Give me a Brake!

I have some news...

My beloved Airborne Seeker has been having a little problem with the Elixir 1 brakes. Basically, whenever the bike would sit out in the sun, the rear brake locked up. After letting the bike "cool" down in the shade or basement, it would return to normal. It only happened a couple times this summer, however the last event resulted in a small fluid leak at the lever. I was not happy considering I had owned the bike less than a year. Figuring, it might just be a bad factory bleed, I took it to my LBS. They informed me that it would in fact need new seals in addition to bleeding. On top of that, they said it would cost around $50 total and a week to get the Avid seal kit shipped...

I figured I'd test out Airborne's great customer service reputation and see if this could be covered under warranty. Within an hour of emailing Airborne, they replied back letting me know they contacted SRAM and were awaiting a reply. I waited roughly a week without update and decided to fire off a curious email to Airborne. Sure enough, a speedy reply informed me that SRAM had sent out replacements and a pre-paid label to return my leaking Elixir. I was impressed to say the least...fairly quick responses, no hassle, no questions, free replacements. A few days later, the package arrived, with two surprises...

Surprise #1: Upgraded replacement brakes! I received the newly re-designed DB5 model (lower tier versions of the new GUIDE series) including (2) of the new "centerline" rotors!!

Surprise #2: The second brake in the box......a DB3??? wait a minute, who runs different brakes on the front/rear?? A 3rd email to Airborne revealed that it was indeed a mix-up at SRAM, and a rep emailed me back letting me know that a second DB5 was on it's way.

Eagerly, I unpacked the DB5 and installed it in the place of my leaky Elixir...and quickly noticed that the hose was too long for my Seeker. This meant that I would need to cut and bleed the line before I could go riding. I could have brought the bike to the LBS and paid to have it bled, but then in a couple days I would have to do it all over again once my front DB5 arrived from SRAM. Since I wanted to ride the bike NOW, I opted to bite the bullet and go buy an Avid bleed kit. I figured it would come in handy in the future with my Yelli Screamy build.

All in all, I have to commend Airborne as well as SRAM customer service throughout my issues. They provided fast, helpful responses and quickly shipped out replacements without question. I will keep everyone updated as I test out these new SRAM brakes (gone is the Avid name from the new design), and try to post up a review here soon.

Ride safe!