WannaGetGood

I bought a new bike in February and it came with Sram Code Rs. They are not bad brakes, but coming from Shimanos, they are not what I really like, but that is besides the point. I bleed my front brake on my code about a week ago, hoping that it would shorten my lever pull, maybe even close to what it was when I first had them. However, I got the exact same pull as before the bleed. I tried a shimano cheater bleed, that didn't help. I tried a lever bleed only using a syringe. The one thing that did help was removing the wheel, moving my pads forward by squeezing the lever, reinstalling the wheel, then using a syringe to try and jam more fluid in. It should be noted that the fluid was not even in need of a bleed. I simple thought a bleed would solve my problem.

This is a long winded post with a simple question. With Sram, can I not replace the pads to shorten my lever pull. Or will I always have to replace the pads to get the result I am after?

freetors

If you pull the pads to cheat and advance the pistons out further they will eventually self adjust right back to the same amount of lever pull you started with. I have Code R brakes on one of my bikes and IMO I'm not a fan. Even with a bleed they still feel kinda mushy. They feel like a significant amount of the lever travel is just compressing the return spring too, most of the lever travel is just slowly increasing the level of brake drag and is fairly useless for actually slowing down. I much prefer the quick engagement of shimano brakes and modulating brake force with lever force, unlike sram where you modulate with lever position.