Do I want floating rotors and braided hoses?

I’m about to order some new Hope brakes, and I’m trying to decide about the options. My Google Fu is crap, and I can’t seem to find weights for the Hope 183mm floating and normal rotors, are the floaters lighter? Any other advantages to them?

What’s the consensus on braided hoses, better braking or waffle?

braided hoses are no better than normal..look nice though if thats your bag….floating rotors go ting….

You may well want them, they will make precisely **** all difference to your riding, but your mates may well be impressed.

In terms of weight, your talking grams. The few sets of Hopes I’ve had, had braided hoses but they were nice & solid, although so are the Avids I’ve had. (After bleeding. Oh, lots of bleeding. Hell yes.)

If weight is your concern, you don’t want braided hoses they are around 70g heavier for an average length pair of hoses than normal ones, plus braided hoses make **** all difference.

get coloured hoses from Superstar…..

You may well want them, they will make precisely **** all difference to your riding, but your mates may well be impressed.

LOL.

So neither “upgrade” actually makes any tangible difference to the performance of the brakes, and indeed the hoses are heavier? What?

braided hoses are better protected so won’t get gashed, crack or damaged as easily

Braided hoses are a waste of time and I have one on my rear brake. Floating rotors seem to work a little better, look a lot better and make a nice tinging noise.

Yes…the mtb world is full of lots of expensive products that make **** all difference, really.

I have worked in the trade…

and indeed the hoses are heavier? What?

Do you really need that explaining to you?

No, Kingtut, no need to be patronising.

I was expressing surprise that they charge more for these “upgrades” that apparently don’t do anything positive.

Some people feel they make sod-all difference, some people say they provide a more on/off feel (due to the lack of expanding hose), others say they provide better protection in case of a crash.

No, Kingtut, no need to be patronising.

I was expressing surprise that they charge more for these “upgrades” that apparently don’t do anything positive.

Hmm Ok, not how I read your post though.

I’ve just had hope X2’s with braided hoses and floating rotors fitted to my Soul. Not sure on weight or performance but they look bloody marvellous and compliment the general high tech feel of the brakes. The rest of my bike suddenly looks a bit old.

Floating rotors dissipate heat better, braided hoses are more supple (better for routing in GGGGnarly slopestyle fashion) but unless you are rocking tailwhips down alpine trails, or mincing alluringly on the catwalk, you probably won’t notice muc difference, but for a sense of acheivement at spending more money on posh bits.

Floating rotors dissipate heat better,

How? And why does this make it a better brake?

Of course you need them.

They look good and the hoses are more flexible so go for it.

A lot cheaper to start then to upgrade later on…..

I noticed a difference between standard rotor & Hope floaters… about £20 & clearance issues… Bling is the thing though. 😉

Braided hoses, they do last longer, given you ride hard enough, crash enough because of it & don’t want to keep replacing.

I noticed no difference in braking performance when I replaced a broken standard one with a braided one – they are clearly tougher though. The weight is hardly an issue for me really though – I’d probably get them if I was planning to crash a lot 🙂

I changed my old Avid discs to Hope floaters and they work a whole lot better – just feels like I have more stopping power. No idea why but I do – and they do go ‘ting’ when they cool down after a big stop 🙂

183 floating rotor is slightly lighter. 160 weighs the same. Main difference is looks better

Oh yeah, I have floating rotors too, but only coz dey iz well pimp innit. I want gold ones though. 🙂

Waffle – go ride / stop worrying about kit.

NO point I sold my braided goodridge hoses on here and stuck bog standard hoses on my Shimano brakes, which I had in the spares box! I got 30 quid back on my brakes and they worked the same. I enjoyed the night out with the money a lot more than someone saying “ooooooo you have braided hoses made by goodridge” I don’t like the look of them anyway, trying to be a bit too motocross IMO. I never really noticed a difference on my motocross bikes when I once put some on. Since that it sort of put me against them Ha.

As for the discs well they are supposed to spread the heat over the entire disc better and dispel the heat better. Again I have XTR discs on my bike which are floating. the other bike as the same disc brakes but with a more standard less fancy Shimano rotor and the brakes don’t feel as good with the floating rotors on.

The answer is NO, you don’t need these at all! If you were Steve Peat then maybe they might be of some use for the ever and I mean ever so slight difference they would make to someone of that level. Plus he would get them for nowt too!

jivehoneyjive – Member

Floating rotors dissipate heat better,

Nope – what they do is are less prone to warping if got very hot as the braking track can float on the buttons and thus expand.

floating rotors help save weight on motorbikes.

(the disc is steel, the carrier is aluminium)

they make sod-all difference to a mountain bike.

but they do look nice.

As above, they look good and if you regularly damage hoses, then braided may be worthwhile (do people really damage hoses? I guess I’m not gnarlcore enough but in almost 15 years I’ve never damaged a hose…)

I have some bikes with braided hoses, some without, some mixed. Also some bikes with floating rotors, some without. No functional, real world difference.

Often the hoses get pinched when using triple crown forks, and the legs crush the hose against the frame.

You need them!

As mentioned, the braided hoses are more flexible. This means that they can be routed closer to the frame, making a tidier installation. ie. less of a loop at the bars and (on a full suspension) possibly a neater frame to swingarm crossing. Also on the full suspension they move and flex with the suspension movement so much better.

Floating discs? Disc can move under braking to retain perfect alignment and have a slight weight saving. Possible negative is that if you bend one, they are almost impossible to straighten.

Imho they both look “loads” better, and the discs make a cool tinging noise as they cool down 🙂

TandemJeremy is correct, they are less proned to warping as the metal used in the centre is stronger… hence less warping.

Probably not worth it on 160mm rotors but 200mm are a lot more prone to warping.

You need ’em, cos they iz pimp… innit!

Braided hose is far more resistant to crimping and trail damage,
Floating rotors may have issues with stanchion clearance depending upon your combination of hub/fork.

Both look good though and that’s the main thing 😀

jivehoneyjive – Member

Floating rotors dissipate heat better,

Nope – what they do is are less prone to warping if got very hot as the braking track can float on the buttons and thus expand.

teej, I was hoping jhj had discovered something new..

I reckon extra hose flexibility sounds like a genuine improvement. Only thing that puts me off is not having matching gear cables. I don’t think I’ve ever warped a rotor.

Yes, you do.

I upgraded to Goodridge hoses on a set of Hayes brakes. Huge difference. But then OEM Hayes hoses were crap and one burst on me 🙁

The real question for this thread is why you’re buying Hope brakes tbh.

Because Hope brakes look nice! why would there be any other reason to buy Hope brakes?

Only thing that puts me off is not having matching gear cables.

Just replaced my gear cables with the Goodridge clear jobs which show the braided weave through the plastic cover. Quite unplanned but they match my Hope braided hoses really well – not identical but pretty close

Edit. I went for braided brake hoses because they MAY be slightly better and more resistant to damage, and the floating rotors because they look great and match my red Hope hubs etc

coz dey iz well pimp innit.

cos they iz pimp… innit!

Funny echo in here….. 😛