So I’ve had my old bike ( Devinci Dexter ) hanging in the garage for a while now trying to decide what to do with it. It’s going on a diet and is going to be my XCish hack. First thing to swap out will be the brakes, they are some Hope V2’s. What brakes would be a suitable? Looking for something lightweight but still with reasonable stopping power and good price. I always hear good things about Shimano but not sure which ones to go for. More than happy to go for a used pair so let me know if you’ve got something you need to get rid of.

I’d be more inclinded to look at all the parts on the bike and work out where has the best ratio of spending vs weight saving (tyres are a good place to start).

Most things on the bike are fairly good quality and lightish. With a quick google it looked like the V2’s were pretty heavy. They came off my previous bike that was more dh orientated. I’m not looking to go silly light/spend too much. I think I could save close to a couple hundred grams on the brakes?

Hope X2’s are looking like a good choice. Any experiences?

I got some mint formula rx brakes of ebay for £55 saved 120gms over the Xt 785’s I had on the bike already.

I thought this was about someone relapsing from iDave. Disappointing.

What are your wheels and tyres?

How do you find the Formula brakes? Seems to be lots of problems with noise and rubbing?

Wheels are 26″ stans crest with pro2 evos and set up tubeless with an Ardent and crossmax.

Hope X2’s are looking like a good choice. Any experiences?

Yeah, they’re great. The races are slightly lighter than the techs, and I prefer the lever shape, so get them ones.

Formula R1 or T1 might be good options- the R1’s a powerful xc race brake, the T1’s a lightweight everything-else brake. They were both stupidly expensive new but they’re a good used buy now imo.

I’ve got Formula RX’s on my Blue Pig and R1’s on my Meta AM, I’m a bit of a fat fecker (100kgs) and they both stop me fine!! I find them easy to bleed and don’t get much, if any noise. Bloody good brakes IMO*.

*never tried Hopes or shimano though….

I had some Formula oro’s years back and found them ok. Thing I like about hope is their spares package and ease of repair/bleed.

They stopped making the oros 10 years ago, not a bad brake even now but very dated. (I’m still using a set on my commuter, pretty good going). The ones I mentioned are about 3 generations newer and very different. Reliable ime, and parts are easily available but they are bloody expensive parts to be fair.

What are the T1/R1 like for bleeding?

Doddle IMO. R1’s anyway.

I would like to try Hopes, and very nearly bought some recently but my R1’s are great so stuck with them.

Do they need a specific bleed kit? I’ve got and old avid one with the syringes will that fit? Another plus for the hope no bleed kit necessary just a piece of hose to stick on the caliper.

I use an avid bleed kit I bought for a cheap set of Avids on my lads bike. Only a cheap bleed kit off Ebay, not the expensive Avid one.

Aye, Avid one uses the same hardware, unless it’s the version with the really bulky screw-in adaptor, it may not clear the brake body.

TBH I’m used to Hope-style bleeding from the motorbike days but the 2-syringe method works really well for smaller brakes, it’s a 5 minute job and no risk of spillage. But then, I’d use a syringe to bleed a Hope brake too.