As I continue to upgrade my 2008 Trance as components wear, or in the case of my Juicy 3s, become difficult to get bled well enough to still work well, I’m considering new brakes.
Is there any good reason not to look at Hope M4s for general trail use and occasional Black Mountain / North Wales / Lakes epics ?
Truthfully, even with Merlins current excellent price they are more than I really ought to spend, but not sure what other options may suit. The old Juicys, to be fair have served well for last 5 years, with perhaps 150 miles a month on them in last couple of years, but clearly all the “newness” is long gone !
Any thoughts, please people ?

general stw view is Hope brakes are great

I had a set of M4’s and didn’t like them

They felt wooden

But the guy I bought them from wanted to buy them back so he obvious;y preferred them to whatever he replaced them with

They can be a little bit more of a faf to set up the caliper but I wouldn’t let that put you off, feel and control is second to none IMHO.
I assume your looking at Tech or race M4?

Tech Evo M4, were what I’d thought about.

There are better for cheaper.

I have Tech M4’s with 160mm rotors on my trail bike. IMO they have far more power than ever needed for UK (non-downhill bike) use. They replaced a set of mono-minis which I moved to a different bike but were perfect in terms of stopping power.

Personally I love Hopes feel and the fact the mini’s have over 10 years use with nothing but a pad changes and a bleed once a year (if that).

evo m4s are the bestest I stuck them on my enduro bike and they are awesome

also have an older set of mono 4s (about 7yrs old)

and 2 sets of original minis one of which I got in 2002 and are still running great on my winter bike!

Tech m4s here. Great brakes, still feel great after a couple of years use. Could prob do with a bleed now but still have plenty of stopping in them. Was advised to get mounts faced and get them mounted properly from new and theyve been great since!
Had various deores and avids prior to these..

OK, Thanks, so, what about alternatives for less ? The Avids actually did work very well as cheap kit goes, am I missing a decent cheaper option over the Hope ones ?
Bloody money and budgeting !

i’ve had all the other hope units in the past but never used the m4…but overall they are great at what they do….never had any issues with any hope brake i’ve had but i’ve been told that the service backup from hope is brilliant if you have any issues…
you might also want to consider shimano brakes as they seem to be rated very highly on STW…

Deore ? XT ?

FWICS the choice is Shimano or Hope.

Shimano are very good, but once the seals go in the calipers, you have to throw them out and get whole new ones.

Hope are very good, and can have seals etc replaced.

X2 Race Evo here, very very happy with them.

There are better for cheaper.

Of course, Avids 🙄
Most who trash hope brakes never actually tried them. I use Evo M4s, they are excellent, I can’t imagine wanting a better brake. If they are wooden, they are not set up right. Provided they are set up as in the video on the Hope site, they can’t be beaten.

Hope fan too, M4’s and tech M4’s 9 years use all still going.

Support, Reliability, Serviceable, Powerful, Spares available whats not to like.

I’m running a set of 2009 M4 calipers with Evo levers and Hope braided hoses and I’m really pleased with the results. They just feel “right” to me, the feedback and feel is superb.

I’ve also got a pair of nine year old M4s, fitted with Goodridge braided hoses. They’re noticeably more “wooden” in feel, probably because they haven’t been bled since 2007.

My Race Evo M4 are incredible – the feel and control is almost telepathic. I swear if everyone had brakes like this there’d be a lot less unintended skidding going on…

Deore ? XT ?

or SLX…depends on your budget

Provided they are set up as in the video on the Hope site, they can’t be beaten.

Don’t be silly.

There are plenty of brakes out there that are lighter, or more powerful, or lighter and more powerful, and just as reliable.

I really do like the M4 to be honest, a mate recently put them on his Stumpjumper and they are a leap forward over his elixirs, which also began to suffer from seeming unbleedabilty (?).
Guess I’ll either have to stump up, or forever wish maybe I had !

Race X2s … lighter, plenty of power and the levers are neater.

How do these compare to Avid Elixir 7? I’m happy with mine but they do squeal a lot and I really like the look of the Hope M4.

Deore ? XT ? or SLX…depends on your budget

Great brakes, if you like the grabby feel, if you don’t the

There are plenty of brakes out there that are lighter, or more powerful

There are certainly lighter brakes available, however power is a different matter (not saying m4s are the most powerful brake on the market as I’m sure there are other equally or more powerful). I think that often that grab/bite is mistaken for power, you get a jolt therefore a brake must have lots of power. As I’ve posted before consider the example of car brakes. Our golf has servo assisted brakes, which give the impression of loads of power very quickly (as the servo bites), my elise on the other hand has way more powerful brakes, but is not servo assisted so does not have that bite/grab feeling. It does generate a lot more retardation though when you press the pedal further. To me the m4 is like the elise brakes, with plenty of modulation and power on tap if you want it. The shimano brakes are more like old hayes 9’s and the golf. The power is there all at once with little modulation.

I’m using both Evo X2’s and Evo M4’s here. Both are fabulous and a massive improvement over the Elixirs that came off the bikes. To be honest, I do feel a tiny bit over braked with the M4’s on the Enduro sometimes, but I’m still getting used to the power. The X2’s will probably be man enough for anything you want to do. Either way I can’t fault them so far.

I generally go M4 front X2 rear awesome brakes! Power, reliability, adjustments, service all excellent .
From experence I wouldn’t buy anything else .
As said, set them up as per Hope instruction on website (which is really the only way you should set up your brakes regardless of brand)Rather than the Shimano fans “squeeze lever nip up bolts” way.

There are certainly lighter brakes available, however power is a different matter (not saying m4s are the most powerful brake on the market as I’m sure there are other equally or more powerful). I think that often that grab/bite is mistaken for power, you get a jolt therefore a brake must have lots of power. As I’ve posted before consider the example of car brakes. Our golf has servo assisted brakes, which give the impression of loads of power very quickly (as the servo bites), my elise on the other hand has way more powerful brakes, but is not servo assisted so does not have that bite/grab feeling. It does generate a lot more retardation though when you press the pedal further. To me the m4 is like the elise brakes, with plenty of modulation and power on tap if you want it. The shimano brakes are more like old hayes 9’s and the golf. The power is there all at once with little modulation.

+1

My new XT’s are whiplash induceingly powerfull at first, but if you pull the lever to the bar, even with 200/180 rotors, they don’t actualy lock up (of hold me still) on tarmac (at low speed, decending a 1in3 hill with my weight back).

Whereas I can lock my X2’s up doing the same test, and they’re the older non-EVO versions with mini levers which got panned in reviews.

I’ve got shimano brakes, but only as they’re half the price of HOPE, if HOPEs turn up for a good price second hand I buy them as even if they’re buggered, they’ll be easy to get new seals in and back to normal.

I have had the Hayes 9’s then Juicy’s and replaced with M4 Evo Race. The other bike has Elixir 7’s.

Hope’s have the best feel/modulation. The Elixirs are more of an on/off style feel, but I only think this due using the Hope’s. I will be putting the M4’s on the AM bike and Elixirs on the HT.