It’s time to upgrade my 6 year-old Hope Minis. I’ve got the X2 Evo on my other bike so I know they’re good. My current top contender is the latest Hopetech 3 X2 Evo on the basis that Hope improve their product with each new version. I also feel that all the shops seem to love Hope and have the spares. Have any of you go the latest X2’s – what do you think. Also – am I being a luddite by restricting my choice to Hope?

I was thinking of going back to Hope after a hiatus.

Been using Hayes Stroker Grams which, to be fair, have been excellent, surviving being dragged down Alps with no complaints. But got itchy fingers and fancy a change.

The main draw being spares availability, The Tech 3 X2’s are top of the list here too.

Might wait til ive seen a few reviews though.

Yeah – so who’s got some Tech 3’s then – are they as good or better than the previous X2 Evo? C’mon guys – only one response so far!

I’ve not got anything newer than tech EVO brakes but if I was buying new brakes, it would be something from hope. I’m sold on that customer back up, availability of spares and the massive amount of modulation you get from their brakes.

Shimano are great value for money but I find them a bit wooden and grabby by comparison.

I changed my Tech4’s to Formula RO’s recently and it’s a night/day comparison. So much more power that I’ve got loads more confidence to carry more speed. The old Formula’s were a bit lacking on modulation but the RO’s have great mod and the levers just feel nicer too. They also look less industrial..
Got mine from Merlin, £280 full set including rotors and adaptors…
http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/brakes/disc-brakes/formula-disc-brakes-1/formula-r0-disc-brakes-front-rear-set.html

Get yourself to Halfords Hope Techwith an extra 10% off this weekend.

D.

x2 for Halfords. 30% off + another 10% this weekend. I love Hope and am very tempted myself but the Deore on my new bike are very good so I can’t spend the cash. 🙁

I’m sure you’d be happy if you went for Hope again and they are a fantastic company but their brakes don’t really have any advantages over the competition like they used to IMO. I would go for Formula for the lightest package, great feel and power but occasionally temperamental (no worse than the Hope I had though) or go for XTR for great value, amazing power, perhaps less aesthetically pleasing (not that I think the newer Hope’s look as pretty as they used to) but so reliable and trouble free to use you can just get on an ride without messing around too often.

Never felt lacking for power with hope (currently M4 Techs) some things may be more powerful but not felt need for it. No need to lock wheels 99% of the time and it’s mostly counter productive. Tried some of the reportedly more powerful brakes and they just seem to be grabby as hell.

Add in the fact that Hope will support their brakes for years then it’s a winner.

Upgraded from Magura to Formula R1s’s a few months ago.

I like them

Sorry to hijack the post. I’m looking to upgrade some stock avid 1s on my norco and have used some Shimano Slx and liked them, and was looking to buy a set of them. Do you think those Hope stealths would be an improvement?

Thanks in advance

Don’t think they’ll be any more powerful but they are lovely things to own. My Deore brakes are functional items, as would be SLX but the Hope’s would make your bike feel upgraded, if that makes sense?

I love Hope brakes and how they feel but must admit the current Shimano ones are very, very good.

Shimano XT with ice tech rotors. Awesome brakes and easy to setup. Done Alps & scotland no issues!

Formulas in my experience have been the worst for reliability out of Hopes and Shimano. They need a tonne of loving care and attention compared to the other two, not to sure about the reliability of some of the newer brakes like the R1 and R0 but the amount of times we had seized pistons and blown seals in the levers of previous brakes beggared belief…. the newer levers don’t work great if you like to run the bite point close to the bars either.

Yes I thought you’d say something like that. I has some 02s on my Ornate crush a few years back and they definitely felt like I had upgraded. Function and form over stock Shimanos

Thanks for all the replies. My feeling is that I’ve had the Hope Minis new in early 2008. They’ve been on various bikes and they’ve been pretty damn reliable and feel good. I’ve had X2 Evos on my Salsa for 18 months and they feel like a worthwhile step up from the Minis. Yes the Formulas look great and are tempting but I know the Hopes will be pretty hassle free. I see tons of posts complaining about problems with other brakes but almost never Hopes so I guess i’ll go for Hope.

The question is whether to go for the latest Tech 3 re-design though.

*Orange*

Sorry for making a slight hi-jack but how does the model line up work? Which is the right model for a heavy bloke doing trail / all mountain?

Having experienced the benefits of hope wheels I’m interested to try their brakes for longevity and reliability.

You’ll be wanting the multiple pot versions and bigger rotors. I ride X2 183mm front/160mm rear. You might want M4 or V4 with 203/183. If you’re looking to prioritise power over feel and modulation then you might even look at the competion too. I’n omly familar with Hopes myself so I’m not got any reccommendations about that.

xt

Very impressed with race stealth X2 model when I had a go – Tempted to get rid of the XT brakes which are great when they’re working but I’ve had some issues with pads

I feel a bit annoyed with Hope because their products have never allowed me to take advantage of their great customer service

Run Hopes in various guises for over 10 years and never had a problem

Even when my own clumsiness meant I broke something I was always able to source parts, instructions and replacements. Never had to throw anything away because it couldn’t be fixed, from levers, seals, pistons

never had to throw anything away because it couldn’t be fixed

That is the reason I’m swaying toward Hope. Though Xtr is very tempting.

I’ve had hope all my cycling career but have just gone for some XT brakes. It was rude not to at £62.99 a pop.

Very impressed with them so far. Yes they lack the machined quality of hope and aren’t rebuild able but feel more powerful and are such better value for money.

I’ll still probably buy hope in the future as they have always been great after sales as well.

Does anyone know if there is a new brake in the pipeline or is the tech 3 the new one?

I’ve never owned a set of hope brakes, always really liked the look of them and appreciated the whole British made thing and the seemingly good after sales service. However, looking through the (many!) various options is a bit bewildering to say the least! Stealth,Tech,Evo X,V, 2,3,4 etc!
Dont want to take this thread down another “Hope vs Shimano” route but xtr seems a far simpler option.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

Most of the changes are in relation to the lever (is my understanding)

Calipers are 2 or 4 pot. In terms of size the range is X2 M4 V2 V4 with x2 being lightest

Levers are tech, tech Evo and tech 3. Stealth is a cut down lighter tech Evo

I may be wrong on some of this

Models that were current before Tech3 came out:

Caliper power goes: X2 -> M4 -> V4 (basically XC/AM/DH)
Lever power goes: Tech Evo -> Race Evo (bigger lever more adjustment vs smaller lever less adjustment)

You can’t use Race levers with V4 because they don’t move enough fluid. Race lever moving less fluid is what makes it more powerful because the pads don’t move as far for the same amount of level movement, so more mechanical advantage. Stealth is Evo but with black bits rather than green bits – performance is identical. Non-Evo levers are 15% less powerful, like going down a bit less than half a disc size.

Race Evo M4 are truly amazing brakes – the difference in modulation vs Shimanos is obvious when I compare the amount of skidding going on around me to what my tyres are doing and I’m sure it’s not because I have some magic brake skillz. The power is there but it ramps up as you squeeze harder instead of being comparatively all or nothing. Feels like my bike has ABS!

You can’t use Race levers with V4 because they don’t move enough fluid. Race lever moving less fluid is what makes it more powerful because the pads don’t move as far for the same amount of level movement, so more mechanical advantage. Stealth is Evo but with black bits rather than green bits – performance is identical. Non-Evo levers are 15% less powerful, like going down a bit less than half a disc size.

You can if you do a bodge job on them…they’ve got so much travel because the V4’s are designed to take the thicker vented disk.

Anyway, the adjustments make the tech levers worth it…. the bite point adjustment actually works – unlike Shimano’s.

I’ve got a set of m4 tech evos and I think the power is pretty low to average compared to some other brands I’ve tried eg avid or formula. That said, its a 180mm tech evo that I’ve got, sounds like the 200mm race evo m4s or 200mm v4s would give more power

Will you be selling your old minis- could be interested in the rear one to put on my dads bike – if it still works of course 🙂

In answer to your question – Tech x2 is lovely
Iv also just started using some formula RX on another bike – they are nice too

A 203mm rotor would give you a 20 percent power increase over the 180mm rotor JK.

The tech 3 lever should bring the power much closer to the race model anyway.

There’s not much point in going with the M4’s now the V4 is out. The V2s disks used to be very very heavy….the V4’s run the same disk as the M4 so you’ll have the same rotating weight…whilst the callipers are not that much different in terms of weight….although the steel braided hose adds a considerable heft to the set up…put some kevlar braided hose on instead and the weights would be roughly comparable.

I’ve heard something like a 20 percent increase in power for the V4’s over the V2’s, which considering the V2’s were already almost as powerful as a set of R0’s would certainly make them one of if not the most powerful brake on the market. The V2’s weak point in terms of weight versus some other brakes was made up by it’s ridiculous amounts of fade and boiling resistance, something that has apparently carried over to the V4 despite there being less material in the disk.

So what about the braided hoses – is there a big advantage? I’ve got me on both my Minis and my X2 Evo never done a comparison with the plain hose.

My steel ones feel a little bit more intuitive to modulate over standard kevlar hoses (I’m not sure about the 5 layer superstar hoses though), I don’t care about 100 grams and I’m a bling whore…the silver goes well with the bike.

Rotating weight is where it’s at, along with mass at either end of the bike….. mass that is mostly central (ie brake lines) I don’t care for much.

So let’s get this straight. Is Chiefgrooveguru saying the Race version is more powerful than the X2 Evo? I wasn’t aware of that. I must say I like the aesthetics of the Race much better than the new version of the X2 so if the Race really has more power then I’d spend the extra dosh.