This is a great looking brake, but the Bike Radar review tore them to shreds….Does anybody have an opinion?

They are light. But they just don’t have the power of many other brakes. The lever is nicely made but you may find they need a very large squeeze to lock the wheels, or get the braking response you require. I think there are better for the money.

Not impressed with my Tech X2 changed to Tech M4s! and I,m a Hope fanboy!

I have had Tech X2 with 180 and 160 rotors for the last year and no problems at all. Very happy with them but have V2s on a bigger bike and these have needed bleeding a few times. This was probably just poor hose shortening on my part. Always seems harder with braided hoses, my fault for being a tart.

I have the X2 but with the mini pro lever rather than the newer race lever, on their 3 bolt rotor wheels. Good brakes enough power for xc racing but do seem to fade quite quickly, found I had to give them quite a squeeze at the bottom of the Cottage run at 24/12 after using them on the descent.

i got Tech m4’s and me best mucka has the X2’s. not much difference but my preference does go with the m4’s. more bite for less lever pressure.

What almightydutch said, although I would say there is a reasonable difference between the two. Have done some of the biggest,steepest descents in the UK on Tech X2’s with 203/183 rotors with one finger braking, but upgraded to M4’s as I was getting arm pump.

Not sure how the Race X2’s compare, but if you are going anthing up to “aggressive XC” the Tech X2’s are more than powerful enough. They do need to be bled properly though

Enjoyed reading these everyone, thanks. Mind still not made up though!

I had them up until recently.
The are beautiful brakes, very light but so underpowered and expensive compared to the 2012 XTs I’ve replaced them with.

Good thing about the Hopes is the fact you can replace any part that breaks or wears unlike Simano brakes and you can also personalise them as I did (red levers and bore caps).
Hope also do great matchmakers for them.

It’s one part of my weight weenie carbon hardtail that I realised wasn’t worth going too light rather than good stopping power.

I’m think I’d end up doing what you’ve done j40aja. I’m building up a lighter bike and wanted a really nice looking brake that worked. I’m sat here with a pair of 2012 SLX which differ from XT only slightly hesitating about keeping them because they’re just too cheap. Thing is, like all the new Shimano stuff they are getting rave feedback and they look just fine.

For the price of the Race X2s I’d go for new XTR trails (c.£300). They are meant to be astonishingly good brakes and probably not far off the weight of the Hopes.
The XT levers look better in the metal (or chrome covered plastic) than in pictures and the short levers are great for 1 finger braking.

They were on my team bike last year i have to say the only thing better is the new xtr , they were great….i liked them because theyre easy to use,simple,light and work.I did change the pads regualarly though
Bruce

have rear x2 with 140mm – adequate for xc use , wouldnt say they’re ace for a weekend in Morzine but thats not what they were bought for.

And they are suuuuuuper light

I use Hope Race levers paired with M4 callipers – The levers are by far the nicest feeling levers I’ve put my little mitts on 🙂

I have heard that the race brakes are underpowered compared to other ‘xc’ set ups

I’ve got a set on my race / endurance bike, they’re a lot different to my Elixir CRs, or Formulas, or indeed m770 XTs.

I really like them as I never lock the wheels, which means very steep descents, for me, are less likely to cause me to lock the front wheel up; they allow me to control my braking better than more powerful brakes.

As an XC race brake, or a trail brake I think they’re awesome. I’ll be buying another set for the other bike.

New tech levers out soon deliver more power apparently…….

I’m sat here with a pair of 2012 SLX which differ from XT only slightly hesitating about keeping them because they’re just too cheap. Thing is, like all the new Shimano stuff they are getting rave feedback and they look just fine.

So the SLX are great brakes that look good but you don’t want them because they just weren’t expensive enough?

My 2012 Deore brakes are the best brakes I’ve had and have plenty of pwer and modulation. The Deore spec and price matches my performance

Should be more power from tech evo levers (though I’ve not tried them), and they now do the m4 with the race levers so a combination of race m4 front and race x2 rear should sort the power question without much extra weight.

Already got the new Tech Evo levers when I bought the V2 calipers, surprising thing is that the V2 caliper is only 14g heavier than the X2 which includes the pads! only thing that really makes the system heavier is their own dedicated floating disc rotor which weighs in around 40g heavier than the equivalent 183mm floating rotor and the braided hoses (which I swapped out for my normal black hope hoses)

I run X2s front and rear on my Pitch. Front has a 203mm rotor and a rear is using a 183mm rotor – both work fine and have plenty of power. No problems with the big rotor (even though Hope only advises up to a 183mm)
Also braided hoses FTW.

I’ve got one on the front of my xc race bike, it does lack outright power, but I like the modulation.

ive had them – ive had them all….all brands you name it…..the best, nicest feeling, best modulation, power etc has to be by a clear mile formula rx …..ive heard great things about the r1 and if they are more powerful than the rx then they must be special….

i have finally found (being running for 5 months now) my perfect brakes…

just to compare ive run, avid juicy 3, elixir r, elixir cr, hope tech x2, tech x2 race, shimano m775 xt..

the formula rx have been the least hassle by far (touches wood) and seriously have given me all round better braking from power, reliability to feel etc….they are absolutly silent too even in wet…something both tech versions struggled with for me…

oh and im still on the orginal organic front pads from 5 months ago, riding 3 times a week upt’ peak in rain/mud/grit/wet/sand/gravel etc etc and they still have plenty of life left in them….incredible!

Very interesting OW, I’ve had all the brakes you’ve listed and don’t get on with the Formulas – I found them very wooden and on-off.

Obviously brakes are a very personal thing, depend on finger strength, how you ride, how fast you ride, where you ride, what weight you are and what weight your bike is.

I’m a rake, and mostly my bikes are pretty light, so this may be a factor in why I prefer brakes with less power.

I run 160mm front and rear rotors.

yeah i guess really its personal preference, the rx’s definitely to me do not have a on off feel, a firm squeeze definitely gives you a lock of a wheel, but using the lever gradually is easy enough, and ive never had it lock the wheel, unless ive chosen it to….

out of all the brakes ive had the least powerful from memory were the x2’s, the elixirs were powerful and had a nice lever feel like the formulas, but they were a constant headache as the aligning system on them is shocking, its near on impossible to get the calipers lined up…then when you do within your next ride they were back to rubbing again…i gave up with them in the end…

i can only hope and wish my formulas are hassle free (5 months of summerish months including our usual summer winter) and they have been faultless, big test for them in the next few months when the cold kicks in fully……was out in about 3 degrees the other night late on and the sintered pads seemed to be even more effective even in the wet!

shimanos had terrible effects in the coldest winter months, to the point where they just didnt work at times 🙁

ive never had 5 months of wear out of a pad where i ride before, and whats more its organic (stock from formula)….im tempted to just buy them now, even though i use superstar pads usually…

I always used to use superstar pads un till I went back to original hope pads and found that the superstar pads don’t last as long and are seriously lacking in bite/power. I think that paying a little more for the makers pads is well worth it in the long run.

yeah fair play to superstar for the cheapness they are really good to be fair to them….

that said front organic formula original is about the same wear as my superstar sintered back which has been on 3 months less! id say i use my front brake more too!

guess sintered season may kick in soon though for pads, so no doubt ill get much better wear out of the ss on the back than formula organic front…