The piston in my back brake (2 year old deores) seems to have gone, can’t get any power in it despite repeated bleeds (including flushing up from the nipple).

Trying to decide what to replace it with, I could just change the caliper quite cheaply but seems easier just to get a whole new brake. Obviously a straight swap for new deores would get me back to the same point, but tempted by XTs – would there be any noticeable difference?

However, the massive tart in me wants to just get Hope Tech e3 v4s, even though I’m only 70kg kitted out and probably don’t need the extra power. Would these need an adaptor if I was keeping the disc the same? Of course, if I just replace the back brake with a Hope then I’ll have mismatching brakes, so really I’d have to replace the front one too, right? Right?

Hope brakes are lovely but if you are changing to a Hope brake, you’d also be best to change the rotor too.

Changing the from Deore to XT will be fine using the same rotor / adapter.

you don’t need hopes – go for deore or xt.. you may even get some second hand deores on ebay for naff all

you don’t need hopes

Yes, but I’m a tart 😆

buy hopes then but its wasted cash, save some weight somewhere instead if you want to spend some cash

Do it!! 😛

I just got some brand new deore brakes for £38 on ebay, off some guy who took them off a brand new bike. There’s loads on there. Treat the wife to dinner out with the difference.

She’s actually encouraging me to get the Hopes!

i have second hand hopes if you’re wanting

Get the hopes they feel lovely and they do last.

Would I need an adaptor for the Hopes if I kept the shimano discs?

No .

Someone has to keep hope in business so you crack on if you want them.

I’d spend the money on sram guides and a better set of wheels or suspension upgrade.

If you really want the Hopes you may be better off going for E4s for general riding.

Can get a full set of SLX from Ribble for £74.

Talked myself out of it in the end and just bought a replacement caliper :roll:. Wasn’t the cost, more the fact that I’d end up with a load of brake pads and mineral oil that I’d have no use for! Saddo

Brakes are the devil’s device for robbing you of had earned energy….don’t spend more than you have to!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-slx-brakes-ribble

Set of slx for £74

Hope brakes are lovely but if you are changing to a Hope brake, you’d also be best to change the rotor too.

No. You can run different brand rotors to brakes/calipers.

You can run different front and rear brakes if you like. But that’s a bit weird.

Hope v4s are pointless, unless you live somewhere with 2500m of descent. And then Hope e4 would do the job just as well.

If youre not riding DH or Enduro trails, the Tech3 X2 are more than up to the job, by the e4 modulate better.

They’re better than Shimano (especially the new ones, which are unreliable), if you value a brake that’ll last forever, over one you’ll replace under warranty every year.

XT is no better than SLX. XTR is no better than XT, except for weight. Deore is great, but not quite as good as SLX.

Brakes are the devil’s device for robbing you of had earned energy…. stopping you from slamming into that tree don’t spend more than you have to! so buy something awesome and pretend you are rad to the power of gnar (or a bit pants and need to take it easy in the corners but the new Hopes will match your Audi’s colourway)

Sorry 😉

My £0.05….there is little space for “need” in MTBing. Not many of us “need” >140mm travel, 150mm droppers, 200mm rotors or >1kg rubber on our wheels. That’s without shaving grams by buying expensive carbon (I include myself in all of this).
Buy what you want. Your bike should make you feel nice. If you want beautifully CNC’d brakes, buy them! Nobody ever died from being over-braked.

People probably have died from having brake failures though. And sadly I’d trust Shimano reliability over Hope where brakes are concerned.

I’ve had two sets of Shimano XT brakes fail (not spectacularly mind), where as my Hopes have been perfect for the last four years.

Also, I can’t recall seeing so many threads regarding problematic Shimano brakes that have been popping up on here over the last few months. Has there been a ‘bad’ batch of shimano stoppers?

Superficial – Member
People probably have died from having brake failures though. And sadly I’d trust Shimano reliability over Hope where brakes are concerned.

3 sets of failed and replaced under warranty XTR brakesets. 2* M988 and 1x M9020.

5 sets of Hope brakes and only a single (easily fixed at zero cost) sticky piston to report.

I think if you use Shimano stuff regularly, it’s fine, but if it’s sat for weeks without use, they just degrade. I have Shimano Hydros on my road and commuter bikes and they’ve been perfect.

I’m a huge Shimano fan…just not for brakes, chains or hubs.

Just spend the £22 and get a new calliper. Don’t think much point in upgrading shimano unless going up to Zee.

Talked myself out of it in the end and just bought a replacement caliper :roll:. Wasn’t the cost, more the fact that I’d end up with a load of brake pads and mineral oil that I’d have no use for! Saddo

Biked themed massage parlour

XT785’s on my FS bike that doesn’t see a lot of use, but having been a BB7 user for years, I have to say they are nice. Work really well but pushing it hard at Bike Park Wales last week had me wishing they had more power. Probably because I’m fat. 🙂
The Saint brakes always seem to get good reviews. Given the relatively low weight difference I’d go for them next time.

XT – what was the question? Perfect, easy to bleed, setup and cheap. SLX and Deore same.

sadly I’d trust Shimano reliability over Hope where brakes are concerned.

Ha.

I’ve had ~8 sets of shimano brakes, of the 2014 vintage. XT, SLX and XTR. All failed with seals blowing.

I’ve had three sets of hope e4s, theyve not needed another bleed since fitting. One sticky piston in the Alps, which was fixed with a tyre lever and 30 seconds.

Sram Guide RSCs, 11 months on, one bleed before the Alps, running perfect.

I’ve got one set of Shimano XTs which are around 2014 too, and they’re still great. They’re pretty simple and just work. But they’re disposable. Good thing they’re cheap.

Always buy SLX, XT are just the same but shiny. And with a screw that does nothing with the words ‘freestroke’ that Shimano added to make you feel better about your purchase.

The OH’s jokes about that line from Armageddon about if you hold the fire cracker in your hand your wife will be opening you ketchup bottle from then on due to the injuries I have had to my hands. I used to like my old shimano disc brakes (LX, XT 775) but just could not get on with the newer style. Tried Hope Tech 3 levers and just so much nicer for me to use. Yes I could go find another cheaper brake with a similar lever and lots of modulation and power but it’s just easier to go with Hope for a sake of a few £.

Shimanos are fantastic for the £ though, just not for me. I tried (and bought 4 damn sets for my bikes!)

How many folk on here recommending Shimano have tried the alternatives? Don’t get me wrong, they’re decent, but there are better products out there if you have the cash and want them.

I’ve never tried Hopes, but both sets of my Formulas are significantly nicer than my Shimano, SLX (now flogged) or Deores (cheap, and perfect for slowly corroding in salt on the fat bike).

I’m not the gnarrest rider, but I weigh a fair bit and do on occasion ride a loaded bike down fairly steep terrain, the Formulas easily surpassed the performance of the Shimano IME.

There are good deals to be had at the moment on SLX. I recently upgraded back to them having ridden with an old set for over five years (but they got nicked along with my old bike) 🙁

I was a tad disappointed that Shimano have gone a bit ‘SRAM’ and you need a bit more kit to bleed them than before (just chucking oil into an open reservoir on the old versions).

Otherwise, however, in terms of fitness for purpose and value for money, I don’t think you can do much better than SLX.

As said above, I see no point in going xt over slx (although I did), the freestroke thing does naff all, and I think I saw somewhere slx are actually lighter?

No comment re hope. Or other brands, having not tried them. The avids I had were rubbish but no longer exist thankfully. I have had an xt reservoir seal fail badly on me though

Got a ten year old set of hopes on my hard tail, been through 4 or 5 sets of other makes

Hope for me mostly. Have had a few shimano sets xt/xtr over the years but do t seem to last but the shimano ones are ok for the money.

But I do like to be able to fix things if they fail.

Current bike has e4 front and x2 rear evo race lever and work just fine for me

XT is no better than SLX. XTR is no better than XT, except for weight. Deore is great, but not quite as good as SLX.

I’ve been through XT, XTR , Zee and Deore brakes and the Deores were by far the most reliable. They were easier to get a good bleed out of and easily felt as powerful as the XT / XTR’s. Didn’t miss the tool free reach adjust as I tend to set my levers and leave them.

I’m on Guide RSC’s and so far I really rate them.

I used to by a massive Hope fan but gave up on them after using brakes with the mini lever – they were rubbish. The new ones may well be great but I’m too tight to spunk that kind of money on brakes on the off chance that the new ones are better.

unless you,re doing the more downhill type of riding, i cant really see the advantage of any shimano brakes above m615,s, they are the most value for money brake on the market and are usually reliable, iv,e used avid, shimano xt,s, slx,s, and now will stick with 615,s, levers and calipers are cheap to replace, they are just as good as xt,s, what more do you need, unless you want the bling factor, ive also tried a friends new xt m8000,s , they look nice but not much difference in power compared to my brakes, and he has already had the dredded bite point problem, which ive found my talking to various people seems to be down to dodgy caliper seals, i recently had this problem with one of my sets of m615,s, which shimano warrantied, it was indeed down to the caliper, so my advice to peolpe having varying bite point problems,try a new caliper, if thats not the cause, at least you have a spare, usually when bikes are left unused for a while, the seals seem to dry out, my solution is, if your not going to be using the bike for a while, clean the caliper seals with shimano mineral oil before you put the bike away, that will help keep the seals from drying out, cheers steve.