Getting my Wife some Hope brakes for Christmas, but I’m torn between two sets.

I’m thinking Hope Tech 3 E4 might be a bit overkill, so wondering if the Tech 3 X2 would be better suited?

She’s only small and doesn’t weigh much.

Anyone got experience with the two?

X2 are a lot less powerful than the m4. I have m4 on my nomad, chameleon and trance and x2 on my anthem. I don’t need need any more power than the x2 on an xc bike as they are still really powerful just not as powerful as the m4’s on my other bikes. I imagine the x2 will be perfect for a lighter rider.

E4s.

There will come a time when you’re planning another build for yourself and her E4s will be ideal, those old Deores you have in the back of the garage somewhere will be ample for her bike.

Tech3-E4 is on the wife’s mountain bike. She has Tech Evo-X2 on her commuter. Both good brakes but if you’re torn between the two, I can’t see why the X2 would get a look in.

Tech3-E4 all the way.

I meant I have E4’s not M4’s in my comments above.

Oh don’t worry, I’ll be getting some E4’s on mine eventually too!

Pretty conclusive then, just go for the E4. Hers will be Orange, mine will be Purple 🙂

E4’s will probably be overkill but because of the amazing modulation it won’t matter.
2 of my sets are purple and they look brilliant.

Nice one, good to hear andysredmini.

She has XT M785’s at the moment and several bleeds haven’t solved the wandering lever travel on them.

As above if price difference is relatively small get the E4 then you can share pads. A mate has the 2 pots and we have to stop regularly on Alps descents for them to cool, appreciate the wife may not care about this but for max flex get the E4’s. If you wamt to save £ just spend £100 on Deore’s

I went from dual piston Formula’s to quad piston E4’s. The E4’s are a worthy upgrade but it’s not like they’re ridiculously powerful. However the modulation on them is excellent, which is what makes a good brake good. It’s not like I touch them and the wheels instantly lock up. My riding mate has a set of older Hope twin dual pots (I guess an older version of X2’s) and they are perfectly adequate in holding up a burly lad on a burly bike so don’t make the mistake in thinking they are ‘not powerful’. They are, more than powerful enough. So either would do.

My enduro had hope x2 rear a e4 front with race evo levers and never felt lacking

Price difference is probably about £15-£20 for the pair, so nothing in it really.

Jambalaya, that’s a fair point with the pads. Means I could bulk buy and always have spares for us both.

Having never used them, I do like the sound of decent modulation. I find Shimano a bit sharp and grabby.

I wouldn’t bulk buy pads unless they are genuine hope organic. Worst thing you can do is buy cheap aftermarket pads like superstar. They will completely ruin the feel of the brakes. I gave up on them after having multiple sets where the friction material separated from the back plate. They also felt like the friction material was made of wood. Terrible. A set of genuine hope organic lasts long enough that the few £££ saved isn’t worth it.

Surely all the aftermarket pads aren’t all that bad though? I don’t mind buying genuine but is there any decent alternatives for these?

The only good aftermarket pads I have found are ebc but that was a while back. I gave up trying and only buy genuine hope now. For the small saving and how long they last it’s not worth it for me. After having some aftermarket pads fail it makes you think about what could of happened if they had failed somewhere steep/fast/dangerous. I’m sure there are good ones out there though but I’m not wasting any more money to find out.

That’s a fair point andysredmini. They’re always fine right up until they’re not.

I’ll bear that in mind.

Ive just changed from 3 or 4 year old shimano xt 785 brakes to Hope Tech3 E4 brakes.

I’ve only just been for a ride up and down the street so far, attempting to bed them in,but at the moment they dont feel any where near as good as the shimano’s.

I’m hoping its just because theyre not fully bedded in yet….rather than them just not being as good.

They are also an absolute pain to get lined up straight, so far I’m wondering if changing to these was a mistake – they do look nice though.

Keep with em, I wasn’t overwhelmed with my Race EVO e4 when I got mine. But once bedded in and ridden further they really do gain the power,even in th same ride. Thought they were so good I bought a pair for my.fat bike.

Julians, that’s not an uncommon comment. Hope brakes feel very different to shimano. The was a time when some suspension/bike manufacturers were tuning forks for the showroom floor and not the trail, or it certainly felt like that.

Up and down the road outside your house, the shimano will feel more “powerful” however, once the Hope are set up and bedded in, riding them on a trail will reveal how good they really are.

Yeah, ill give them a fair go, they get great reviews.

They are starting to bed in now,after a few miles riding up and down the road, and are starting to feel quite powerful.

Theyre incredibly sensitive to being installed perfectly though,you really do have to follow the instructions to the letter,paying particular attenion to aligning the caliper and ensuring the pads contact the rotor at the same time

The old shimanos were juat bolt on and go

I run X2s on my HT and E4s on my FS and they both work brilliantly. As I’m on the larger side (90kg + kit) I run 180 rotors on both ends on both bikes with a floating rotor on the front of both.

At BPW (twice this year once very wet and once very nearly dry) and I didn’t need more than the E4s although i was only doing blues and reds.

Regarding aftermarket pads have a look at Rahox. They are very very good.

Soooooo, how long do these hope e4 brakes typically need to get bedded in?The hope manual does say a few ‘rides’.

Done a few off road and steepish miles on them now, and whilst they are much better than when they were first fitted, and I have tweaked lever position and bite point to suit me, they require quite a lot of force on the lever to get a decent amount of retardation.

Off to antur stiniog of sunday, if they’re not performing perfectly by the end of that day, I reckon I’ll be ditching them and going back to my old shimano xt 785’s.

They do sort of feel like that compared to shimano, shimano have the servo-wave which means the braking is more progressive.

Finally got my (latest) e4s set up nicely today – I resorted to throwing a small shim under each caliper to lift them a slight tough higher and that solved all my woes.

Quick 2 mile ride today – with a very muddy and steep drop back down to the house seems to have them working with a nice bit of power now (bit of an endo moment!). Runnning 200mm front, 180mm rear and they are currently feeling stronger than my old set which will be transplanted onto the hardtail before the old bouncy bikes gets stripped and sold on (also 200/180).

The new ones are red, this may be why they feel better 😉

Why do you think lifting them a bit higher has improved them?

So, after a day at antur these are now bedded in nicely and producing decent stoppping power.

Theyre about the same as the old 785 shimano xt i was running in terms of power,but modulation is better.

All in all, they are an improvement on the old xts, but its not a massive improvment and im not sure theyre really worth the extra cash over the old xts.

The argument between hope and shimano isn’t really about the power. Give it a couple of weeks then try some horrible grabby shimano. Saying that I always find that shimano have a limited amount of power no matter how hard you squeeze whereas hope keep giving more and more.

Why has it improved them?

Well the wheels now actually spin around 😉 I think the rotor was fouling on the calliper body, so lifting them a fraction of a mm has freed it up nicely 🙂

It may be down to using a Shimano Icetech rotor… but either way it should all be 203mm, so I am putting it down to a slight error in the calliper. The previous Shimano brakes were spot on, and the spacer I moved off another bike was fine with the same size rotors (that was also on Shimano calliper).

Really good brakes though once you have got them just right! I then NEVER TOUCH THEM AGAIN!