I’m in the market for a new pair of brakes following another leaky master cylinder incident today. I know the default option tends to be shimano these days which brings me two “issues”.

1) I tried the XT and deore 615 and found them very binary in comparison to what I’m used to, I’m sure I’d get used to it in time but it puts me off.

2)I’ve seen a fair few threads about leaky/spontaneously failing/death in a ball of fire shimano brakes which worries me – I could keep my current maguras (which I very much like) if I could be bothered with the “oh they don’t work now, they werefine yesterday/on the last hill” and having to warranty them to get them fixed.
I know there is an element of if there are more in the market there will be more of them fail but at the same time in bothered they seem to “just fail” rather than giving warning.

So the question is:

Hope, shimano or formula.

Hope are (new any way) out of my desired price bracket for now, but I hear of very few failures and spares are easy to get if they do. Are they really reliable or is it mainly that they’re used by fanboys who won’t speak ill. Do I get second hand ones or blow my budget?

Are the XT 8000 reliable, spares are I assume like rocking horse poo being shimano which means sending them for warranty if they fail and I want to get away from that. Will I get used to the on off nature of them?

Do I go for formula r0 which are in my price bracket. My existing formula R1 brakes I like (other bike), they need a lot of attention but it’s all maintenance stuff and they develop problems rather than just suddenly stopping working and I don’t mind that. Am I just lucky with them, do they also tend to the spontaneous failure rather than degradation end usually?

Cheers

Had Hope X2s for years and not a single issue, worth every penny and the best reliability, modulation and adjustability imo. Worth looking at SRAM Guides or Levels – much improved from days gone past; changed from Shimano’s to these for a test and not gone back. Wouldn’t touch Formulas after really bad experiences in the past.

Hopes are brakes for life, the newer ones are as good as anything else out there, they cost more, but picking up second hand is a viable option as they can be serviced easily

Wishing I had gone straight to Hope for my latest brakeset instead of xtr trail carbon levered jobbies.

Hope just seem to feel great from box and every ride. Their rotors are a bit out but apparently something to do with the riveting process of riveting ;-d

I’ve yet to test the xtrs properly and if they’re anything to go on from the race versions prior to these then they’ll be punchy on power, but are not fit and forget long term brakes.
Flashy but why not have it all with a set of Hopes.

Chunky flashy looking longer term brakes with lovely lever feel.

Cannot comment on sram guide rscs as haven’t had them long but they feel good too if on a tighter budget.

Just buy Hope (2nd hand will be fine), they’re not bad brakes generally, yes they are expensive and hence the fanbois choice, but they are also work well and spares/service wise they are a good company to deal with…

Personally I do like shimano, but if you’re not keen, you’re just not keen. No point trying to force yourself to use something you don’t trust…

Formula? Dunno, not common in the UK, no idea on spares or service support, hope are at least more of a known quantity…

Two sets and nearly 7 years of Formula Brakes with no issues. 2 years on SLX brakes which have also been problem-free really.

love my hope tech v2 brakes.

I’m a formula fanboi, tbh if I wanted brakes tomorrow I’d get another set of The Ones/T1s. Proper ones, none of that T1S pish or similiar. CRC had some brand new ones in the sale just recently for £200… I didn’t really see what the R0s brought to the table though.

Quite often say this but, the set now on my fatbike was last on a race-light scandal 29, before that they were on my DH bikes. There’s really not many products that make as much sense on all those bikes, and they never missed a beat for those 5 years. Tons of power, light, very easy to use, never unforgiving, and I’ve never been able to get them to fade even when the rotor’s turned exciting colours. Basically awesome.

cookeaa – Member

Formula? Dunno, not common in the UK

They’re one of the popular OE options, I’d be surprised if they’re not more common than Hope tbh. (admittedly, their OE spec stuff does tend to be not especially good)

Formula it is then!

In honesty Northwind the only reason for the r0 over the t1 is that they’re black not silver in budget.

Hope. I have trigger’s broom m4 evo’s which started out as m4 mini’s.

They were good as mini’s, excellent as Tech levers and awesome as evo’s with uberbike finned sintered pads. All parts available from Hope to fix if (not when) they go wrong.

Hope’s here too. Got some original M4’s on the HT, no idea what year they are but theyv’e had nothing done to them, ever. Never been bled just had pads when required & I can still lock the rear with one finger. ( I know cos I did it last Thursday)
Got 2010 X2’s on the FS, again I’ve had nothing but new pads in.

Hopes every time.

Got some Hope Tech M4’s that are over 7 years old – never been bled and had maybe 2-3 sets of pads. Screwed a front piston up the other night to the point it was leaking oil everywhere – managed to force it back in and do a 5 minute bleed and they were working fine again. They’ve been faultless until Thursday night, when the rear spat its oil out at the hose connection to the caliper – I’ll forgive it after 7 years of abuse. Would have Hopes every time!

RO’s are more powerful than my The Ones or T1’s I’ve tried.

I splashed out on some mono M4’s years ago (black and gold era).

The feel was terrific when they worked properly.

They were easy as anything to bleed.

BUT they always suffered from sticky pistons. I gave up on them in the end and fitted some Deore hydros.

I now have three sets of lower end Shimano brakes that are a bit more wooden, not as pretty, a bit faffy to bleed but they just work.

The oldest set is 13 years old.

Granted I don’t ride nearly as much as many of you so maybe they’re not getting the wear and tear impact.

If the Shimanos on the best bike go then I could be tempted to give Hope another go if for no better reasons than the, look, the feel and supporting a British manufacturer.

Still reckon it’s hard to go really wrong with the big S though.

jamj1974 – Member

RO’s are more powerful than my The Ones or T1’s I’ve tried.

Yah, I felt the same, I just wasn’t very convinced that was an advantage- the T1 is plenty powerful. I think the R0 delivers it a bit more easily which some folks will like, me, I like the “all the power you need, but you need to ask for it” thing that the T1 does, and a lot of Hopes for that matter.

(on the motorbike, I tried tons of different parts, including some BSB-level brembo bits, and ended up with a total mashup of road R6 and old Fireblade bits that didn’t have the awesome stick-in-wheel sensation of power from the strongest setups, but still stopped fine on track yet had crazy subtlety for (frexample) commuting in snow. Absolutely beautiful but most folks that rode it, hated it, because if you pull the lever just a little bit, almost nothing happens. Brakes are definitely a matter of taste)

Are the XT 8000 reliable

From the LBS reports, no, no they’re not.

Why not SRAM Guides? Probably one of the most reliable and best brakes out there at the moment.

The Hope Tech3 are superb, but I prefer the feel and bite from the Guides better.

Well in the end I convinced my self the tech 4 e3 wasn’t so far out of budget and that I’donly end up wishing is spent the extra if I went for something else. Ta for the advice though folks.

Good job 🙂 you won’t be disappointed. They’re great.

If the lever isn’t snappy, unscrew the little 2mm grub screw thats in the lever a little. I’ve had to do that with three levers.