[Closed] How GOOD are Hope Brakes!!!!!!!

Oh by the way Evans are doing them for £104 without the rotor brand new!!!

thought that was pretty good....

although I got mine from cycle surgery as they do a price match...

Hang on. You're telling us how GOOD they are but you've not finished putting them together yet - let alone tried them?

I love both sets of mine (tech 4s and tech V2s), everything has that 'hewn from block of metal' and 'nice positive clicky' feel to any adjustments. Pure luxury.

And... They work dead good!

Kev

@ druidh i said at the [u]moment[/u] im over the moon if you re read my post..

@ big scot yeah its like a positive feel thing, I was sceptical that it would all match up as they said but as ive said at the moment without actually using them on a ride im very happy.

Mine squeal like a stuck pig in the wet.
Don't care.

isn't that something to do with the alignment of the calliper? i dont know !!

Try them in the Alps! Totally awesome!! Till they stop working on a big descent...

@ coogan- which set was u using ?
what happened?

They have my approval!

Mine are ok but more power from both sets of shimano. Not poor enough to get rid of but not great.

does anyone know if u can use the floating rotors on the X2 SET?

Hope have great back up, service and spares, customer support, great company etc...

But unfortunately their performance is not on par with many (also much cheaper) brake manufacturers...

i bought the BEST CAR i've ever owned, RECENTLY! it has no engine, seats or wheels but so far it's AWESOME and i can't FAULT it. 😀

Hope have great back up, service and spares, customer support, great company etc...

But unfortunately their performance is not on par with many (also much cheaper) brake manufacturers...

They're not great brakes but they do have a loyal UK following. I'd never have them on a bike again though.

shimano's or avid ftw ime.

I sold my hopes on

I've two sets of M4s, the oldest dates from 2004 and are still going nicely without a rebuild.

They're a doddle to work on, spares can be picked up comparatively cheaply anywhere and bleeding them is easy in the extreme. Oh and I love the industrial aesthetic. The lever shape is spot on too.

The downside is that they're not that powerful. My M4s can't compete with my Juicys and Hayes Stroker Trails which have 20mm smaller rotors for outright stopping power or modulation.

At best...average.
Unless you like shiney things....in which case you are a magpie.
Or a muppet.

Im with \/

i was a hope stallwart until they made the pig ugly techs.

[i]The downside is that they're not that powerful[/i]

If youv'e got no strength at all in your hands.

Gold and black M4's, guff, never again have Hope brakes after they left me in a heap, bleeding, rear mech ripped off after a lovely lever to handlebar to no brakes whatsoever moment. Ain't doing that again. Shimano all the way for moi.

"If youv'e got no strength at all in your hands"

I thought hydraulic disc brakes shouldn't require you to have to use all your hand strength to stop?
An advantage over V-brakes I thought was hydraulic disc brakes (should) have enough power (and modulation) to brake with one finger, also allowing you to hold on with 3 fingers (largely independant of braking), rather than just the 2 (or less?) smallest fingers?

Hopes I've had (no current ones) once bled do have power, it just seems you have to pull really hard to get it. Modulation hasn't been great (though the lever sort of feels like it does?)

Weird thread folks, nice one.

PS Formula for the first-round-knockout win 😉

hmmm i agree northwind,
still at least its got a few talking, and as for the muppets!!! maybe you should get the engine wheels dont bother with the seat and drive off beachy head !!!! 😆

Surely pad material & decent fluid would help wouldn't guys? ,std sintered pads & castrol SRF, if its good enough for moto gp you lot wont boil it,even the do ers!

I have several sets of hopes all of which can lock either wheel with a single finger easily. None of the shimanos I have ridden had any more power.

They do not have the initial bite of some brakes - you can either have that or the feel - I like the soft lever feel as it allows more modulation. I think sometimes this gets confused for lack of power.

All IS mount tho ( bar one caliper) and all on smallish discs so get nice and hot and sintered pads. all annually bled with fresh fluid.

reedspeed - Member

std sintered pads & castrol SRF, if its good enough for moto gp you lot wont boil it

No offence but that's a wee bit of a silly statement, there's too many differences in the hardware. Bicycle brakes take a lot of heat with less radiator to cool them and far less fluid. Also, brake fade isn't just about overheating fluid, it's also about overheating pads past their comfortable operating temp.

Different brakes respond differently to heat, when we were in france one chap had a lot of bother with his X2s, even when we were riding the same pace down the same sections he ran into fade while I never did (cheapo Oros with cheapo pads and halfords fluid). Could be he had a maintenance issue o'course.

mmmm point taken,i do however think things like brake,suspension feel is personal too,however using the above with correct servicing all helps...as do floaters etc etc...

All I can say is that I (me) can stop my 5 dead in it's tracks (co-efficient of friction between tyres & surface taken into account) with my X2's whilst moving at a reasonable speed.
Yes, I have used other brakes. Hayes 9's were the worst. I'm happy as Larry, whoever Larry is, with my X2's on the 5 & my old M4's on the HT.
Don't know about their back up service as I've never used them for a brake problem, just a broken axle on an XC hub.

for sure it is all about feel as its all a leap of faith whether yr get on with and like etc the product.
All I know is that when my race motor bike brakes were bleed right they worked!! and believe me u need them to work when yr steaming into a corner with 25 other riders all wanting the same bit of track!!!

I'm 13 stone and can stoppie with my X2's, how much more power do you want?

Also power isn't everything.

what rotors do you use on yr x2's esselgruntfuttock ?

I've got a set of M4 Evo's using 203 floating rotors. I've used many different brakes before and all I would like to say is that my Hopes are the best brakes I've ever used.

They NEED to be set up correctly in order for them to have the best power but get them right and nothing compares. Some brakes are more powerful but none are more usable.

Modulation/feel is were the Hopes win hands down over everything else. I now couldn't go as fast without Hope brakes. I've gotten used to the feel and nothing else will do - usable power is worth every penny.

The brakes that others say are more powerful are usually wooden feeling to me, very on/off.

Super4: you'll love em!

Well done HOPE! 😀

they're absolutely the worst brake i have come across to bleed, therefore i'll not be buying any hope brakes no matter how pretty they are.

Another Hope fan here. I've used Hayes and Shimano. Shim I also like, but Hope once bled nicely are as good. Hard to tell really though since the bikes don't get the same usage.

The Shimano bleeding procedure is a joke though. The instructions say basically leave it and let the bubbles float up. Great.. very rigorous there, you really know when it's worked 🙄

how many of the comments here are as a result of using hopes for descending ~ 3km or more height before lunch, then doing the same again after?
if so, what model/setup?

my v2's squeel in the wet and have recently lost power but after 5 yrs and countless alpine/canadian trips they were rocking

molgrips - Member

The Shimano bleeding procedure is a joke though. The instructions say basically leave it and let the bubbles float up. Great.. very rigorous there, you really know when it's worked

Which Shimanos? The instructions for my old ones couldn't be more different from that tbh (in fact they bled exactly like Hope!)

Two pairs of mono M4s I've owned have been crap but that was on a downhill bike, they are probably mediocre for cross country.

I'd say they are the easiest brake to bleed, they practically do it themselves!

Personally I would never try them again but maybe they improved them since the Mono Minis. The other brakes at the time were loads better. Never had a single issue with my Shimano XT- XTR brakes. There the older model ones.

My Moto V2s are the best brakes I've used, bar none. In the Alps I've tries Shimano, Hayes, Avid...the best by a long way were the Hopes. Shimano were OK (and cheaper), but I'm prepared to pay the extra. Hayes were on/off but very powerful, and fade-free. The Avid Juicy 5s and 7s were just terrible, and overheated (same rider, same trails, same bike) in a way that non of the others did.

Plus Hope stuff is easily fixed when I break it (crashes happen!) and are made by burly Northern blokes with swarf in their fingers.

Works for me.

Yes, floating rotors are fine with x2. I prefer non float saw tooth though. Seeing the nightmares folk were having changing worn out pads on the kielder 100, I'm happy with Hope - 3 sets at the mo.
Good modulation and I can lock wheels at will - more 'power' needed?

We have a quiver of five Dandyhorses, three sporting Hope's, 2 x M4 f+R, 1 x Mono Mini f+r. The other two have Avid and Shimano.

The Hopes are quite old, first appearing on a Marin in 1998 i think and have been transferred to all my bikes up to now. The set up I have settled on is:

Phenolic pistons (think these are standard now), swapped from the old metal ones
Dot 5.1 synthetic fluid and Goodridge lines (the thin and flexy ones)
Sintered pads
Floating 203, 180, 160 front rotors, 2 x 160 and 140 rear.

I am nearly 100kg and have no problems with them at all.

These brakes do UK, Alpine and beyond, simple to bleed and have been very reliable too. A bonus when away from bleed kits, syringes and other stuff. I can strip and replace every seal and component too. Cap off, care with the top rubber seal, top up and go. They even worked with Citroen suspension fluid in them on a Moroccan trip. Pads out without the wheel off is a bonus.

I think any brake can be poor if its not set up well.

The Avids and Shimanos work but feel more on/off though they don't get ridden as hard as the Hopes.

Its what you like at the end of the day. Its less about bling for me, these just work and its not about me being "lucky" either. Each will have their supporters, these do for me....

[i] Hope have great back up, service and spares, customer support, great company etc...

Untrue. I had hideous issues with two sets of Mono M4s years ago and the customer service was crap in the extreme! The LBS ended up swapping them for Hayes brakes as we were getting nowhere with the muppets at Hope

But unfortunately their performance is not on par with many (also much cheaper) brake manufacturers...

True.

They're not great brakes but they do have a loyal UK following. I'd never have them on a bike again though. [/i]

This +1. Poor kit, poor customer service.