[Closed] Hope vs Avid vs Magura

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.

[url= http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/mountain-bike-disc-brakes/avid-disc-brakes/avid-elixir-r-disc-brake-set.html ]And Merlin have the pair for £160[/url]

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.

[i]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. [/i]

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, ****ing '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
[img] [/img]

Not had time to count up but the voting trend still seems to be pro-Hope

My Hayes strokers are much more powerful than the mono minis they replaced.

mini have moved on twice since strokers were released so no surprise that strokers are more powerful when compared to older minis.

like comparing a 1995 diesel engine v's a 2005 one.. course it will be better the technology and product has moved on.

Hope here. Being a mechanical numpty, the best thing I like about them is that Hope are only 20 mins from where I live. Their customer service is legendary and they will do a full rebuild for around £35 for a mono mini IIRC. Comes back bled and as good as a new brake.

Hope !!!!!!

No contest!!!

Started with Hope on the old Mono Mini's, had over-cooking problems so went to Avid, big mistake, constant attention-seekers with sticking pistons (and pads are bu99ers to change). Now going back to Hope M4's, so much better than Juicy's with reliability and much more power, agree with the comments above in support of Hope.

Never tried Maguras so can't comment.

Modern brake systems are open, and DOT fluid is hydroscopic, it absorbs water vapour out of the atmosphere, so performance can degrade over time. Not too much of an issue if you're just doing regular xc type rides, but when long draggy downhills involving heat build-up are included, then the water allows heat to fade the brakes. If systems were sealed, then my six year old M4's wouldn't work 'cos one of the bleed nipple covers has been missing for a couple of years. Since the last time they were bled, I think. My six year old M4 Mono's haven't been bled for about the same time, either, and they work just fine. Both sets still got the original pads in too. If I was looking for an alternative, then Formula or Quad, depending on budget.

Hope Tech X2's, enough said.

Looks like I'll be staying with the Hopes then...

They all work make your choice

British Vs Far East Vs German

Bling Vs Pretty Vs Functional

Useful thread. I had 2002 Minis and total cack, lever to bar in Alps, constant bleeds needed but when working were good for feel and power and weight. Since 2006 running Juicy 7s and much better - never been bled (I can't think of anything worse - no way is that an acceptable level of maintenance IMO - I want everything to be fit and forget for life), have never given way on the longest descent but they are a nightmare to change pads and for that reason alone I was considering a change but this thread has just muddied the waters really. Great service from Hope sopunds good but I don't want failure to start with and what do I ride when the brakes have gone back to Hope for a fix?

Surely someone can design and build a brake that is kight, has easy to change pads, doesn't leak and doesn't fade on Alpine descents. My gut instinct is to go magura as them Germans tend to have functionality and reliability sussed out the best.

I would agree hh45, bought a 2nd hand bike with some Magura Louise FR's on it and have never had a more powerful brake, really like them but the front brake failed last week (spongy even after a bleed).
Spoken to the distributer and they 'only' way to have it serviced is to return it to them (they do not sell seal kits), great if you bought it new (as they have a 5yr warrenty) but mine are 2nd hand, so I have to return the brake to them with no idea of how much it may cost to repair.

Pretty poor, I'll be buying Hope or Hayes in the future.

Hope all the way for me.

I started with the old split caliper minis which worked fine, even in Morzine, I currently have 2 sets of black and gold M4's both bought new almost as soon as they came out. One caliper had a leaky seal, I have a set of second hand mono minis on my wifes bike and a set of Tech X2s on the Superlight. All are pretty much faultless.

They are easy to fix and bleed but need no attention. If they ever do you are never far from someone who knows how to fix them.

hh45. as i said we were some of the first people in the UK to get the new tech m4.
initially yes we had issues, now.... perfect.

for my money the have neg but lost of pluses.
[b]positives[/b]
power
feel
easy to change pads
good "new" black material powerful and long lasting
easy to maintain
a "UK" product (mostly)
don't overheat (not many do now a days though all heat dissipation issues are easy dealt with on most modern brakes)

[b]negatives[/b]
expensive
heavy
a bit to "industrial" for looks (personally i love the cnc look)
occasionally hit and miss issues (but backed up by Hope's CS i don't worry, my new set have been great from Hope after they replaced them)

After problems with sticking pistons on my oe juicy 5's and same sticky pistons on the ultimates that replaced them, I was getting increasingly hacked off with continually stripping, cleaning, relubing and bleeding so finally took the plunge and swapped for some Hope Brakes - tech M4 front, and hopetech X2 on the back. In 4 months I have had no regrets the levers are easy to adjust for reach/bite and feel really solid, the matchmaker clamps are great despite what i'd read. the brakes feel more powerful than the Avids and have a really good feel. And original pads seem lots cheaper than the Avid oe versions too.

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