hope tech E4s for me all day long, just feel great, plenty of bite and modulation.
that said i’ve liked the sheer power of sxl/xt, never liked sram guides, trp spyre.
and got some magura SL, power is ridiculous, but along way off the feel of hope for me.

I’ve got Curas and they’ve been fantastic, I can’t fault them.

Interesting what’s happening at TRP. Thats 2 reviews saying you cant pull them in far enough on the reach adjust, and that the throw is really short. I’ve just taken off some Quadiems (well, to be accurate I’ve kept the calipers and made TRimanos) as they pulled a full centimetre more than my Deores before biting, and then had to be pulled a lot further again to get full power.

On the note of the Deores – amazing brakes for the money. Make SLX a bit pointless, at least with XT you get the nice dimples on the levers and cant pretend the reach point adjust does something

My new Orbea Rise has 2 pot Deores ,usual showroom sleight of hand, XT rear mech while downgrading more important stuff. Though on saying that and the bike shop guy planting the seeds of doubt in my head suggesting Hope or an XT 4 pot upgrade ( complete with wandering bite point 🙄)so far so stoppy perfect 👍
On the subject I was always a Hope brake fanboy until I bought a bike with Shimano brakes , then it was hello one finger braking ! 😎
Finally genuine Shimano pads under a tenner genuine SRAM double that so it’s Shimano for me plus if I find the 2 pots lacking as the pads wear down I know for £100 I can swap the calipers to 4 pots .

Fitted Cura 4’s last month after years of Hope T3 E4. I’m very happy with them.

Could we stop defining brakes by the number of pistons? It’s just daft. You can have lightweight xc 4 pots, you can have mighty dh 2 pots, I know it’s the current hype to add pistons to everything but it’s just not a defining characteristic. Always annoying when pushbikes insist on repeating mistakes motorbikes made decades ago. Must! Upgrade! To! 6! Pots! That perform worse in every way than the 4 pots I already have! But! 2! More!

Especially since half the industry struggles to produce a reliable brake anyway. But instead of having seals that don’t leak, or brakes that can be bled without a phd, let’s add more adjusters or more pots or magic rotors or propellors or 2 more of something, more things to go wrong and cost more. it’s one thing if all the problems with brakes have been solved, but they haven’t. Or rather, they have but it’s unequally distributed, my 12 year old brakes are light for xc, powerful enough for dh, and reliable enough to be still going 12 years on but we’ve gone backwards more than forwards.

Recently installed the Tech 4 E4’s and found them to be a massive improvement over the Tech 3’s! I still have the tech 3’s just moved them across the other other bike. Nearly went with the Curas but didn’t want different pads and bleed kits etc

keppoch

@honourablegeorge any tips on where to look for lower Cura prices? They don’t seem to be stocked in as many places as the usual suspects

146 Euro here, in stock… r2-bike had them at 129 not long ago.

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/formula-cura-4-disc-brake

Just bought SLX as I managed to snap off the pad retainer housing on one side and they’re about 4 years old and were looking pretty worn!

<< Anyone find it odd that not all brakes are mentioned in the verdict?>>

Yep thought the same.

Yeah theres surely a paragraph missing?

I agree about a firmer lever feel on the Tech4s being nice, BUT for me the much lighter action has meant much less hand fatigue & I wouldnt want to lose that, I really love these brakes

Could we stop defining brakes by the number of pistons? It’s just daft. You can have lightweight xc 4 pots, you can have mighty dh 2 pots, I know it’s the current hype to add pistons to everything but it’s just not a defining characteristic. Always annoying when pushbikes insist on repeating mistakes motorbikes made decades ago.

Agreed. I’ve moaned about this before. I’ve also seen 2 pots called “single piston” in the same paragraph as “4 pot” which seems like deliberate marketing speak to make them seem twice as bad again. Unless they were meaning brakes where only one side moves. I remember Avid BB5 cable brakes doing this, unaware of any hydro brakes that act in this way.
Pistons need to be circular, pad area is useful (but not the sole determiner of power). And yet the width of the braking surface on a rotor remains constant.

I suggest the way to go is 2 pot, larger pistons, larger square pads; and disks with a wider brake track to match.
Its the sort of thing Hope would do to raptuous applause, but if Sram did it, the internet would crucify them.

I suggest the way to go is 2 pot, larger pistons, larger square pads

Larger piston will travel less distance for the same lever travel. Which will either mean tighter running clearances or greater lever throw.

You can tweak the variables but in a system like this there is not much you can do to signifcantly change the clamping force of the calipers.

Worth mentioning that deore 6120 4 pots are £160 a pair at merlin at the moment? I’ve just ordered some.

CRC are doing them for just under £60 and end at the moment too, so long as you don’t mind swapping hoses over to get away from the euro/us configuration.

EDIT: linkey

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-deore-m6120-oe-disc-brake/rp-prod213215

when compared to a current style 2 piston, yes. But compared to a 4 piston – this is purely a funcion of total piston area isn’t it?

It depends on the total wetted area of the pistons/pistons and therefore the volume of fluid required to take up the running clearance, As this gets bigger the volume required to take up the running clearance increases, the lever has to travel further, or the running clearance needs to be made smaller

So am I understanding this right? –
using Hope as an example:
cross country brake – X2 has 2 22mm pistons – area = 242(pi)
Enduro brake – E4 has 4 14mm pistons – area = 196(pi)
Downhill brake – V4 has 2 14mm and 2 16mm pistons – area = 226(pi)

All are compatible with the same levers – in theory pushing the same volume of fluid for a given lever pull.

The amount of fluid pushed is the area of the pistons x the distance from the rotor. The seals enable a degree of compensation they can allow the pads to run closer to the disk. If you continued to increase the piston size you will reach a point where the lever cannot move enough fluid, or the pads would be so close that the brakes you rub like crazy. If you upsize the lever piston to move enough fluid you lose the force multiplication effect.

And at the risk of tempting fate, I’m not experiencing Shimano’s trademark wandering bite point with Trickstuff 2mm rotors

I think wandering bite point is down pistons not completely retreating back into the caliper between pulls, so thicker rotors should in theory reduce this.

When I have had wandering bite point, cleaning and lubing the pistons sorts it.

XT 4 Pot user with 203mm shimano rotors and Disco brakes sintered pads – they have been incredibly confidence inspiring this week in the Tweed Valley dust and heat even with my brake dragging tendencies.