Few things are as quintessentially British as The Beatles and Hope Technology. There are also few things that seem to draw such universal ire if you have a bad thing to say about them. Which is unfortunate, because it turns out I’m not a huge fan of either.
First, let me try to nip said ire in the bud. I respect The Fab Four, and I can appreciate what they did for music… but I don’t particularly enjoy listening to most of their stuff. Similarly, Hope make a lot of really nice things (hubs, headsets, etc), and it’s basically all made in-house here in the UK… but I think their brakes, in particular, are sub-par.
Now, when the steam has stopped coming out of your ears…
I’ve had three sets of Hope stoppers now. First was a second-hand set of Tech 3 E4s back in the mid-2010s, which I could never get to run quietly – the rotors seemed to perpetually be out of true. Several years later, another set of the same, which had to go back to Hope under warranty almost from new due to leaky master cylinders. When the opportunity arose earlier this year to pass my trusty TRP Slate EVOs on to a friend for his Stooge build and try a set of the newer Tech 4 E4s, I figured things must have improved since then, right? So many rabidly-passionate Brits can’t be wrong about their beloved Hope brakes, right? They cost so much, they must be amazing… right?
First impressions pulling them out of the box: they’re beautiful. Hope’s CNC work is stunning and their products always look unmistakably Hope. I do think their branding can be a little over-the-top, and say what you will about coloured anodizing, but it’s not enough to distract from the fact that the T4E4s are clearly a labour of love. The fact that they come with a couple of different pad compounds to try is a bonus – I stuck with the green ones throughout, but it’s a nice touch. I also purchased a couple of Hope’s trademark floating rotors which are, again, beautifully manufactured, as are their brake mounts (I needed a couple of IS to PM adaptors for the Stooge).
Getting them fitted and ready to go was less impressive. Nobody is going to argue that Hope’s bleed procedure is mess-free (the new EVO brakes may go some way to correcting this), even with the ‘Easy Bleed’ kit. In theory it’s a simple procedure, but you do tend to end up with DOT fluid everywhere so care must be taken to protect/clean paint and other finishes. The brakes also seem prone to holding on to air, I suspect behind the pistons in the caliper (Hope instruct you to massage the pistons to help negate this), and in the master cylinder (introduced when refitting the diaphragm and top cap unless you are particularly careful). In total it took THREE full bleeds before I achieved a consistent lever feel, employing all of the tricks in the book. On this note, Hope’s documentation is truly excellent and is probably mandatory reading for owners. I also appreciate that Hope provide 3D print files for their pad spacers, bleed blocks and service tools… although I do wish they just included a set in the box, or with the bleed kit.
Finally taking them onto the trail, they felt great. The lever feel is incredibly light, with a moderately-well-defined bite point and not a whole lot of force required to ring some superb power out of them. To some the lever may feel ‘squishy’, but the way power is applied through this ‘squish’ is very intuitive. It is very easy to modulate how much power you’re getting, without tiring out your hands. There’s also something really satisfying about coming to the bottom of a long descent and hearing those floating rotors ticking and pinging as they cool down – again, it’s very Hope.
So what’s the problem, then? Well, I could never get them to stay feeling great. Despite following Hope’s thorough guidance, including literal hours spent massaging and lubricating pistons, plus advice from a variety of other sources, I don’t think a single ride went by when these brakes did not rub. Moreover, I could never get the front and rear to feel very similar in terms of bite point. I do think part of this is – as with my old T3E4s – down to the floating rotors, which seem to warp if you look at them funny. Couple this with pads that sit very close to the rotor, and most importantly four pistons that absolutely, positively, will not move at the same speed no matter what you do with them, and you’ve got a recipe for noisy brakes.
I love fettling with bikes, but what I don’t love is spending hours fettling with the same parts, over and over, to get them to function properly – more time spent messing is less time spent riding. Unfortunately this was exactly my experience with the T4E4s. Try as I might, they never gave me the trouble-free running that I would expect from a ‘premium’ product.
Could I have sunk even more time into them and gotten them feeling better? Possibly, but what would be the point? I owned and messed with them for 6 months, by the end of which they were actively putting me off riding the bike they were fitted to. I don’t often experience bike-related buyer’s remorse – I like to think I’m quite good at doing my due diligence, picking out stuff that is destined to be good before spending my hard-earned on it. In this case I legitimately regretted purchasing the Hopes.
I feel I should quickly loop back around here and clarify that it’s not my intention to completely shit on Hope Technology. They do a lot right. It’s hard to go wrong with their hubs, headsets, bottom brackets (proprietary interface be damned), pedals, cranks or any number of small, very pretty parts they turn out. Almost their entire catalogue – including carbon frames – is made in Barnoldswick, UK. Their stance on sustainability and the right to repair is admirable, to the point that they still have spares on hand for products they made in the 90s. In an age of increasingly disposable, forcibly-obsolescent products, this needs to be applauded. I just really don’t rate their brakes. Sorry.
So, it’s back to a fresh set of TRP Slate EVOs for me. True to form, they took about half an hour to install. With careful installation they required no bleeding at all to feel perfect, and alignment (with a used set of Magura 2mm discs) was a simple job by eye, with no 3D-printed tools or finicky balancing of pistons required. Power is honestly not far off the T4E4s and they cost well under half the price. I’m confident that they’ll stay this way without needing a ton of attention, too. I’ll probably have more to say on the TRPs at some point, but suffice to say, they certainly prove that money can’t always buy you love…
Disclaimer: Both Hope and TRP brakesets were purchased at industry pricing (i.e. significantly cheaper than retail). However, I would happily pay full retail for the Slates – if anything, I think TRP are under-selling these.
Ranting Wrench 