You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Am usure as to whether I gel with the levers or the aesthetics, but the deal maker for me is the brake's modulation and being able to haul a big old biffer (me) to a stop.
Before I spaff a slightly unjustifiable amount of cash on a pair, has anyone had a chance to run these back to back with the old Tech 3 four pots? Or a set of SRAM Codes?
Also, purple ano accents are still cool, right?
Also, purple ano accents are still cool, right?
Was there ever a time when they weren't?
They’re a significant improvement on the Tech3 4 pot. I’m a 95kg lump on an eBike and working just great.
Stealth Ad. If anyone is after a BNIB Tech 4 with a V4 caliper RHS and a LH Tech4 E4 in boring old black, message me.
Was there ever a time when they weren’t?
Yes. Since time began.
Huge improvement over codes and the tech 3’s. They’re brilliant.
Yes. Since time began.
It's a good job that they don't do Rasta-ano.
Or oil slick
Buy them. But stick with black.
I remember an interview at hope where they said that black was the more robust anodized medium compared to the others.
Light green or team green as everyone knows fades very quickly, red fades to a not so nice pink and the bright sharp blue dulls down.Orange seems to last well, as does purple.
So black as the base and ano master cylinder lids and caliper bore caps. Adjusters in the chosen ano also are a better deal than a complete lever which is prone to wear and from falling off. Plus having the base black means you can change the coloured accents as the mood takes.
Comparing the two levers, they've done away with the tiny circlip on the T3 lever pivot for a nut on the T4 pivot, but its still a pain in the arse getting the tiny c clips off the adjusters.
I've gone from tech 3 to tech 4 with the v4 calipers, so not exactly the same - but yes they're a very decent upgrade. Power has gone from 'being there, but hidden deep in the lever travel requiring a big squeeze to access' to 'anything more than the lightest of squeezes and you've got all the power you could ever need'.
Tbh if you want oodles of power with loads of modulation, just get the V4, skip the E4.
They're a big step up from the Tech 3, slightly more initial bite and a lot more power overall but still loads of modulation. I had two sets of Tech 3 E4s that became two sets of Tech 4s as the Tech 3s felt terrible in comparison!
Tech3 calipers with the hybrid ss/phenolic pistons is an improvement in itself.
Riding T4X2 against T3E4 the former is more powerful in both my and my 16 year old’s opinion.
So I’d guess the T4E4 is even more power.
I’d try the new pads in the T3’s first, they are a very significant part of the power upgrade.
I've had T3 E4 previously, and recently went from T4 E4 to T4 V4.
As others have said, the T4 is much better. And if you want power it's worth the relatively small additional outlay for the V4 caliper.
I went straight from Tech 3 to Tech 4 on my Trek and the difference is startling.
Went from struggling to stop to nice and bitey
T4s are really nice to use, very light lever action for tons of power, especially compared to tech3s
Interestingly at hardline chatting to Brayton he had E4 tech 4 not v4 and I said i thought you'd need v4,s and his answer was hope had told him to run E4 as they had more power initially in the stroke than the different piston sized v4 which had more overall power but was more akin to needing more on lever pull for an power .
@PJM1974 I got a pair in purple from a seller on eBay for a right deal . couldn't be happier there miles ahead of the tech3
Interestingly at hardline chatting to Brayton he had E4 tech 4 not v4 and I said i thought you’d need v4,s and his answer was hope had told him to run E4 as they had more power initially in the stroke than the different piston sized v4 which had more overall power but was more akin to needing more on lever pull for an power .
The V4 caliper with its different sized pistons equates to a greater mechanical advantage at the lever basically, but for a tiny bit more lever travel and a softer feeling lever... The way to deal with this is typically to run a braided hose and a harder pad compound on the V4 for a similar feel, but more power in reserve...
Has anyone found any decent deals on these?
I was just about to ask that ^
What's the going rate for a front and rear Tech 4 E4?
Brake only £175 can be found using your favourite search engine.
They’ve not long been released and were taking a while to come through. £175 an end is about as cheap as you’ll see them at mo. Hope never discount anything as they sell everything they can make, so any discounts you’ll see are the retailers taking a haircut on the price.
The only retailer I could find offering them at £175 per unit is my LBS.
My frame has internal routing, so I'm hopeful that the brakes will arrive with a spare connector as I'll need to cut the hose and feed it through my frame. I'm considering booking my bike in to have the rear brake fitted and bled - I don't have any spare 5.1 fluid to rebleed it unfortunately.
Yes. Since time began.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Dot4 will do. Even petrol stations sell that
My frame has internal routing, so I’m hopeful that the brakes will arrive with a spare connector as I’ll need to cut the hose and feed it through my frame. I’m considering booking my bike in to have the rear brake fitted and bled – I don’t have any spare 5.1 fluid to rebleed it unfortunately.
FWIW all the tech 4 brakes I've bought have included a spare barb, olive and washer. I cut my rear brakes to thread through a frame and by being a bit careful (making sure to keep the lever the right way up and holding the hose to prevent leaking) I didn't need to bleed at all.
If you have Merlin discount there offering further discount a pair can be add for £280
Yesterday I look and silver discount was applying to hope brakes. Today they have added a 1% discount meaning the 10% no longer applies. grr.
They quickly realised they were loosing money. Smart.
Perhaps but the brakes are up at list price and did not seem to be under any extra discounting (other than loyalty).
@nixie Merlin were running an extra 10% off 20 ‘big’ brands last week (were they not?). That will have stopped working early doors Monday as their promotion will have run its course (I got some shimano stuff myself).
The gold discount still works…
Didn't think hope was in that promo. Yesterday loyalty discounts were showing, today they are not. I cannot find a single RRP product with the 'medal' loyalty indicator.
Maybe your discount has run out, This happened to me a while back. Or you are just logged out?
I’m seeing gold discount (on Tech 4 brakes).
Odd. No not run out or logged out, just gone back up a level again actually. It shows in my account as active just not against products.
Edit, think I've worked it out. Something to do with being on WiFi. Wondering if it's related to the geolocation of home up (shows as Holland rather than UK for some reason).
Rather than start a new thread (as its Tech 4 related):
What discs are compatible with these E or V4’s?
Can i run shimano 180’s?
I have SLX atm and front mounts directly Odín to the (X-Fusion Trace36) fork and its a SolarisMAX so whatever type shimano converter is out back.
I think I have 203/183 discs I bought about 4 years ago when I got caught out thinking I’d get gold discount but by the time it got applied the RRP had gone up and they were suddenly going to cost more even with the extra discount. I got the adaptors to suit Tech 3 (?)s at the time…
What do I need (couldn’t make too much sense of the Hope website…🤪
@nixie weird. I just went back up gold on Monday… Guess check with Merlin?
ETA: does it show if you add stuff to your basket?
No didn't show in the basket either. It was working on work of yesterday while I was connected to a UK work VPN. Today on the normal ip it stopped. Toggling mobile on and off WiFi turns it on an off 🤪.
@metalheart hope do adapters for both 189, 183, 200 and 203. You should be ok to reuse your existing adapters and disks.
Mine are happy with Shimano 180mm rotors and adapters.
I also bought mine with the merlin gold discount plus a £20 points voucher. Still not cheap!
Oh you can get an extra 4.25% off at merlin with topcashback.
@nixie yes gold plus the extra discount is still showing so there a bargain
I also bought mine with the merlin gold discount plus a £20 points voucher
This would probably be my plan…
My hope adaptors are probably for 160-180 at the front (considering i trashed a SLX calliper trying use an adaptor on my first X-Fusion fork….🤦🏼♂️😓
Do they direct mount onto the fork (like the shimano does) for 180’s or do you need an adapter (L?).
Depends on the fork. But if it's a 180mm PM without an adaptor now it will be with an E4.
If you need an adaptor to run 200mm or 203mm now you will with an E4.
My Tech4 MC's have turned up and they're lush. Came with all the hose fittings as well
Okay..... I think I’m getting there...
I have a 180 PM fork, an H adaptor (so either 160 - 183 or 180 - 203) for the front and a 183 black FR or a grey 203 FR.
And a B mount which will give me IS to 183 (for a black FR)...
So I don’t mind mix coloured floating rotors then I’m golden. Don’t think you can go 180PM to 183 so looks like I’d need a IS to 180 to keep SLX rotors... i.e. an N adaptor...
You can put washers under a 180 PM at either end, or the PM end of an is-pm to make it 183. Same with 200mm and 203
Thanks teethgrinder. Much appreciated.
Well, they've arrived. The aesthetic is early Mono M4, but the best bit is that in each box I've a spare set of pads - I swapped the resin jobs for the sintered set supplied - and the spare olive & insert too. I know that both F&R hoses will need to be trimmed to fit, that's a job for tomorrow.
Well, they’ve arrived.
Sorry, is that the full set you've bought, not just the levers ?.
@PJM1974 I don't think there's any sintered in the box. All 3 sets we have came with green race pads fitted and a spare set of organics. Sintered are gold backed.
As above, the E4 comes with race pads fitted and organic in the box. The V4 comes with an extra set of sintered as well as the race and organic.
Mine are stuck in RM somewhere due to the strikes. Sold the e4/x2 combo for £250ish (brakes only).
Couple more questions:
A) are people needing to bleed after chopping hoses?
B) anybody used Rush Cycles (they popped up on google for Tech 4 bleed kits and and appear to have full range of brakes at a reasonable price)?
Merlin currently out of stock for E4 in black or decent colour… but have V4’s… 🤔
@metalheart no, I didn't need to bleed on any of the hose shortening I've done (tech 4 E4 front and back, plus tech 4 V4 front and back).
@riklegge cheers, its been my experience that (mostly) hose shortening without bleeding leads to better results (on Shimano)… 🤷🏻♀️
@rootes1 thanks, good to know. I’ll see how things sit in a weeks time, maybe give them a phone…
If you want black V4 or M4 on tech4 master cylinder, I can beat that rush price. 1 set only. PM for info.
Yup I've also used Rush for galfer and hope stuff, seen great
@PJM1974 I don’t think there’s any sintered in the box. All 3 sets we have came with green race pads fitted and a spare set of organics. Sintered are gold backed.
I stand corrected, these are Hope's red pads. Both ends have had a pad swap, will save the race jobbies for the summer.
Sorry, is that the full set you’ve bought, not just the levers ?.
Thanks @dyna-ti - I did buy a full set of levers and calipers.
This weekend has been a bit of a 'mare - thus far I've only fitted the front brake. Thankfully, clipping off the excess cable and fitting a new olive and connector was a breeze. Next job is going to involve me routing the hose through my frame and seeing if I can find a spare SRAM shifter mount for my dropper post. I'm looking forward to getting these bedded in and trying them out.
Oh and the purple ano accents (and banjos too!) are bob on.
Three lunchtime rides in on the red pads and I can safely say that I'm impressed. It's slippery out right now, so I've not tested outright braking power, but the modulation is sensitive and there's plenty of feel. One finger braking is quite intuitive with these.
How did you get on with bleeding it ?. assuming you've dont a top up bleed after cutting it.
Im filling mine from completely empty, but the lever feels spongy. That said ive heard it doesnt feel as positive off the bat till the pads contact the rotor, then it feels normal. Any experience there you'd care to share ?.
For those with Merlin Gold they are currently 15% off with an additional 10% at checkout.
That (coupled with a £20 reward points voucher) I’ve just ordered a set of E4’s for just under £280.
Damn that's cheap! Not in stock in orange so don't feel I've missed out.
Bought the bleed kit to do mine. Fantastic. Watch the video and it couldn’t be easier.
Just bought a set of Tech 4 V4's to replace my Tech 3 V4's (now residing on another bike)
Paid £200 for each brake from Wiggle with my gold level discount, ordered and delivered in less than 24hrs (have a Wiggle+ account)
Hopefully ill get round to fitting them this weekend
Mine came fitted with the green race pads, in the box was a set of red organic pads and a set of the purple e bike pads, been using the purple e bike pads for a year or so now on the old Tech 3 V4's and they are really good
Also running Hope V4 vented rotors, 203mm front and rear, so braking should be spot on
Not in stock in orange so don’t feel I’ve missed out
I have email stock alerts for orange and black for E4’s (and orange for V4’s). I decided I’d take my 2nd preference when the email came in telling me the LH E4 black was back in stock and I could make a matched set. Wait for orange to come (and miss the extra 10%?) or for the LH to go out stock again… I checked after I ordered and it already was…
When do Hope usually raise their prices? I got caught out like that before, waiting for a better discount level and finding they had gone up by more than the extra %age off by the time it had kicked in.
So just went to fit mine and run into a couple of issues
Issue number one is that Hope have changed the shifter/dropper fitting on the Tech 4 lever so my Wolthtooth dropper lever no longer fits and it seems Wolthtooth havent made a new adaptor for the Tech 4 lever yet
Issue number 2 is that as Hope have made the lever's top cap longer, so my Tech 3 Hope bleed kit's top cap wont fit, will have to order a tech 4 bleed cap for £8 (or just keep topping up the resivior whislt bleeding)
Bit annoying that Hope havent advertised these changes as far as i can see online
To be fair every generation of hope master cylinder has a different top cap and it's pretty obvious in the pictures.
The first point isn't hopes fault. They do not advertise the brake as support ispec a (or b it whatever) like the tech 3 did.
When do Hope usually raise their prices?
They often stay the same for absolutely ages. However, they have price rises on Jan 1st
They often stay the same for absolutely ages. However, they have price rises on Jan 1st
I thought that might be the case (what with inflation running 10+%).
Feel happier about going for black, rather than risking waiting for orange…🤪
I've fitted mine now. Had to do a full bleed on the rear and I stupidly forgot to extend the pistons before cutting the hose 🤪. Felt good on the garden test but yet to ride properly.