Hope Stealth Evo X2 here, 180 up front, 160 back. No cause for complaint yet despite some fairly taxing usage – full bikepack kit + 13 stone of me down off the top of the Corrieyairack Pass for example, no brake fade.

Dunno what it is about the Hope vs Shimano thing, but I hate Shimano brakes with a vengeance, after trying to run them for too long (4 years). I am not a Hope fanboi either, I run other stuff for BB / stem / headset etc, but I think their brakes are good solid bits of kit that work well and are easy to get ‘in the pocket’.

Shimano fail to easily (get into minus temps and they fail totally, I had both ends fail in one ride a few winters ago..) spraying their bloody baking oil over pads ruining them forever and needing complete new calipers (if you are lucky) or even a new system entirely if the leavers aren’t compatible. Stuff them.

X2 with 183 floating rotors front and rear here, very analogue in feel with plenty of usable power. i like the way you can dial in the levers to make them feel however you want. I weigh around 85kg.

Do me a favour would you… Go back and actually read my posts? Honestly at a loss where you could get this from.

Well to be honest the thread title of “WHAT HOPE BRAKE” left little confusion to what type of brake I wanted but that didn’t really stop you chuntering on about their comparisons to shimano.

Sorry if I was short with you but I get bored having to explain things that are irrelevant to the question I actually asked. Being STW I should have known people would have started going on about their weakness / expense compared to Shimano.

I’ve not used Hope’s since the Mono 4s so can’t help in what you should get. I would say though is stay clear of their floating discs as these haven’t changed and still warp easily. Shimano RT76 are a much better performing disc IMO and those of mates that have moved away from Hope Floaters.

Pair of E4’s ordered with 183/160 combo.

Cheers for all your help guys 😀

I would say though is stay clear of their floating discs as these haven’t changed and still warp easily.

Before I go down the route of floating rotors for the new bike, is this a common problem?

Glad you got new ones sorted in the end ! 🙂

@gravitysucks good choice 🙂

I had the same decision as you a few months back just before the new tech 3 lever came out. Had a pair of hope mono minis that were best part of 10 years old before that and loved them but felt I wanted a tad more power. I was going to go for the x2 but after speaking to Hope they recommended M4s for just a little bit more oomph and a further increase in modulation for more all mountain riding and just to have a bit more head room rather than be pushing the x2 on the edge of their comfort zone. They have been fantastic brakes with loads of stopping power and typical hope modulation rather than the on/off feel that seems so popular these days. I went for 180 rotors front and back. I find the back brake tends to get longer stints of light braking as opposed to the front doing more short but sharp loads and as such the bigger rotor helps to keep things cool.

You wont be disappointed!

Also running hope floating rotors that have remained perfectly straight.

John

Before I go down the route of floating rotors for the new bike, is this a common problem?

When I was on my hols earlier this year, I was pulled on the brakes and, to my delight, the braking surface thingy on my Hope rear floating rotor came away from the floating spider doodah and ended up as a mangled mess in my rear spokes. Only my incredible skillz prevented my certain death.

The lesson here, my friends, is check your rotors for wear more often than once every 5,000 km.

Before I go down the route of floating rotors for the new bike, is this a common problem?

I have not heard about it before. Not warped mine even with quite extreme usage / heating up, stay true and work fine. IMHO that is just more internet BS, someone probably bent their rotor on something and blamed the equipment…

As Nikk says plenty of Internet BS where lots of people make things up for the fun of it and not because they’ve had warped rotors.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=warped+hope+rotor&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

I would say though is stay clear of their floating discs as these haven’t changed and still warp easily.

Really? I’ve seen more ICE rotors melt than I’ve seen Hope floating warp.

I’ve been a hope fan boy for the last 15 years. I have 4 sets of hope brakes and love them however when I needed some new brakes recently I decided to go e the shimano’s a try after reading a lot of good reviews.

I managed to get a bargain which is why I decided on the over hopes.
XT brake for £63 from chain reaction, minus the rotor but still dirt cheap.

You can tell they are not up to the hope quality but I love the feel and power of them.
The only downside I can see is they are not rebuild able like the hopes where you can literally strip the caliper and lever down and rebuild.

If you can get a good deal on some slx it XT I’d go for them.
Well put it this way. My cheaper older bike now has the hopes and my expensive new build has the Shimano XT brakes on.

I would say though is stay clear of their floating discs as these haven’t changed and still warp easily.

Really? I’ve seen more ICE rotors melt than I’ve seen Hope floating warp.

No experience of the Ice rotors melting as I only use RT76 not RT81. The RT76 are similar to Hopes with a steel rotor on an aluminium carrier only the Shimano ones stay true.

No experience of the Ice rotors melting as I only use RT76 not RT81. The RT76 are similar to Hopes with a steel rotor on an aluminium carrier only the Shimano ones stay true.

If they’re not the melty steel-aluminium sandwich, then they aren’t IceTech.

I’ve nailed my flag to the Hope mast already but I’d also like to defend Northwind as one of the people on here who always gives a an honest, unbiased answer.

Melty IceTech: