Following up on the new Elixir 7 and 9 hydraulic disc brakes launched back in March, Avid have updated their flagship XX and XX World Cup models with the same TaperBore internal architecture for more consistent performance. The revised guts are said to make for easier and more straightforward bleeding, as well as reducing the likelihood of trapping an air bubble inside the active master cylinder area or hose.
Avid have focused much more keenly on reducing weight on the XX and XX World Cup models, though, and the claimed figures are impressive: just 270g for a complete front, direct-mount XX World Cup brake with 160mm rotor and 289g for the standard XX. Upgrades from the Elixir 7 and 9 on the top-end XX World Cup model include a new forged two-piece magnesium caliper, a forged magnesium lever body, and revised 140/160/180mm stainless steel rotors with alloy carriers.
Naturally, Avid also include carbon fiber lever brakes and titanium hardware, and the master cylinder is fully compatible with SRAM's latest Matchmaker X modular clamp system. As before, the weight-conscious World Cup retains a tooled reach adjustment but omits pad contact adjustment. The standard XX, on the other hand, switches to a new two-piece aluminum caliper and includes customizable pad contact. Both the XX and XX World Cup also get alloy-backed brake pads with organic compounds standard.
The latest Avid XX World Cup lever will again do without pad contact adjustment to save a few grams
Why stick with two-piece calipers, you may ask, when other manufacturers have made the move to one-piece designs? According to Avid product manager Paul Kantor, one-piece designs are perceived as being superior but two-piece calipers actually yield stiffer structures – and at 270g for a complete brake, few will argue that a two-piece caliper is heavy.
Interestingly, Avid have omitted their trademark CPS orbital washer mounting system on both flagship models – a feature that accounts for misaligned mounting tabs and has been included on virtually every Avid disc brake for the past decade or so. The decision to leave CPS off of their top models was apparently based solely on weight, as each set of washers – not to mention the slightly longer bolts required to accommodate them – amounts to 10g per caliper. "Things are competitive in the cross-country disc brake world," Kantor told BikeRadar.
As expected, pricing will follow in lockstep with the brakes' premium feature set – both the XX and XX World Cup will cost US$404 per wheel, with availability set for June.
The top-end Avid XX World Cup gets a forged magnesium two-piece caliper