I’m trying to decide which would be the best brakes to go for – between Hope X2 or E4’s and trying to find info to help between the two (and no, not going for anything else). I’m between 70-75kg (training hard my weight dips to 70-ish, couch potato mode and it’s 75 🙂 )
On my HT i’ve got a pair of mini monos 180/160 and they’ve served me well, I tend to ride pretty fast, no huge dropping off stuff, just hit the trail and go for a couple of hours. Love them – the lever even saved me losing a digit or two when a car hit me. bomb proof!
I’m upgrading the brakes on my other bike, a full sus which had some avid carbons, they stopped me “ok” but could never get them to feel sharp compared to the hopes on the HT, they always left me thinking they’re just a bit ‘meh’…so got rid of them.
I’ve now got 180/160 rotors ready and trying to decide whether E4 would be best or the X2’s given my weight – as they are similar to the mini’s ( sort of updated version). I know some swear by the former, and I can see the advantage given the full sus has that ‘hit stuff harder’ feel about it which may warrant a bit more stopping power – but I’ve never felt I needed more on the HT and is there really a significant improvement in stopping with E4’s over X2’s? (I always felt the grip on the treads would give before the brakes fail on my HT)
I’m leaning towards X2’s but not 100%

And then there’s the braided or not malarky…!

Don’t bother with braided on X2s or E4’s.

No point and it’s quite a lot of added weight, they are nice on a DH bike and do improve the lever feel.

If you go with X2’s go with the race models as they offer more power. The Tech E4’s will offer good power if you want the adjustable levers. Have you thought about some Guide RSC’s or Ultimates? They are getting rave reviews.

IMO if I were to choose out of the Hopes, I’d go with the Tech E4’s without the braided hose line.

75kg isn’t heavy 🙂

Mmmm imo you can’t be over braked. Never thought it made much difference but I now run 203/180 on all my ‘xc’ bikes.
Run with a light and powerful brakeset (martas but u can’t get them any more)

Really helps me dump speed and stops any thoughts of overheating, I’m only 10 St btw

(I’m too out of touch with how this relates to current hopes)

Lol… I stopped growing up when I was young 🙂

Yeah, I’m off the school of thought that you can’t be over braked. My next setup is going to be XTR Race levers married to Zee calipers.

Im a Hope man myself. I ran a Mono M4 front, Mini rear on my old HT. Now run Tech 3 E4s (they are really good)on the full suss, that`s in the North lakes.

If you don`t have steep hills (like us) then the X2s will be just fine. if you ride a few steep fairly long descents then the E4.s

Unbraided, E4 front, X2 rear both race levers. Job jobbed! You don’t pay much of a weight penalty for the E4 calipers.

I run hope v2 203/183 on both my bikes. Again, I believe you can never be over braked. I’m also a fan of braided hoses and think powerful brakes are worth a little extra weight.

In your shoes, I’d be fitting e4 braided. Why not?

What nick said. Either that or just X2 f&r. It’s plenty for my 90kg even on proper steep stuff. I’d probably take an e4 up front if my average descents were longer.

Unbraided, E4 front, X2 rear both race levers. Job jobbed! You don’t pay much of a weight penalty for the E4 calipers.

Yep, there’s only a matter of grams between them to be honest…a chocolate bar in the pack covers that difference! and when you factor in that it’s on a bike that’s already laden with sus links then a few extra grams is, well, not worth worrying over 🙂

I’m pretty much the same as you shiato, 70kg, very steep terrain, is E4 calliper that much different than X2 on the front?

The E4s are awesome!

Nickc – E4’s are double piston, X2’s are single. As a result they look a little chunkier. Guess I’m used to the sleeker looking single pistons. What are you running?

I have 2 sets of e4,s one set of m4’s, one set of x2 and a set of x2 race. Picking I would pretty much always pick the e4’s because they just work and feel amazing. The x2’s are very good but lack the power of the e4’s and the x2 race are my least favourite. They definitely don’t feel like they have more power than the x2 and the lever doesn’t feel as good as the the tech lever. I always pick braided just because they look good. I can’t say the braided feels any different or improves the brake though But I’m not really bothered if they weigh a bit more. I think good brakes give you more confidence to push harder knowing you can stop faster if it all goes wrong. The modulation on hopes is also second to none and again helps with confidence.

X2 front and back with braided hoses 180/160.

I have 2 sets of e4,s one set of m4’s, one set of x2 and a set of x2 race. Picking I would pretty much always pick the e4’s because they just work and feel amazing. The x2’s are very good but lack the power of the e4’s and the x2 race are my least favourite. They definitely don’t feel like they have more power than the x2 and the lever doesn’t feel as good as the the tech lever. I always pick braided just because they look good. I can’t say the braided feels any different or improves the brake though But I’m not really bothered if they weigh a bit more. I think good brakes give you more confidence to push harder knowing you can stop faster if it all goes wrong. The modulation on hopes is also second to none and again helps with confidence.

Sounds like a reasonable comparison having all of them to play with. Cheers for that.

People still buy Hope brakes?!

Didnt know they existed.

SLX or XT all day long with BIG rotors (203/180 rear)

Hora’s right (but I know that’s not what you asked OP).

I have M4 on one bike. Had X2 last year but they’re replaced with XT. All have 203mm / 180mm.

The XT are far nicer than any Hopes I’ve had over the years. Lever shape, power, maintenance…

75kg. Heavy! 😆

hora – Member
People still buy Hope brakes?!

Didnt know they existed.

SLX or XT all day long with BIG rotors (203/180 rear)

POSTED 7 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
makecoldplayhistory – Member
Hora’s right (but I know that’s not what you asked OP).

I have M4 on one bike. Had X2 last year but they’re replaced with XT. All have 203mm / 180mm.

The XT are far nicer than any Hopes I’ve had over the years. Lever shape, power, maintenance…
I have tech M4’s from back in 2011/12 and the other bike has XT’s on, not sure what all the fuss is about, still prefer the hopes. Was expecting some sort of evangelical experience based on what people on here were raving about but they were functional and decent not much more. Prefer the feel of the hopes any day.

tbh Just moving up a rotor size makes a serious amount of difference. When I lived down south I ran a 160/140 combo, now in Scotland I’m on 180/180.

After trashing a pair of x2’s (rock damage to both calipers) on my HT I bought a set of SLX’s cheap thru Merlin. The SLX’s just work.

On the FS I bought late last year it came with Formula R1’s, and while they are very light and powerful they are quite ‘needy’ in ensuring that the pads don’t rub with even slightly iffy rotors.

Although your weight is average, or even considerably less than the typical STW’er i’d get the best brakes you can as i dont think you can be over braked.

For the shimano v hope argument, ive got both on different bikes and prefer the hopes by miles. Seriously underwhelmed by the xt’s after the rave reviews on here. Good for the money yes, but nowhere near as good as the hopes in tems of performance or quality

I have Race Evo M4 on one bike and Tech 3 E4 on the other. They’re really good brakes – in another league to Shimanos for modulation. They feel less powerful as they first grip the disc but then the power starts to ramp up more and more and more. Built to last and bloody easy to bleed. I don’t think you can compare them to the Deore end of Shimano because the price gap is so big but for XT/XTR/Saint money then I’d always go with Hope.

I prefer the Tech 3 lever because the bite point adjustment works really well and having a knob rather than needing an Allen key for reach adjust is easier. The older Tech lever apparently isn’t quite as powerful.

People still buy Hope brakes?!

I never touched my Hope brakes in six years of riding bar changing the (sintered) pads twice.

My replacement Shimano SLX are stupidly powerful but lose that bite quite quickly, need bleeding once a year, and can be a bit inconsistent on feel.

If I had the money, I’d buy Hope every time.

Think I was 75kg last when i was in my teens !! I’ve got E4’s now and they are fantastic

I’ve gone with braided as I’m not arsed about the weight, but It certainly makes a huge difference

I’m also a Hope man I run a Tech 2 X2s, braided hoses on my HT, Tech 3 E4s on my Whyte T-130 Works FS.

Both bikes have 180/180 rotors with floating ones on the FS, not sure they make any difference but LBS fitted them for the same price as non-floating.

I know that Shimano are cheaper and work as well, depending on how much you value feel, but they aren’t serviceable, the only problems I’ve ever had with disc brakes have been with Shimano (and some very old Codas).

I believe the process for shortening standard hoses is pretty straight forward, what’s it like with braided?

you can’t be over braked.

Ahem….

These (Formula The Ones) had too much power for me. I only wanted to slow down a bit – not stop dead (100kg riding DH)

you couldn’t modulate the power with those at all?

I’m 69kg, and run 203/180mm saints at either end. Total overkill in the UK, but incredibly confidence inspiring after long (20min+) descents in the Alps etc)

One advantage of running twin pots is you get a much bigger area of pad material, and hence can run a softer grade material which has a nicer “cold” bite (ie, a high static co-efficient of friction). That extra material also means the wear down a bit slower ime.

my mini’s don’t seem to have worn much at all and I think I only changed pads once in all the years I’ve had them…!

I’ve always had hopes and swapped the shimano slx that came on a used bike I bought as they were just to on/off for me.

Having said that Ive never been able to get the lever to bite as quickly as I’d like it to on the hopes. Definitely getting all the air out of the tubes,then Do all tricks like the tapping the caliper, putting the lever vertical and pumping followed by topping up the fluid and rolling on the diaphragm and still even when you wind the adjust right back in the lever goes through most of its travel before coming solid.

The modulation is great and ultimately the power is fine, but just like them to bite quicker.

The problem will all bike brakes is the fact they cannot really use spring assisted pistons or low springback seals, unlike the hydraulic brakes in your car. (because any pad/disc contact or drag is too much!)

As such, the bite point is a trade off between clearance to cope with bent discs, poorly aligned calipers and mud/dirt shedding etc.

Shimano stuff uses “servo wave” that attempts to have a modified lever ratio, aiming to quickly take up the clearance at a (numerically)low ratio, then gradually ramp that ratio up to bring sufficient leverage to minimise maximum lever loads for any given caliper clamp load etc

Add in all the factors surrounding pad material (it’s static co-efficient of friction, it’s dynamic CoF, it’s temperature constant etc) and it all gets very difficult to compare different brands of brake system, that all have slightly different compromises in their execution.

you couldn’t modulate the power with those at all?

I could, and they were very adjustable and a nice shape, but have you felt how strong they are when fully on? It is ridiculous and way more than my front tyre could deal with at times (i’m not really a tyre swapper and i couldn’t be arsed with the hassle of setting getting the perfect front tyre and adjusting the brakes to suit the conditions). I don’t think there’s much point in having brakes that you can’t use fully and still remain in control a bit. On longer runs, when my arms would tire, any braking finesse went out the window and they became less like brakes and more like a stop button. I weirdly (on here at least) prefer Avids because at full whammy, they’re not anchors unless i want them to be.

Ha, yeah. I never got on with my Avids…might be something to do with that ‘not really stopping quite as quick as I’d like’ feeling 😉

Interestingly I just had a look at the shimano brakes – they’re so cheap! Trying to find reviews about the lower end, thinking I could replace the crappy V’s on g/fs bike! 🙂

I’ve got Hope Tech Evo V4s on the bouncy bike with braided hoses and dual vented floating discs at 203mm at both ends and weigh about 17.5 stone now in riding kit/pack. Got them vaguely warm on an Alpine off piste decent and one or two UK descents/ uplift days.
On the hardtail I run some Clarkes SX Skeletals, 180mm/160mm discs and whilst they got very warm/blue on say Long Mynd descents as they’re exactly the same as Maguras they work fine, they modulate fine and most importantly stop my bike adequately and they were only £25 an end with discs and mounting hardware!!!!!!!!!
I also have a 29er HT with Deores on and icicle discs and love the lever shape compared to the Clarkes but until they die I’m not replacing them with more Deores or SLX.
So what I’m trying to say is buy to what you want to budget for and what you’re going to mainly ride the bike on and don’t get hung up about your weight!

haha, lol. yeah far point. I do have a little way to go before I hit 17 stone…not without trying though! burger and chips night tonight 🙂