New Avid Brakes for 2012

Here’s a sneak 2012 preview of Avid’s new Elixirs for 2012. Isn’t it only March? That doesn’t seem to stop the companies from getting those new products out for your to drool over during the summer as you wait for new bikes to start appearing with them on in the autumn.

Anyway… Avid has redesigned the Elixir which, while popular, wasn’t as easy to use as it could have been. The current lever’s reach adjust dial is a fiddly thing to get to and we’ve had new Elixirs that have needed re-bleeding out of the box. Both of these issues seem to have been addressed with a completely new piston/bladder design with less places for air to hide and a much easier and consistent assembly possible so that brakes should feel strong right out of the box. In addition, the reach adjuster has moved to ‘inside’ the lever travel so that it’s both out of the way, but easy to get to. As long as it doesn’t foul any of your other handlebar furniture, we reckon this should be a good improvement over the 2011 brakes. The Taperbore bite-point adjuster is now detented so that it doesn’t ‘drift’ out of your setting, like the current ones can do.

The Elixir 9 should weigh 358g and is expected to appear ‘in April 2011’… It’s shown here in ‘Storm Grey’ anodising. It also comes in black.

Now in Storm Grey. Reach adjust knob now patently obvious.

Clamp is Matchmaker compatible as you might expect.

The rotors too have been redesigned (and come in 140, 160, 180 and 200mm sizes) and the calipers (and mounting hardware/adaptors) have been improved too.

Silver finish on the 7.

Elixir 7
Listen up weight weenies! For some reason that Avid hasn’t gone into yet, the Elixir 7 brakes weigh a whole 8g less than the Elixir 9 brakes, coming in at a claimed 350g. It does lack the pad-contact adjuster though – but if you must save that weight…
Here it is in Silver (it comes in Storm Grey too)

Want to see the new rotors too? Oh, OK then…

Here's the 140mm rotor.

That's the 200mm rotor. Looks a little like a mutant Isle of Man flag.

And, finally, as well as the Elixir 9 and 7 (and we presume, eventually, a revamped 5 and 3) Avid has announced the Elixir 1, which will sell in the US for under $90. Expect it to be low on features, but for what we assume will be sub-£100, it should be worth a look when it’s out later in the year for those on a budget.

That’s the 200mm rotor. Looks a little like a mutant Isle of Man flag.

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)