Brake advice - Boardman Team F/S

[daddy cool]

Noticed that after 400 miles, my pads on the Boardman were worn out - they are Avid Elixir 3 brakes front & rear. Fitted the new front pad in about 30 seconds. Rear pad = nightmare! No way I could get the pistons far enough apart to get the disc in between the new pads. Being stupid I though "wonder if I can undo a nut to let a little pressure out?" which I did, and which worked, except that I think ive killed a seal, because now when you pull the lever fluid leaks out the calliper and theres no bite. FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. I know: im an idiot.

So, heres the options I see:
1) Buy a seal kit for ~£6, and a bleed kit for £20, and see if I can repair what is a very basic brake anyway.
2) Buy a replacement Elixir 3 rear brake for ~£40
3) Upgrade to an Elixir 7 Trail brake for ~£60. Presumably this would be a straight swap on the bike in terms of mounting, and would be compatible with the Exilir 3 rotor?
4) fit a different rear brake altogether - my mate loves his Shimano SLX brakes, and the brake alone (no rotor) would be ~£50. Would that fit with my Avid rotor? My concern is that the bike would feel unbalanced front-to-back, as he says his SLX brakes are incredibly sharp in terms of bite.
5) Take the opportunity for a full brake upgrade - looks like CRC doing the whole SLX set for just over £100 with the current discount: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-slx-m67... Scrap that - I see that its a "left hand: front, right hand: rear" set-up...

Whaddaya think?

Edited by daddy cool on Sunday 29th December 16:35

Edited by daddy cool on Sunday 29th December 16:39

[Justin S]

If you change any brakes, you will have to change the hose lengths. You can usually get away without bleeding. If you look at where the hose goes into the caliper on your elixirs, there is a torque screw in there, that's the bleed port. You didn't need to undo the caliper. You will either need a seal and a bleed kit and some dot 4, or if you get the SLX brakes from CR, its not an issue as you will need to shorten the hoses and swop left to right easy.
Choice is yours.

[Kieranv]

I'd get rid of the avids, they're no good once they start failing. Shimano's are more powerful and easier to work on. Shortening hoses is easy and they'll give you the olives and fittings you need to do it.

Have a look on bike-discount.de for some.

[gazza285]

I bought a bike with Promax Hornet brakes on, far superior to me race bike with Avids on. My SS has Deores on, also far superior to Avids. Next thing to change on my race bike? Get rid of the Avids.

[daddy cool]

Ive ordered the front & rear SLX brakes from CRC (£99.98 delivered). Hopefully they will work with my Avid rotors and I can avoid upgrading them yet.