So, my old faithful Deores were getting a bit tired, thought it was about time to replace them…Should I go with Hope,? Last time I used them (Minis) they were a bit shonky really, bleeding every other week, leaking, main reason I went to Shimano in the first place, but things must have changed right? I mean technology moves on, people rave about them now…Nice new Tech Evos bought, just spent a nice morning fettling, shiny shiny happy nick. Go for a test ride, pull the lever, and…..oil all over the road, the banjo bolt not done up tight enough at the caliper…Thanks Hope.

That’ll be a bleed and new pads then…

You’re about to get flamed for not having dismantled, cleaned and completely re-built those brakes before using them…….

Scrotoutes 😀

Any minute now….

It seems you’re not the only one in finding Hope brakes unreliable. I guess I must have been extremely lucky as every disc brake I’ve ever bought has been a Hope and, with the exception of one of the very first 2-pot closed brakes, I’ve never had any issues. I’ve still got a set of DH4s that I’ve been running since 2000 without a hitch, and my Tech M4s and Moto V2s have been impeccable.

I always use Hope brakes, and have NEVER had an issue with any of them.

I used to swear by shimano brakes, but after going through 3 pairs of SLX brakes that just kept losing power i swapped to Hope Tech evos. So far they have been excellent.

email the shop/hope i bet theyll send you a set of pads.

OP – so you spent a morning fettling your new brakes but didn’t think to just check that everything was done up tight or even pull the lever on hard couple of times to make sure everything was working?

Not saying that Hope shouldn’t have tightened everything up, but I wouldn’t head out without checking any new component.

And just to repeat the other posters above, I’ve had Hope Mini’s, Tech X2’s and Tech M4’s – not had any issue with any of them

My son’s bike is still running my first set of disc brakes – Hope C2’s. Never had anything other than fresh fluid, they must be 10+ years old now.

Never had a failure with any of my others either, E4’s, M4’s Tech M4’s.

C2s were bullet proof, things started going downhill after E4s IMO. Mrs L’s M4 is going back under warranty this week

Capt, yep, actually I did, I ran a spanner over everything, just after they wept fluid all over my foot 😆 Caught off guard by the “Fully bled, all ready asembled” claim on the box, should’ve known better I guess…. 😉

Got away with the pads.

Soft lever feel compared to Shimano.

Soft lever feel compared to Shimano

They shouldn’t be. A few pointers if you are new to the Hope Tech brakes.

With the fluid loss you may need to bleed them. Make sure you do as per the the video on the Hope website including the extra bit at the end, and roll the diaphragm on as per the other video. Make sure the BPA adjuster is unscrewed all the way out before you start

Make sure you have the caliper properly aligned with the pads hitting both sides of the rotor at the same time. Hope brakes are quite sensitive to mis-alignment

The BPA screw on the Hopes actually work and you don’t want it too far out or they will feel soft. As a guide I screw it all the way in then back out 3 or 4 clicks. Then set the reach adjust to personal preference

Mmm, Tech Evos do have a softer lever feel than current Shimano, in my experience… it’s why they’re good! Doesn’t imply a lack of power, just makes it easy to get at it.

race evo M4s here, Im in love!
was a bit concerned at first because of the softer lever feel compared to my old minis but after a couple of gravity enduros I can safely say that they are the bestest brakes ever!!!!!! nice subtle, gradual transition from lightly braking to fully locked out,
effortless, confidence inspiring stoppage!

Yep tried the current crop of shimano (XT/SLX) and my Tech M4’s feel better to me (YMMV) sounds like an unlucky one for the OP and hope would probably like to know that one got through.

Brakes are really weird, there seems to be so much variation in peoples experiences.

I’ve had Hope’s, Shomano, Avid, Formula and Hayes in the last decade… In my experience Hope have been the least reliable and Avid the most. Just bought a set of Juicy’s to replace my current Formula’s as a pair of Juicy’s I had in 2006 were the best brakes I’ve ever owned. worst were a pair of Mono m4’s and Mono 6 ti’s.

Have used virtually everything brake wise, the next set will be Hope’s 😀

Working in a shop that has a pretty even split between Avid, Shimano and Hope brake eqipped bikes. Of the three, we’ve returned more faulty Shimanos than the others over the last year, Avid’s have probably been half the amount of returns of Shimano(but are a major time consumer with setting up and bleeding every set before they leave), only remember having two Hopes returned, and one was a diaphragm that i’d managed to pinch whilst re-fitting.Normally very reliable and easy to set up, Hope are also your best friend if you have a problem too.

I feel out of love with Hopes after the original Mini / M4’s came out. They were rubbish, which was a shame because I loved mt E4’s.

I swapped to Shimano when they bought out the original Saint brake which was ace, easy to bleed, powerful and never needed fiddling with. I’ve now got a set of M785’s and they’re good but the first set were returned because they were faulty. They’re a pain in the bum to get a good bleed on compare to the old Shimano jobbies.

The biggest reason I don’t use the modern Hope brakes is they’re expensive compared to Shimano. I also think the CNC levers look clunky and dated, but I know a lot of people love them for it. If I was going to shank a load of cash on some new brakes, I’d go Formula.

mindmap3 pretty much my thoughts as well, until I got these, Thanks for the set-up tips Capt, I’d watched the Vids before bleeding them, so all was cool. When I said about the levers, I wasn’t saying in a derogatory way, they just feel different from the on/off switches that old Shimano are/were.

Rode them today and after bedding in they felt really good, a handful of front actually got the rear wheel off the ground with me still on the saddle!! wow. 😯 Loads of feel (soft lever, innit), nice brakes. Happy happy.

BTW do they come with resin or sintered pads fitted as standard, does anyone know?

Ive used Hopes, Magura & Shimano.

The Hopes were the brake to have say 5-10 yrs ago but I think theyve lost their way a little bit.

Magura were light & powerful but could be tricky to bleed.

Im now on Shimano & TBH they are streets ahead of the others in terms of ability & maintenance..

I got fed up with the pistons sticking on my Hopes and switched to Hayes.

ransos….I had a few years on Hayes too. Always found them to be very good…I’ve had Mags, three pairs of Nines and a pair of Strocker Ace’s all of which were very, very good. Easy to bleed, easy to set up and never really needed maintaining. Good power and dealt with heat well.

“the banjo bolt not done up tight enough at the caliper…”
Its was good of them to pre-align the hose with your forks, to save to the trouble of moving the bango 😉

Just recently took a pair of Shimano’s off my wife’s bike, with the plan to put on race evo’s…….

then couldn’t bear to do it on a bike used so much less than mine, so what followed was:

Juicy 7’s off my stumpy…. on to mrs g bike….
Elixir CR’s off 29er….. on to stumpy….
and…. oh, look what I found here to put on my 29er for the spring…!!

had 6Ti’s on my old DHer before I started breaking myselfand got told to sell it (only time a brake was at fault for injury was when caliper bolt heads suddenly sheared on the middle of a run in Slovenia, then I bought torque wrench…) – A-MAZING!! not sure I ever bled / serviced / did anything other than chuck pads into them – they are still in use, and the new owner (m8’s son!) looks after them better i’m sure, still no probs

Mono4’s on my first real XC full-susser, overkill for what I used it for? probably, but totally trouble-free other than pads and annual bleed, and immensely controllable with great modulation but “over-the-handlebars” power if needed (only actually went o-t-h the first time!)

and now race evo’s which have shrugged off a week where 1.5 sets of pads were worn out from long alpine descents – feel even better than the previous ones, power crazily feels as good as the 6ti’s?!?

have to say I’m a big fan of Hope’s brakes (no, really?!) and I hear customer service is awesome if probs occur, so far so good for me!

Email or call Hope, they’re usually really helpful, they’ll sort you out I reckon.

Still annoying though I agree.

If you had spent the time calling Hope rather than moaning on here you may have actually posted a different thread.

Hope’s after sales support is second to none.

Give manufacturers a chance before slagging them off on here I say!