I've never encountered this problem before but all of a sudden my brake levers have been acting funny. There seems to be a little "play/click" in the levers before I fully engage. The longer I ride it almost gets to a point that the brakes are not engaging fully and the brake pads are riding on the rotors. I had the brakes bled this past June and haven't ridden it enough to warrant another bleeding (been riding my road bike more this summer). This is an older set of hydraulics. Has any ever encountered this? It also seems this happens more when it is warmer out. Any recommendations? Thanks guys

You say they are older - - are they the HFX 9s?

Here are a couple pics of the brakes in question. Just came back from a little ride and it happened again. Brake pads don't fully engage off the roter when lever is depressed... so annoying as my ride turned out to be a struggle as the wheels were not spinning freely...

They appear to be HFX 9 XC brakes. The HFX 9s had a weakness in the design that may or may not relate to your problem; but I'm a bit unclear on what the problem is.

Your statement in bold is throwing me . . . are you trying to say that the brakes don't fully release/return when you let go of the lever? Or that they are sticking at some point when you pull on the lever and so are not making full contact/power?

it's hard to explain. So right now I just went over to my bike (which is always indoors) and grabbed the levers to apply brake and they had the feel of normal. When I go out and ride, it's like they get stiff. You get a little movement in the lever about a quarter inch front to back that makes a clicking noise. If you press it in quarter inch it doesn't release back to starting position you have to move it forward quarter inch. When you decided to fully engage the brake lever it has a "hard" feel and not fluid at all as if the pads are not releasing off the rotor. Right now everything is fine... if I take it for a ride then they act up... Could it be something as a simple fix just to replace the levers and nozzle? I'm at a loss... I wrote to Hayes and see what they have to say...

PS... brakes do release but pads kinda stick to rotors and eventually dis engage fully after a while as long as you don't keep pressing the brake...

Hmmm . . . lever-clicking stuff may be related to an inherent problem with HFX 9s. Weak point in them is the actuator rod, or more precisely, the ball end that pushes the master cylinder plunger. If the bike's ever been crashed / dropped, the lever may have tried to rip the rod out of its seat. There is a washer behind the circlip that holds the ball end from popping out. See if the washer is deformed. That could be making the rod hang up as you try to squeeze it. The washer should be flat behind the circlip. If it's not, or if the hole is enlarged or ovalized, the washer needs to be replaced. Eventually, if the hole gets enlarged too much, the ball end pops out and the lever swings free with the rod still attached.

As far as the pads not retracting, hopefully a more expert Hayes person can enlighten us. I encountered it once with my Stroker Trails but it disappeared again on its own the same weekend so I never had to chase it down.

The clicking is from that inherent problem with HFX 9's. Once you work on a set of older hayes brakes with the issues, the newer systems are rather easy to work on.

Pads not retracting, too much fluid in system or a small defect in the caliper.

Thanks for the input dminor and danni... I'll check out the washer tonight and if I hear anything different from Hayes I will post. It's sounding like new levers are going to be on the wanted list...

**UPDATE** HERE IS THE ANSWER I GOT FROM HAYES:

"Unfortunately, what is happening is your master cylinder is starting to fail. Those are some old brakes and getting near their end. Basically the master cylinder needs to be rebuilt but there are no parts for those brakes any longer. You will need a complete master cylinder. The good thing is that any of our brakes master cylinders will work with you calipers"

Glad you know what's going down with it.

The nines exhibited those symptoms when new.

Thanks for the helps guys. Any recommendations on new?

I would say Stroker Trail . . . but there are many Juicy fans here who would probably tell you otherwise.

I have juicy's and am going to say go with the Stroker Trails.

Cheers guys!

Try the Shimano SLX. I just got it for my rear wheel last week. It feels amazing. I still have my Stroker Ryde for my front brake. Look up Competitive Cyclist and see if they're still selling their Shimano SLX for $100, the whole rear set.

Agreed!