Clifton CC

Hello,

I have a full suspension frame which I am slowly building. I currently have some Avid Juicy 5s on another bike which drive me mad in particular when I try and change pads (as those on the Howgills trip may have noticed). So I was going to get some HOPE brakes, until I saw how much they cost. Are they really worth the money? My current inclination is to get a newer set of Avids for about half the price of the Hopes as I also need/want some new forks.

Thanks
Chris

Hope, hope, hope, hope, hope, hope, hope, hope, hope.

Is there another brand?!?!? Always Hope brakes (actually always Hope everything - if they make one, buy it). Easy to change pads, easy to line-up. Always work. No working one minute and having to pump them the next. I've got Avid Elixrs on the Trek and I hate them....the sooner I can spare some cash to get some decent brakes (Hope) the better. I've got Hope on my other bike, which I use infrequently - they don't seize up, they don't stop working etc., etc., etc., I hop on the bike and it all works. Hope all the way. Plus in the highly unusual event that you need something or something does break or whatever, ring them up, chat to them and they sort for you over the phone or replace/repair whatever needs doing. They're lovely people. Buy Hope.

Should I ask for commission from them?

We've 7 MTBs in the house and have Hope in 4 of them.

Advantages - you can easily get spares, easy to bleed, levers are fairly strong (you can gently bend them back after an off), they're British (if that bothers you), you'll learn lots about brake maintenance as you'll be stripping them down and re-building them lots!

Disadvantages - hard to keep centred when the pistons get mucky (requires piston rebuild), some very iffy quality/fasteners on the master cylinder (I had a master cylinder pop out on a ride in the lakes spilling seals,springs and fluid all over the fell), not that reliable (see above and I had a front brake fail completely on the E2E last year losing all fluid), way overpriced, pads are more fiddly to change than most.

A bit like BMW cars really, some people would buy a shopping trolley if it had a BMW badge on it. Hope are no better, or worse, than any others out there but are just overpriced. They aren't nicknamed 'Hopeless' amongst riders for no reason either.

Incidently the others I use are Magura - great feel, well made (they've been making hydraulic brakes for Motorbikes for years), fairly sealed so you can't rebuild easily and a nightmare to bleed; Hayes - good modulation, really easy to change pads, but you need a special kit to bleed them and the lever bushes wear really fast(difficult to find spares).

You might want to take a look at the latest XT and XTR brakes too as they've had some great reviews.

We have a number of MTB bikes in the family all with hydraulic discs, and I use Hope brakes on my own bikes. The others we use are Shimano (Deore and LX), Clarks S3 and Hayes Nine. We've also used Hayes Sole (stay well clear !).
All hydraulic brakes need to have the sliding walls of the pistons and corresponding seals kept clean to work properly, and eventually need a service / rebuild to clean them and put new seals on to stop them sticking. I've had to do this for all our brakes in roughly an equal amount - no more on the Hopes than any others. The Hopes work very well, I've never had any problems on the trails; very reliable, great modulation / feel, and easy servicing / available parts. Hope are well recommended and regarded for very good reasons !
Try buying second hand... I've bought all my Hope brakes on ebay - save yourself a fortune !
Steve

Ive had a pair of Avid juicy carbons since 2007. Keep telling myself that I need to buy some formulas or whatever but the juicy's just keep going on and on. In fact the clips designed to hold the pads in got lost a couple of years ago and they still run fine. I just give them a bit of an overhaul every 6 months or so. And i use the cheap superstar pads. And they dont squeell like Hope's!!

SteveW wrote: Try buying second hand... I've bought all my Hope brakes on ebay - save yourself a fortune !

I pm'd Chris to consider this too. £100 can buy a front and back set of Mini or Mini mono from eBay.

You can also experience the joys of overhauling the brake, if you're lucky enough to receive a dirt cheap one with a rare sticking piston (use a track pump) or caliper oil leakage (sandpaper the caliper).
The spare parts are everywhere too.. on the trails, XC courses.

Seriously, fit Hope and forget (fit Formula and fiddle).
"Old Hope brakes never die, they just need a new rotor".

Hope are nice look good, but are heavy i have gone for Formula ORO k18 on my bike and are loving them. They are very light weight and can easy change the pads on them. You can can good offers on them at Merlin. Only downside is the rear hose is rather short!

Thanks for the advice. I am leaning towards a pair of second hand Hopes. I dont think I can face any more avids after I spend last night fixing/cursing them!

I've always had shimano XT brakes and they seem to work just fine...

ChrisC wrote:Thanks for the advice. I am leaning towards a pair of second hand Hopes. I dont think I can face any more avids after I spend last night fixing/cursing them!

Im worried now, I have Avids, not had to do much yet with them only clean the brake pad area and align them to the disc..............

Adam

And that's the way it should be! Avid is SRAM so a very good respectable make that shouldn't ever be going wrong!