Upon a quick search of the forum posts I can't see that this has been asked recently…so I have to buy some new disk brakes – it's for a Blur LT so a brake to suit.

I've currently got an old pair of Hope Mini's due to be swapped to my old frame.

Should I stick with Hope Mini's OR go Magura Louise OR Avid Code 5?

My budget is ca 150squid.

Love my Mono Minis on my LT. Have not had a problem with them in 15 months – just a few sets of pads and a couple of bleeds. Both so easy to do. I am highly envious of my mates new LT which has the new Tech X2's. Look beautiful and are more powerful than the old Minis, plus have knobs to fiddle with

TBH, there's little to choose between them, go for the lever shape you like? Weight?

Couple of m8's avid seem to be forever sticking due to corrosion, I was impressed with my magura until they failed during crap weather, and have two 2nd hand set of shimano that the front brake won't bleed (there my m8's) and I can do nothing with them excet buy either never lever or calipre..but which is bust???

Now I'm seriously considering just staying with either Hopes (and or maybe hayes), as they 're full rebuildable and you can get the parts
(not invesigated parts for the magura yet to be fair)

Yep I must admit that all problems with my mono's have been due to me not cleaning / maintaining them.
The problems have all been resolved pretty quickly with spares parts from Hope.

Hopes – fully re-buildable, good performance, British made, look good. What more do you want? I love my Tech X2s…

Keep watching Shimano price reductions and go with SLX (currently £170 on Merlin), or borrow £20 off a mate!

Having used all three, I would say Maguras by quite a bit. I've not even had to bleed mine yet, they've been ultra reliable.

Are shimano prices due to fall? I'm thinking about getting some of the new saints brakes but they are currently £300 on Merlin.

I have M4's on my Blur LT & they are bullet proof.

So the voting stands at

Hope – 3
Avid – 0
Magura – 1
and a new outsider Shimano – 1

hopes all the way, easy bleed, easy fix, bits everyware, almost idiot proof(thankfully) 😯

I have had hopes in the past, mono m4s which were a pain, required constant attention. Now use Avid juicy 7s, great brakes. The girlfriend has elixr CRs also awesome and I have used codes plenty and they are great too. In two years I have only had to bleed my brakes once after a flight upset them for some reason!!

Having used all three, I would say Maguras by quite a bit. I've not even had to bleed mine yet, they've been ultra reliable.

Me too. And seconded. Hopes are a distant third in that list. We've got 3 sets of Maguras in the garage right now (Louise FR, Louise BAT, Julie) and I've only just had to service the oldest (The 2006 FRs) for the first time. The Julies have been through some incredible **** conditions with only pad changes. I wouldn't sell my Louises for love nor money. Massive power, fit and forget, super reliable.
DONE.

I have always had Hopes, when I needed spares they are very easy to get hold of. My current M4's are 4 years old, 1 fluid replacement is all so far.
Three of my mates are running Juicy 7/Ultimates which are give or take a year old, all have suffered seizing pistons this winter, 1 requiring new pistons.

i'd go for Magura. – FYI I have Hope Mono Mini on my FS, Magura Marta on HT and Jucy 7's on my SS. all are great, and do the job well. the Jucy's are most powerful, but not my fave (and they have rust prone non stainless fittings), the Hope's are average, reliable all rounders, but the Magura's are my fave due to longest life pad wear (so long as you do the silly bedding in properly) and feel so natural.

personally always had hopes, i started with the old black and gold mini then went to black and gold M4's then to silver m4's now got the tech m4's.

excellent loads of power and on a silly rotor in the alps (203) i could go over the bars by feathering the lever!

initially we had an issue where an air bubble would get stuck in the levers, hope did a video how to flip the lever and bleed the air for us, we still had issues so sent them back to hope they bled and returned them.. excellent very happy.

My GF went from Avid to tech m4's are trying mine, she too had the air bubble issue and it was again fixed by hope, she had a long time of being not happy due to the air bubble issue but a week in the alps and she's happy again with them. (it was a first time over there and she did well) but dragging the brakes occasionally and they still lasted (the new hope material is excellent on resin pads the black version) and never over heated..

add easy lever adjustment and good feel.. my fav brake. plus hope are excellent help in times of trouble.

personally i wouldn't agree with the hope bashing above, yes initial black and gold versions would squeal, overheat etc but since the silver M4 and the tech m4 the pad compound has moved on a LOT is a lot longer lasting and powerful. easy to look after, easy to bleed.
we rode on out resin pads for 3-4 months then did an alps week and they lasted to all but the last day and we only changed then due to precaution we have since put the pads back in again.

oh and i had "the one" and avid 5, 7 and ultimates to compare them to, personally i liked the hope due to power (not as much as "the one") and ease of pad change and ease of maintenance. unlike the avid which are whores to change pads in and swap fluid and bleed!!

Here's another one for Hope. I've got ancient C2s on my 575,they were on my Stumpjumper before that and on an old mate's bike previous to that. Despite the piss-taking off my so-called riding pals,they have never let me down. Maintenance? They were bled when swapped from Spesh to Yeti. I ride year round,all weathers.

I've got the new Hope Tech M4's too.

They are just amazing in every way. I've just done a quick count and I've had around 13 different sets of disc brakes over the years (a mix of all the major manufacturers) and the Tech M4's are my favourite so far.

I've also got Avid Codes on another bike and a set of Code 5's. I like the brake but they are an absolute nightmare to maintain compared to Hope.

Another vote for Hope. The tech m4's are very nice indeed.

Code 5s are quite heavy… have a look at the Juicy 5s or Elixrs.

Hope first – I've used C2s from eons ago through to M4s, Minis and recently the V2 on the Tandem – awesomely powerful.
Shimano second. They work. I have XTR 960s and they've not failed me in 5 years of racing big mountains.

Just to throw a spanner in the works how about some Elixirs? Light powerful and look good. I love mine, I have the most basic model and have never bothered to touch the adjustment. The Santa Cruz Syndicate use them for WC DH over the codes so I think that shows they are powerful.

And Merlin have the pair for £160

Magura's here – same as above with Louise FR's – not touched them for 3 years apart from pad changes and the Louise BAT's I have on the other bike have only just had new pads after 2 years – pads last ages when bedded in properly.

another vote for Maguras. I have them on all 3 of my bikes and other than changing the pads and doing an annual bleed they are maintenance free!

I'll have some Magura Louise up for sale soon if anyone is interested.

shop opinion: having just bled 3 sets of maguras and a couple of avids we still all prefer hopes…easiest to bleed,quickest for parts,dont seem to break,look really pretty…….

go for hopes

Whats with all this bleeding malarkey ?I can uderstand if you're changing the hose length,but annual bleed ??

water will get into your brake fluid (& other crap), no matter how well it's sealed, so an annual bleed can only increase the performance of your brakes.

Hopes for me my old enduro 4 just keeps on going, Ive the mono 4s in black and gold and they work well for my riding style.

I am not sure about all this avids are hard to bleed nonsense. With the avid bleed kit they are an absolute doddle, and honestly who really cares, not as if you have to do it all the time. I would be more concerned about mystery bubbles appeariing in the lever, as seems to be the case with the newer hopes as above.

water will get into your brake fluid (& other crap), no matter how well it's sealed, so an annual bleed can only increase the performance of your brakes.

What a load of rubbish,it's a sealed system so unless it leaks somewhere nothing will get in & nothing will get out.It has to have a leak somewhere for anything to get in…

Hopes all the way. I can't speak for Magura or Shimano as I've not tried them but I had some Avid Juicy 7s for a year and pistons siezed in both calipers. They are a b1tch to bleed too with loads of faff with syringes.

Currently have M4s and they've been faultless for 2 years. Although granted, they suffered a little recently after two wet summers and two winters so I sent them off to Hope for a service.

Just to echo everyone else here who prefers Hope, they're well engineered and British built, easy to maintain, loads of power, nice lever feel and pretty robust.

emac65, with respect your living in a dream world, if you think a rubber o-ring is a perfect seal.
If you had ever bleed you brakes you'd see that the fluid is dirty, how can that be if it's a perfect seal?

"If you had ever bled your brakes"

PMSL,if only you knew mate.You have fun pointlessly bleeding your brakes every year mate 😆

personal experience –
Hope = sh1te.
Juicys = fantastic
YMMV

emac do you really think brakes are 100% sealed?

a brake bleed takes 30 mins both ends thats not bad maintenence once a year

and id say teh hopes my minis and mono m4s have always been faultless and very easy to repair should you bust a lever or something

and they are british

oh and my gfs juicys get worryingly hot after a long descent while my hopes just get warm

emac65; all new brakes are an open system to allow for fluid expansion.

Avid Elixir R's £159 on Merlin, **** 'A'. Not had any probs with over-cooking and they survived Jacob's on Saturday 🙂
What's that..?…prove it you say…? oh go on then