[Closed] E4 or Saints??

I've just swapped from Guides to Saints on my Enduro not ridden it yet though but generally very happy with Shimano brakes. Not ridden with Hope brakes in years so can't comment on them.

Went from xt to e4. Xt felt slightly more powerful . So I'd expect saints to be significantly more so.

Isn't the v4 more comparable to the Saint?

Why not Zees?

Got them on my FS and they’re plenty powerful enough for my 80-85kg kitted up with 200 front and 180 rear.

Saints are great but die all to often.

Not fond of the Guides that came on my bike but a year in, so around 3000 miles with Alps etc and still performing in the same mediocre way.

I'd guess at 3 Saint lever fails in that time.

I’d go with V4.

The E4s are great and like all Hope brakes last almost forever, with occasional bleeding and pad changes. Maybe eventually new seals. Plenty powerful but not as powerful as Saints, hence the V4 suggestion.

+ 1 on Hopes - loved my saints, but they started to cost me fun - had one totally fail on me in Les Arcs, missed a half day's riding, and same deal in Revolution, fluid pouring out of the lever.

I don't get that many trips away, so wasting them in a bike shop waiting for a bleed/repair isn't how I want to spend them.

Just swapped from XT to E4's, I too am 90ish KG and ride some pretty steep stuff.

Part of the reason I went to E4 was serviceability, hated the fact when my XT's started to die they were considered un-repairable.

I'd say similar breaking power to the old XT's, better feel, I lock up less in the very steep stuff and they just look cool.

You couldn't pay me enough to use hope brakes. Unreliable & poor power in my experience.

Saints all day every day & if/when they fail, then more saints.

"You couldn’t pay me enough to use hope brakes. Unreliable & poor power in my experience."

genuinely sot something you hear often, particularly the reliability issue! what sets and issues have you had issues with?

Hope E4 here not sure about lack of power i'm around 17st and can lock breaks up when i want on anything. I run 203 and 180 rotors. They are a bit noisey at moment with cheap sintered pads in. I have SLX on hardtail they have been good lack of spares and not as nice feel to them is the difference.

What don’t you like about the guides? Not enough power or not the modulation you like?

From what I read Saint will be more powerful than a Guide but perhaps slightly more grabby. Can be unreliable though. When a seal goes etc it’s throw away and buy a new set / replace under warranty.

Hope E4 not as powerful as Saint but way more reliable and you can service them with new seals etc. Hope V4 if you want power and reliability.

Couple more you may not have considered - Sram Code for similar feel to the Guides but more power and Magura MT7. The Magura meant to be basically the most powerful disc brake you can buy with eye popping power.

The Magura meant to be basically the most powerful disc brake you can buy with eye popping power

That'll be the Trickstuff Direttissima but very many £££'s.

The new 4-pot Formula Cura's look good.

IME Saints/Zee don't suffer the same seal issues as some of the new gen. XT have done recently, so reliability shouldn't be an issue (I know users experience of this varies!)  Saints are powerful, genuine one finger stopping, and pretty much able to get spares/pads anywhere (which can't always be said for Hopes)

Magura MT7 are ment to be the business. All the reviews from genuine people who have purchased them with their own money on mtbr are positive.

Magura just dont have the same advertising budget as shimano/sram so don’t get the notice they deserve.

Not Saints but a set of Zees wasted a hard earned front row start for me in the 2016 Mega (challengers). Lost the rear from a seal leak followed by overheating and losing the front. Never had total failure with  Hopes, I use E4s now.