Brakes

Okay, help me decide. I quite fancy some Hope Tech X2 Evos, but should I or should I just stick with my Elixir 5s? Probably should have upgraded when I bought the bike late last year but didn’t. It’s a Five btw.

X2’s are good but have the V2’s now and they are fab. I highly recommend them

What’s the difference between the V2, the X2 and the M4?

Simply put its power and weight. D2’s are for xc, m4’s are free ride and v2’s are down hill brakes. Most of the weight gain for the v2’s is in their specific rotors. I use the v2’s on my asr5 as they have oodles of power and loads of modulation, never get arm pump and always have enough brake. Some people like to run the race lever with the m4 calipers.

Having recently switched to Race Evo M4 brakes I am stunned by the perfect balance of power and control – I had Elixir R before and it’s like my new Hopes have some perfectly calibrated ABS system built in!

I read this review when I was originally brake choosing and then forgot it and saw it again recently – I couldn’t agree more: http://www.great-rock.co.uk/2011/12/hope-race-evo-m4-brakes/

I’m running 183/160 floating rotors on my burly built Soul, no alpine length descents round here…

I have V2’s on my five which gets used for everything XC, AM and DH. No experience of the other hope brakes but my V2’s have been faultless. been on the bike over 18 months now

The Hopes will be much less powerful than your Avids.

But since both are pretty poor brakes (the Hopes weak, the Avids unreliable) you should buy Shimano XTs from bike-discount.de. Massively more powerful, and much more reliable.

I would ignore any suggestions of shimano brakes as they can’t be serviced if a simple o ring goes, you have to replace the whole caliper! V2’s weak, I think not

Look at Shimano. I’ve tried M4s on my mates bike and whilst they felt nice they were not powerful. I’m a big fan of Hope stuff but just not their brakes.

Shimano. Everytime.

Shimano. It works.

I have hopes, sort of wish I still had my old shimano XT’s. The new XT’s are supposed to be awesome. Thats what I’d buy since they’re so cheap.

On the whole, the people who rave about hope are the ones who’ve spunked a load of cash on them so they prefer to believe they’re the best brakes available.

Hope make loads of awesome stuff and they’re a great british company, I dont think their brakes are the best though.

I tend to be cynical about upgrades – going from the Elixirs to the Hopes I wanted as much power and feel but with better serviceability. I certainly wasn’t expecting to find myself almost never skidding thanks to the near telepathic lever feedback – it almost feels like cheating as I watch/hear other riders locking up whilst my tyres keep rolling. I’ve never tried any of Hope’s other models so can’t comment on them.

ruscle – Member

I would ignore any suggestions of shimano brakes as they can’t be serviced if a simple o ring goes, you have to replace the whole caliper!

But since you can replace the caliper for not much more than the cost of a pair of Hope seals, and you make a bigger saving up front, that’s irrelevant on cost grounds.

druidh – Member

Shimano. It works.

Until of course the seals fail – then its scrap.

Anyone who finds hope brakes not powerful enough has never ridden a set working properly or is confusing initial bite for outright power.

Hopes give you a far softer lever feel and thus far more modulation. However I have a set of minis on 160mm discs that will easily lock tyres on tarmac with a single finger. You cannot use more power than that.

Another option could be formula brakes.

They’re pretty cheap from the Italian based store http://store.formula-brake.com/ and you get the full mountain kit and rotors etc. Delivery was quick too.

I’ve used avids, and shimano slx and the K24s I’m running are by far the best brake I’ve used.

I’d like to support UK industry and also not pay my VAT to another country, UK industry needs all the help it can get.

I suspect anyone who thinks that Hope’s don’t have enough power haven’t taken the time to set them up properly. I sorted my friends out and he was amazed at the difference after.

TBH it’s a bit unfair to compare the Formula Oros on price- they’re on a massive discount as it’s a discontinued model. Still a great brake but the fact that a full set’s cheaper than buying one end of a comparable Hope is just down to the discounting. When you look at the full prices there’s not such a difference.

That Formula Store link isn’t working for me. Doesn’t work clicking through from the Formula homepage either.

Which is why I didn’t compare them to the Hopes on price. I said that they were cheap from the Formula store not they’re cheaper than Tech X2 evos (or whatever). It’s kind of redundant either way as the OP would prefer to buy British.

I would say that I found a friends Tech X2s a bit spongy feeling which is why I went for the Forumlas, but they may/may not have been set up properly and I didn’t ride them long enough to see if it was something you got used to.

Just checked the link again, and it’s working for me (Chrome) either directly or through http://www.formula-italy.com/.

http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/http://store.formula-brake.com/

I suspect anyone who thinks that Hope’s don’t have enough power haven’t taken the time to set them up properly. I sorted my friends out and he was amazed at the difference after.

Shimano, on the other hand, don’t need any “setting up”. I don’t know what “setting up” you have to do to a good quality brake other than bolt them on and go.

And, no, Jeremy, Hopes are not powerful. It’s not about “feel” or “modulation”, they just aren’t strong. And they’re so expensive that, as above, you can replace Shimano calipers for 2 decades and save money. (never needed to replace a caliper on Shimano in 8 years).

Not working in Chrome or IE 😕

2 sets of shimanos, 7 and 9 years, no failed seals or any problems, including Alps use.

Someone here said spares are available.

TJ is pathologically anti-shimano, for anyone new to the topic.

The problem with black and white blanket statements is that it leads you to doubt everything that person is saying. I know for a fact that Hope Race Evo M4s are comfortably as powerful as Avid Elixir Rs, with a ton of extra feel so you can actually use all that power. So is the information about XTs accurate or just hyperbole?

I do find myself wondering if most mountain bikers suffer from pathetically weak index fingers…

I’ve got tech x2’s with 183mm floating rotors fitted to my five, did have tech v2’s but felt like too much brake, i now feel like i have more control of the bike, able to scrub off speed without locking up (unless i want to that is). The v2’s were great brakes just overkill on a trail bike – i definately agree that you need to take the time to set them up properly, centralising the caliper then the pistons as per hopes handy online video.

Have older servo wave xt on one bike and hope race on another. And both have been fit and get out riding.
But I know hope sell spares if I need them and shimano don’t.
So sat in a box waiting ae some shiny new v2

New XTR everytime I’ve never stopped so fast on a bike!

I’ve got a set of the new XTs and my first thought after fitting them was ‘**** me, these will stop a truck’. No bedding in, no set up, just fit and ride. I’m 100kg in my kit and they stop super quick with plenty of modulation. If you can’t modulate them then you’re doing something wrong (hint – look well ahead and don’t just grab a handful). Awesome brakes.

My hope minis are great perfect balance of feel and power. My mates Slx, spongy and take too long to slow you down. Each to there own really

All brakes can be good or crap. It all comes down to set up and maintenance. Personally I want something with cheap spares and easily maintained. I’m constantly being told that Avids are bad on the maintainance side. I’ve used XTs but never owned. Found them pretty good. Have mainly owned Hopes though with the best being my E4s which I’m still running and am only now looking to replace them as they are too powerful and I’ve got sticky pistons which aren’t worth replacing. M4s were really good but took some setting up to get them right.

mralexbenn – Member

My hope minis are great perfect balance of feel and power. My mates Slx, spongy and take too long to slow you down.

Get him to fix the SLXs and then try again- they’re a much more powerful brake than Minis.

Until of course the seals fail – then its scrap.

And the answer to that is simple. My Shimano’s have never needed spares. Thus they ain’t scrap. Hope offer loads of spares because they break? Is that the reason why they are so many spares available?

Look at Shimano. I’ve tried M4s on my mates bike and whilst they felt nice they were not powerful. I’m a big fan of Hope stuff but just not their brakes.

LOLOLOL

Brake model Power (Nm) Weight (g)
Ashima PCB 64 328
Tektro Auriga Pro 77 491
TRP Dash 85 407
TRP Dash Carbon 85 393
Gusset Chute 89 469
Hayes Prime Pro 90 501
Avid XX WC 90 356
Magura MT8 90 339
Quad QHD-7.1 Nano Light 92 422
Quad Rapide 97 475
Hope Tech Evo X2 97 463
Quad QHD-7 Nano 97 463
Avid Elixir 9 99 397
Avid Elixir 7 99 395
Avid Elixir 1 100 471
Avid Elixir 3 100 442
Avid Code R 103 429
Magura MT2 103 428
Magura MT6 103 337
Shimano Deore M596 104 490
Formula R1 Racing 104 334
Shimano Saint 105 529
Shimano XT M785 107 466
Formula RX 107 398
Formula R1 107 355
Shimano XTR Race M985 110 388
Hope X2 Race Evo 110 377
Shimano SLX M666 111 485
Shimano XTR Trail M988 112 407
Hope Race Evo M4 115 496
Hope Tech Evo V2 120 524
Formula The One 121 393
Formula RO 124 418

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/fitness/article/how-we-test-hydraulic-disc-brakes-24345/

I’m not convinced by bikeradars results.

Haven’t the reliability issues with the avids gone away with the latest versions?