Avid Code 5 Review - BikeRadar

After much cursing over my Avid Juicy 3's being unable to stop me as quick as id like i opted to replace them with something with a little more grunt. Step up the Code 5's. They are like dropping a ship anchor off your rear wheel, more stopping power than a bison on smack.

The responce from them is brilliant. I run a Orange Evo8 XC bike, some will say that the Code 5's are a little over kill (185's Front and Rear) , maybe, if your a skinny runt, but a flexible straw on your rims would stop you, but im not, im a big heavy man, and big heavy men need big heavy brakes to stop them killing themselves! Whilst I appreciate the beauty of having kit that weighs the same as a nats bollok, i like mine to feel meaty, like its not going to let you down anytime soon, and thats what you get with these. Bewarned, if you dont respect what you have at your finger tips they will punish you, and then laugh at you once your far flung body comes to a stop as quickly as they did.

If your looking for a good solid brake that wont let you down, then these are they. They are easy to fit and set up, require next to no maintenance and will stop you like a backhander off your mum.

Wu.

COMMENT:

Good, honest review.

When i get more time to have days on off-road trails, i want to do a custom-build, and after reading other positive reviews on the Code-5's, i will include them in the build (185mm f+r)

it's allways important to spend as much as you can afford on brakes (+ uprated pads) & tyres for safety & to have more stopping power than you usually tend to need - nothing worse than getting brake fade quite quickly on a steep decent ; not a nice feeling.

I picked up a set of these on ebay as a bit of long shot. I wasn't over confident in the mongrel mix-match of caliper and lever but they were a great price and i'm a sucker for a bargain. I thought these were going to be a real hash up from everything Avid had left over in stock but in fact i couldnt have been more wrong. As with anything, get them bled evenly so the bite points are equal, (mine were way off, from out the box) and you'll be laughing all the way down the hill knowing you have bags and bags of well modulated braking power. The tri alignment isn't difficult but does take a bit of patience if you like it spot on. I don't see any bad points with these, if you need big brakes then these are the biggest no frills bang for bucks i reckon you'll get, and the bonus is the modulation achieved through the Juicy 5 with dislocating lever. Remember though, if your building a wippet you won't be choosing these brakes in the first place, so by their freeride intended nature, all that extra power will carry a weight penalty. OVERALL, WICKED BRAKES...