Hope Tech RX4+ Brake Caliper review

The Hope Tech RX4+ caliper is a great solution to the road and gravel rider looking for more braking power, better lever feel and beautiful machined c …

By ben_haworth

Get the full story here:

Hope Tech RX4+ Brake Caliper review

Can confirm good looks.

Can also confirm excellent stopping power, tested yesterday morning when a driver failed to notice me approaching at close to 40mph before pulling out of a side road.

I’m mixed on these at the moment. I picked up a rear RX4+ when my Shimano caliper started micro leaking. Got it to the point it could lock the wheel if needed / decent braking power but the lever always bit slightly later biting then the front Shimano one left. I think it’s harder to get a good bleed on the Hope rear than the front. But overall happy with it.

Changed frame and picked up a front to get it all matching (plus front moved from post to flat mount with the change). Did the faffing about to get it all bled and working. For 4 rides they were utterly awesome – could stoppie the bike whilst sitting down – the front had so much power.

Then suddenly I had a leak from where the hose goes into the caliper adapter (olive and Barb connection) for no apparently reason. Everything was still tight and when I took it apart it looked like it had all gone together correctly.

Pads and dura ace rotors all contaminated – I’ve tried cleaning the rotor and sanding / blow torching the pads but although some power has come back there’s less bite and a bit of a howl. Going to clean the rotors and caliper again and put in new pads as I guess mine are written off (blue ones – but have the spare red ones that also came with the caliper).

I then found the back lost a load of power – had a look and the backing of one pad at one end was wet. I’ve blow torched / sanded / cleaned at that end and seems to be working fine now so keeping an eye on it to see if there is a leak. Fingers crossed there isn’t – otherwise it’s coming off again and I’ll have to work out how to fit new piston seals etc as there is no sign of a leak from any connectors.

I’ve got 4 sets of them (2 RX4 and 2 RX4+ – all Shimano)  and am very happy with all of them.  The set on my commuter have been utterly abused and are still working well after 30000km in all weathers.

It is difficult to bleed them, especially with internal routing and short exit hoses near the calliper.  I’m almost tempted to fill the calliper first, then block it and do the reservoir and hose separately and connect them.

In fact, I often catch Rhys fondling my brake lever in sheer envy of the sharp bite point and consistent lever throw.

*giggles*

Anyone using this with a SRAM setup who can comment on improvements?

I have Apex on my CX bike. I’m the wrong side of 90kg and have been underwhelmed by the stopping power.

It’s the ease of setup that’s put me off these so far-do I have the patience for a good bleed and alignment?

It’s the ease of setup that’s put me off these so far-do I have the patience for a good bleed and alignment?

I have the original RX4s and didn’t find the setup difficult at all bar the fact that my frame was ancient & I had to bodge together a suitable mount for the front from my spares box! (reading the tech notes on the Hope site sounds like they have a much bigger variety of mounts/adapters now so hopefully wouldn’t be a problem these days!)

Although my frame isn’t internally routed, but I didn’t find the bleeding process difficult at all 🤷‍♂️ (in fact had to do it twice as I made the hose way too long the first time 🤦‍♂️)

i have rx4+ on my cutthroat – been great brakes , faff to bleed but no more than doing a good job on the ultegras on my road bike tbh.

SRAM Force here, RX4+ calipers. Noticeably better both feel and power than the 105 levers and calipers they replaced.

I’m informed that the rear was a PITA to bleed, but nothing my LBS couldn’t deal with 😊.

Anyone using this with a SRAM setup who can comment on improvements?

I have Apex on my CX bike

I’ve got bikes with apex, rival, force, and force/rx4+

Apex is terrible

Rival/force work well enough, not much between them, bit more power with force maybe

Force/rx4+ more power, more control

The bleed is faffy but not much more so than anything else. Replacing the hoses. That is faffy. Try not to need to do that.

Tim them on both my gravelbikes, one with rx 800 and one on reds and other than the noise have been faultless.  Brake feel is definitely better on the grx, but the sram levers are older and covered lots more mileage

 

I’ve run 160mm RX4+ (SRAM APEX) @ ~80KG and have been more than happy.

Recently swapped levers to SRAM RED, yes the bleed can be fairly involved, but I’d suggest that it’s nothing inherently troublesome, and that folks affinity for these kinds of tasks can vary wildly!

Agree that the bleed is more involved than shimano, but I actually found it more satisfying in a way. I find with Shimano it’s hard to tell if it’s bled properly until the process is done, but if you just stick with each step of the hope bleed until there’s no bubbles then it’s a done job.

I’ve found the feel of the brakes is a wee bit better, but the main thing is that these calipers are much less likelt to randomly start leaking and if they do there’s likely to be spares to fix it.