE. CAME STANDARD ON MY GIANT TRANCE AND HAVE NEVER BEEN ANY GOOD. i have spent soooo much money on maintaining them. They nearly killed me the other day!!!!

NEVER buy these brakes they are GARBAGE!!!!~!

I haven't really seen any yet.

Locking of the caliper onto the rotor, no consistency whatsoever in their braking ability; they work really well on one ride....next ride I'm in the parking lot trying to bleed out pressure to relieve the caliper. Very squeeky.

Just having had very good luck with old Hayes Hydraulic brakes (on a 2000 Trek 8000LT), compared to these.... 13 years newer - they suck. Not this season, but probably next I'll upgrade the brakes to Hayes. I've just had very good luck with theirs. Maybe will consider Shimano. My advice to anyone buying a multi-thousand dollar bike is to insist the shop remove these and put on something that has better performance and better consistency.