I want to buy some brakes for my DH bike and I want them to be the best brakes in the world and last forever.

Will I be disappointed?
Will they howl and squeal like the Hope’s I had years ago?
Will the pads constantly rub just a tiny bit no matter how much you fiddle with them?
Will the 4 pot caliper have less bite than a good 2 pot?

Looking for reassurance before I drop £300 on a bike that was ‘finished’. I’d rather spend my pocket money on non-bike stuff but I don’t want to spend every day fettling my brakes when I get back to the Alps.

I know Hope fans can be a little evangelical. Any real world, impartial opinions?

From an evangelical HOPE affectionado I fitted Tech 3 Evo’s to my full susser 2 years ago and have spent 5 weeks in the Alps in that time and had none of the symptoms you describe, I did bob some Superstar pads in whilst in Les Arcs last year and they did squeeel like a pig and glazed my disks?

I’d buy Hope brakes every time over SHIMANO, SRAM or Avid.

Had a Demo Nomad with SHIMANO brakes and they were all or nothing
I like the feel of HOPE brakes probably because I’m used to them, I’ve not used the others for extended periods as i don’t like them. Had Avids on an Orange but they were pants so I ditched them.

I’d buy them,

The pad rubbing is almost always due to a bent rotor from hope. New rotors seem to have a slight amount of distortion when they get riveted onto the spider. A quick true up solves this forever. It’s always worse on 4 pot brakes as the distortion is more evident due to the higher tolerances in alignment being required.

Otherwise, awesome brakes that are most importantly totally user serviceable with spare parts available very easily.

Same symptoms as Xyeti with mine using Superstar pads, will definitely not be buying pads from them again

buy saints and spend the rest on hookers

For lever feel and modulation they are unbeatable and they are up there on power too, maybe 2nd place to Saints. I had M4s on my trail bike and have just taken Tech 3 V4s off my DH bike, I much prefer the lever on the Tech 3s. Oh and I’ve just advertised mine *cough*

I’ve currently got Saints. I’ve talked about them on here a lot. I’ve clearly got a dud set and there’s nothing I can do about it. Very reluctant to give up on them but they’ve ruined my enjoyment of the bike and stopped me from riding it. They do have immense power but it’s no good when you go for the lever and it pulls to the bar.

Now looking at these V4’s knowing that if I have any problems with them it’ll be easily sorted. I can get a set for £280 brand new in black or red. Don’t need rotors or adapters.

I had an early set of ZEEs that pulled to the bar on pretty much every downhill section, they turned out to be leaking very slighty at the lever and always either lost fuild or let air in. I replaced them soon after. I have ridden a set since and they felt lovely but I’m sold on hope and Sram Guides now. £280 is a great price brand new

In my opinion hopes are the best brake you can buy. Yes they are expensive and people hate them for that (normally without trying them) I currently have 4 sets on the go and love each and every set. They need no maintenance and they just work so well every ride. People harp on about them not being as powerful as shimano but I have found the opposite. The hopes have as much power as you pull on whereas the shimanos I have tried felt like there was a limit to the power available and after the initial powerful feeling no amount of squeezing would generate any more. I don’t hate shimano brakes but wouldn’t buy them. They are cheap to buy but look and feel cheap and that is enough reason for me not to buy. Call me a tart but part of the joy of owning something is that it looks nice.
Just buy the hopes safe in the knowledge that you have brakes for 10 years plus. I not long ago sold some original e4 brakes from early 2000’s. I sold them as working which they were but as spares and repairs as you can no longer get all of the bits. Some parts you can still get but apart from a lever service and the odd bleed they needed nothing other than pads for their whole life. Now that’s what I call good value.

Big decision time now then. Do I want them in red or black?

I have tons of Hope stuff and all of it’s black, so someone else needs to balance it out with some more obvious bling! 😉

We need to see pics of the rest of the bike to help with that decision.

I could get away with either colour I think. Probably get black but I found the only place that still has red so it’s tempting…

Black. Were you at Llangollen on Monday?

Red definitely. It matches the fork adjusters and if you’re going to go Hope, you might as well go interesting since you otherwise wouldn’t get the chance.

I wasn’t at Llangollen, I haven’t ridden the bike since summer.

No, actually I had one day at Wharny when my back brake stopped even pretending to work.

Nice bike, someone was riding similar Monday.

At the end of the day, hopes are the most relaible brake money can buy. Every part is available, very easy to bleed. I bought a set of m4s 3 years ago for downhill, I think they will last 10 years easily.

Apart from the tool less adjustment on the Tech levers, is there any other reason they’re better then the Race levers? I quite like the clean look of the latter and don’t mind using an allen key to set the reach, but if there are any other differences…?

Can’t fault the v4’s on my dh bike (or the e4’s in the trail bike or x2’s on the xc bike)

The hopes are very good for modulation, around the same amount of stopping power as shimanos/avid of the equivalent model. Yet without the grabbiness of the shimanos or unreliability of the avids

Hope all day. Tech3 V4 rock.

Definitely red on that bike.

I have the race levers and the tech levers. The race levers are lighter but I’m not bothered about weight really. The tech levers just feel nicer to use and are so easy to adjust to a comfortable position. They are the only lever that truly offers reach and throw adjustment that works. If you can’t get the fit and feel right on a tech lever you must have mutant hands.
Tech all day long for me.

Not sure the race lever is compatible with the v4. I know it wasn’t with the v2.

Just received these,

(not my picture)

So glad I ordered red. I usually just buy everything black but I was brave and they look so nice. Much smaller, lighter and more svelte than Hope’s I’ve had in the past.

First ride this Saturday at a dry and dusty Wharncliffe. Looking forward to it.

Good choice. Very nice.

Thanks for this. I’ve just ordered a set in red from Rush.

Yum.

Crushingly disappointed with my first ride on the V4’s.

Not the best conditions for bedding in a new brake. Everyone was feeling the effects of the rain and the slime but I had almost zero braking power. The levers feel perfect but I might as well have been gripping the rotors with my finger tips.

Really got out of my depth on the bottom sections at Hamsterley. Went down the very steepest bits on my arse which is unacceptable. Stuck to the top section and 4x track after that.

I’m sure I’ll get them sorted but I was gutted after all the anticipation. I haven’t had a decent, reliable set of brakes on a DH bike since 2010.

Did you bed in the pads in the dry before you went out for your first ride? It’s incredibly difficult to get enough heat into new pads in the wet, both from the water cooling them and the lack of grip making it hard to generate enough heat in the first place.

You’re supposed to bed them in off the trail in dry conditions, what were you expecting?

Edit: ^beaten like a ginger step-child

I am aware of this. I dragged them around the street to warm them up and down a few times. They felt great at first. Absolutely died a death on the trail though.

As I said, I’m not crying about it just yet. I’m sure I’ll sort them out. Just had a frustrating day and wanted to whinge about it.

Oh, P.S. They look rad.

It is a bit like taking your brand new supercar on a track day and moaning when the engine management system won’t let you go past 3000rpm because it’s still running in. But it looks awesome. 😉

I know, I know. Schoolboy error.

I was more frustrated with myself than the brakes.

I had a similar experience on the first outing with my Tech X2s back in 2010. Took them for a sodden ride around the sand-fest that is Sherwood Pines, without bedding the pads in properly (I didn’t know better!). I had been soooooo excited about finally getting a set of Tech X2s, then I was utterly disappointed, especially when I found I was pulling the lever to the bars by the end of the ride, with no pads left and no braking either.

It got better after that.

Hope your Hopes are rockin’ nowwwww

Just want an update as I’m thinking of getting some V4s, do they work now?

My V2s came with organic pads swapped them out straight away to sintereds, but the Hope Organic pads that came with my old mans Race X2s were shocking in the wet…..did you check to see if they were organics? Sintered cured his woes.

Watching for an update too! 🙂

I’m a Shimano fanboy so I won’t get drawn into what you should’ve bought but change your pads….i’ve been running Uberbike’s Race Matrix pads for a few years now and all they’ve ever required is a few runs up and down the street to bed them in….it’s worked on everything from budget conscious Deore-615s to Saints…try them.

Huh funny, I have heard nothing but complaints about Ubers Matrix compound.

Just go sintered. Anyway, I’ve never had problems with other Hope brakes so (had C2s (overheated in the alps), minis, m4s, m6’s, x2s and v2s)… the v4s certainly wont be a downgrade from the v2s.

I can’t get over my deores ability to kill me by a fly so much as landing on the levers. Less powerful than my v2s on steep fast sustained descents but my god, at lower speeds just a slight brush sends me lurching.

I always thought organic should be better in the wet? If a little quick to grind away if it’s gritty.

What would cause sintered to better?