When they’re properly bled etc I reckon Avids have by far the best lever feel, but then I’m so used to them having used Juicy 5s pretty much since I started riding. Wish they weren’t so fiddly to bleed though.

Mine didn’t freeze, they broke. Both of them. Within 20 minutes of each other. That is a design flaw. Maybe you weren’t in cold enough temperatures, for long enough?

Easily fixed? I dunno, you tell me? If you call buying another set after 3 years easily fixed, they yes, they are very easily ‘fixed’.

apart from going wrong…

Ok, if you are only riding 50 miles a month, maybe that is the difference. Parts will last longer like that. I do more miles than that.

All good, enjoy!

Also of relevance is that any problems with any Hope brake can usually be sorted easily either by yourself or by sending back to Hope for service/repair. Hope are willing to talk to customers in person and are in my experience more than willing to offer free advice. Bleeding is simple compared with any other brake on the market.
Shimano are notorious for lack of spares/support and the importers will not talk to or offer advice to users. You have to contact them via your LBS and trust they understand what you want. Any damage to Shimano brakes will probably mean a new set and seals in callipers are not replaceable. On the up side as stated above Shimano brakes are top value and are generally reliable.

ChunkyMTB – Member
Had Hopes for years, then one day tried some of the new XT’s… now all my bikes are running Shimano. My cheap deore’s even laugh in the face of the Hope’s.

POSTED 20 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

This.
I sometimes ride with a big group, can be 20 of us at times, and not one would go back to hopes after having the Shimano one finger brakes, they’re just another step way above the rest! 8)

So people who chose to swap brakes from one make to another are happy- thats a real surprise. All the group did this as well MMMMMM
That said what I find hardest to believe is that you have 20 friends 😉

I reckon Avids have by far the best lever feel,

Avidss, when they work are great brakes. The problem is they rarely work IME

ChunkyMTB – Member
spectabilis – Member
Personally I’d put Shimano brakes alongside Tektro.
But comparing Shimano to Hope’s! They’re a totally different class. The Hope’s make a mockery of the Shimano units.
As said before any brake will lock a wheel up but that’s irrelevant it’s about the delivery, adjustability, serviceability, reliability, spares availability……….
And the Hope sets win hands down plain to see.
If your budget doesn’t allow for proper brakes then fine,
Shimano offer a cheap alternative but somehow have managed to take the old adage “buy shite, buy twice” as a positive.
Personally I’d put Hope brakes alongside Tektro.
But comparing Hope to Shimano’s! They’re a totally different class. The Shimano’s make a mockery of the Hope units.
As said before any brake will lock a wheel up but that’s irrelevant it’s about the delivery, adjustability, serviceability, reliability, spares availability……….
And the Shimano sets win hands down plain to see.
If your budget allows for expensive brakes then fine,
Hope offer an expensive alternative but somehow have managed to take the old adage “buy shite, buy twice” as a positive

GENIUS!

Have Hope (V2) on one bike, Shimano (SLX) on the other.

They’re both awesome. Both have just as much power IMO, but the Shimanos do give it out a bit quicker. Would be dead happy to ride with either.

For my every-day guiding bike though, it would have to be Hope. Lack of availability of parts is too big an issue for me. I need to be able to make a phone call, get the parts in the post the same day and be fitting them to my bike a day or two later, not be waiting weeks for a warranty repair.

Lots of Shimano bashing here, and talk of a lack of support. Each of my 3 LBS’ recommend Shimano brakes. The new Doere/SLX/XT brakes are just stunning IMO. Having said that, I’d be happy going back to Hope. Both seem like good brakes to me. Modulation on my Hopes was fantastic, but to be honest, it’s pretty damned good on my XT’s too.

Sometimes I feel I just don’t fit in on this forum.
I have 26″ wheels.
I prefer the “feel” of inner tubed tyres.
I have an 1 1/8″ headtube and steerer.
My Avid elixirs have worked brilliantly and faultlessly for about 3 years hard use now and, to me, they feel much nicer at the lever than the hopes they replaced.
😀

I have 26″ wheels.
I prefer the “feel” of inner tubed tyres.
I have an 1 1/8″ headtube and steerer.
My Avid elixirs have worked brilliantly and faultlessly for about 3 years hard use now and, to me, they feel much nicer at the lever than the hopes they replaced.

Is this like an AA meeting? Well here goes…

My name is Rickon,

I have 26″ wheels.
I prefer the “feel” of tubeless.
I have a 44mm headtube and a 1 1/8″ steerer 😯
My Avid elixirs have worked brilliantly and faultlessly for about 2 years hard use now (apart from the two warranty replacements ) and, to me, they feel much nicer at the lever than the hope and Shimanos they replaced.
I _just_ find Avid brakes cleaner and simpler to bleed than Hope or Shimano.

I also like ale, wine, cheese, biscuits and Grey’s Anatomy.

bb, have you got Fox 32 Float Supa Noodle forks?

Hope Evo brakes on one bike love ’em. Mix of Shimano Deore and SLX on other bikes, love them too. Prefer the feel of Hope but that might be because I ride that bike more than the others. To be honest as long as they done have Avid written on them I don’t really mind.

Is this like an AA meeting? Well here goes…
My name is Rickon,
I have 26″ wheels.
I prefer the “feel” of tubeless.
I have a 44mm headtube and a 1 1/8″ steerer
My Avid elixirs have worked brilliantly and faultlessly for about 2 years hard use now (apart from the two warranty replacements ) and, to me, they feel much nicer at the lever than the hope and Shimanos they replaced.
I also like ale, wine, cheese, biscuits and Grey’s Anatomy.

Your clearly drunk, you probably need to go to AA. However I agree with the last bit.

I have shimano xt brakes. I’ve not used hopes but I don’t need to. The xt’s are clearly superior.
That is all.

I’ve still got juicy 7’s that have performed flawlessly since 2008 or so I just haven’t had the problems people say I was supposed to have. Maybe I should bleed them more often and fiddle incessantly until they break.

Each of my 3 crack dealers recommended I smoke crack.

Right. All the spiel about Shimano power is just that, spiel. They are not magic fairy dust. They are just brakes. They are brakes that work well when they are new. They work good. They are well priced at a number of price points.

There are other brakes that work well also. Just as well. maybe a little better. Maybe a little worse. Who cares? They frickin work. You pulls the handle, and the wheels stop going round. Unless you are a baboon and can’t set brakes up properly (sorry 50% of STW readers).

Really, the only thing wrong with them (apart from the oil thing, which stops working at about -5 and proceeds to take pout the seals) is they, for some reason unbeknown to us, cannot or will not supply a few small replacement seals to keep them working. L.A.M.E. It is lame. Lamer than Mr McLame on his way to a Lamest Lamer competition in Lamesville. And it sucks. S.U.C.K.S. It sucks more than… well, you get the idea 🙄

If your budget doesn’t allow for proper brakes then fine,

Are you the sort of person that says you have to have a bike above a particular price point to be classed as proper?

Used Hopes, used hayes, Now use Shimanos, the hopes were fine, the hayes a bit less so, the Shimanos have been good. I’m not someone who would spend the kind of money these days on bikes and bits as I did a few years back, so stuff like shimano is good for the price.

Got an old Shimano 4pot Xt brake on the front of one of my bikes, coming up to 10years old, I’ve serviced and bled it twice in that time.

It just works…unlike those hayes nines I had.

I’ve never needed spares for Shimano brakes, so I’m happy.

Sonor – Member
If your budget doesn’t allow for proper brakes then fine,
Are you the sort of person that says you have to have a bike above a particular price point to be classed as proper?

No.

Plus one for formula R1 best brakes I’ve had still going strong after 3 years. Would never by Avid just had very bad experience with them and bleeding. R1s seem to be fit and forget.

Then again karen….a lot of people have been saying there are big problems with the zees.

Citation needed.

ChunkyMTB – Member
spectabilis – Member
Personally I’d put Shimano brakes alongside Tektro.
But comparing Shimano to Hope’s! They’re a totally different class. The Hope’s make a mockery of the Shimano units.
As said before any brake will lock a wheel up but that’s irrelevant it’s about the delivery, adjustability, serviceability, reliability, spares availability……….
And the Hope sets win hands down plain to see.
If your budget doesn’t allow for proper brakes then fine,
Shimano offer a cheap alternative but somehow have managed to take the old adage “buy shite, buy twice” as a positive.
Personally I’d put Hope brakes alongside Tektro.
But comparing Hope to Shimano’s! They’re a totally different class. The Shimano’s make a mockery of the Hope units.
As said before any brake will lock a wheel up but that’s irrelevant it’s about the delivery, adjustability, serviceability, reliability, spares availability……….
And the Shimano sets win hands down plain to see.
If your budget allows for expensive brakes then fine,
Hope offer an expensive alternative but somehow have managed to take the old adage “buy shite, buy twice” as a positive

Please post more – you’re great! 😀

And add more apostrophes – there’s not enough in your post.

my point about my experience of the none series 445 brakes, that for £22 an end, they were very good.

one of the calipers did have a slight issue, easy fixed with a good clean, after 2+ years of no maintenance what so ever

i like hopes, but they seem a bit of a luxury, BUT if a bike came fitted with them thats cool! if is fitted with avids/tektro then they would be swapped out for shimanos/hopes, but would consider shimanos due to cost ( or lack of)

again would not consider changing if the bike came with hopes

Pimpmaster Jizz – Member
Please post more – you’re great!
And add more apostrophes – there’s not enough in your post

Thanks for the advice Neil.

Here you go. ‘ ‘ 🙄

Brake threads really seem to bring out the worst in STW. It seems almost like a religion debate in here.

Formula The Ones are best anyway, scrapping over which is best out of Hope is like two people fighting over who made the best turd sandwich. 😛

Hope brakes are great.
I’ve just sold a couple of pairs of them and still have another pair to sell.

Can i just say again how great Hope brakes are.

They’re extra great when you buy them second hand from the classifieds on STW. 🙂

I remember when it was cool to go fast, now every one wants to stop ?

Next thing you know every one will be arguing about tyre sizes again or the feckless morons who dare to ride a bike with no helmet !

Not long had formula the ones fitted tto my FS. They are incredible. Not only light, but make the bike (and wallet) even lighter by encouraging you to buy smaller rotors! Using 160 now, and in today’s downpour, they were still awesome. 1 finger, gentle pull and just as powerful as dry – easy to lock. Bought 2nd hand as I wouldnt pay full whack for them 🙂

Pimpmaster Jizz – Member
Please post more – you’re great!
And add more apostrophes – there’s not enough in your post
Thanks for the advice Neil.

Here you go. ‘ ‘

😆

An amusing name change and a look at my profile? You, sir, do me proud.