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For me, that involves careful setup of bar height / stem length / bar roll and saddle tilt. My hands dislike flat and uphill pedally sections, for some reason.
This page is 🔥
It has me thinking of how I actually like to brake. Since I am needing a new set for my enduro bike and keep going back an forth between different sets. I haven't had a binary brake in a long time since I stopped riding trials, but I genuinely enjoyed the brake I had on that bike. I'm on Code Rs for enduro, and Guide RSCs on my trail bike. Even when perfectly bled, they both feel squishy and I am unable to lock the rear at strategic times. Just ordered Galfer rotors to improve the Codes, and a coworker may have some Code RSC handles he might give me for cheap.
So if I'm reading this right, for steep, uncharted, techy descents with sharp turns and occasional panic, it sounds like the Mavens would actually be the best one, but for long multi-mile green/blue trail or hiking trail the Dominions, Tech 4s, or Cura 4s would be best?
I guess, @shinook is the one that basically tried them all!
What I can say is that the Hopes are one of the best in terms of modulation, so if the Techy trails are also very steep and require lots of modulation it would be my choice over the Mavens
my personal opinion, if you like to drag the brake, I would suggest a lighter lever setup, It's much nicer on the hands and you are applying constant pressure to the lever, the hopes are Very good for this reason, light and very powerful some even say to much power for how light it actually is(green pads)
vs only braking when actually needing to, i would swing towards mavens that just unleash it.
Shimano brakes are light free stroke then got to pull quite hard to unlock the actual power and i feel like if you attempt to drag these your hands get quite sore but they dont dish out the power like Mavens do - I've also had countless issues with shimano's as they get older if you dont clean those pistons and refresh the oil they leak and go crap.
-side note to shimano brakes is they are often quite good for lighter riders
In my current testing of TRP Evo Pro's is they are a good middle ground between Shimano and Mavens - the best part of the TRP E23 caliper is you basically never have to touch it, as long as they've fixed the leaking bleed screw. The new Evo pro Set i have dont seem to leak and i was advised by TRP that you can basically never remove it to bleed them unless doing a rebuild or fluid flush.
running galfer Purple/ebike pads in the TRP's and they seem really good.
I wouldn't put Cura 4s in any category near 'best', personally. They are possibly ok if you are lighter and I like the design, but overall power is really weak and it requires a ton of clenching at the lever to put that power down by modern standards. Even with upgraded pads, I found them weaker than most options. I think when they came out they would've been higher up on the list but IMO there are better options available today.
In terms of feel and power I feel like the Mavens are really good, the issue is the form factor is really bad and they are heavy with a lever design that is a bit weird when it comes to setting up controls. The power can also almost be too much if you are lighter, but for heavier riders they are a really good option. The firmness in the lever never seemed to be an issue for me but it may be for some, I feel like the overall amount of force required to get good power out is still lower despite the initial resistance at the lever though. The force required with the Mavens doesn't ramp up as heavily as it does with others. Don't forget the Mavens also have adjusters you can use to tune this in slightly.
The Hope T4 V4, Intend Trinity, Radic Kaha all kindof get close to their power/feel in different ways. All have a lighter lever pull and better form factor, but vary in other ways I mention above and in my longer post. The Dominions can be kindof a mixed bag, I think they are a good all around option even if there are better but I've found the more I moved away from using them, the more there were better options but they hang in a lot better than the Cura 4s IMO. The Dominions are usable for me, the Curas just aren't, but again I have issues with my hands/arms that kinda requires brakes that have a short lever throw and bite really quickly
As a side note: I always got on better with the Cura 2 than the Cura 4. I thought the 4 was too spongy/vague and hard to get good power from, whereas the Cura 2 really worked well for me (back in the day...).
He is on 12° bars already, for a while and really likes it. Height shouldn't be an issue (55 mm rise currently with a lot of steerer left for added measure), also comfort wise the bars are sorted. In general we've (he's) got the cockpit handled, brakes are the question as hand grip strength is the issue now.
The best case scenario would probably be something that gives a lot of power for very low finger effort. Splurging on a 1000 euro brakeset is currently not on the horizon. Like I said, trying out a 220 mm rotor in the front will be step one just to get a feel on how things change, maybe trying out a different pad would be an option (open for recommendations, getting a set of Sinters shouldn't be a problem in Slovenia for example) and there might be an option of taking a set of Lewis brakes for a spin (the lever action is light and the power is very good). Based on the recommendations either Mavens (around 500 € for a pair) or Hopes (around 600 € for a pair currently) look good, but with Hopes at least I'd personally wait for the updated lever that includes the bleedport.
If grip strength is an issue then Hope is the way to go over Maven IMO. That would win out for me over the others if more expensive/boutique options were priced out.
I originally tried these b/c the folks at Geometron recommended them, so I bought both the 4s and the 2s. They said the same thing, the 2s have a firmer, more engaged bite point with less modulation. What you describe is exactly what I had issues with on the 4. I had intended on trying both, the 2s had a really interesting design I thought and the piston was very large.
I never got around to trying the 2s, though. I had them but the 4s were so far off for me that I never got around to putting them on. I was also using the new Formula lever and it wasn't exactly easy or cheap to acquire one, so I didn't wanna deal with swapping everything around between brake sets, I ended up giving them to a friend when I quit riding for a few months. I do regret not trying them but I kinda ran out of steam with trying brakes and just went back to Trinity on my SS, which is what worked best for me.
I think the lever blade is also shorter and maybe compatible with Tech 4. Am I the only one that doesn't really like the long one? The brakes feel really good, though.
Cura 2 is the brake bargain indeed and I agree they feel better than cura 4.
Question for the brake geeks.
I'm going to be picking up some Hope V4s soon, and I already have SRAM HS2 rotors. Should I be getting hope rotors as well or will I be all good just rocking the hs2s?
HS2 will be fine
Keep them if they’re good
Next time I’d go for 2.3mm thickness it’s nice to have rotors that stay straight
They are pretty good. Currently on the trail bike but I have some centerlines that can go on there, they will go on my new dh bike.
Galfer all the things!!🙌
From the other site, bleed port looks like it might be bleeding edge, not familiar enough with Hope's calipers to spot if there is anything else different, or is this homebrew??
I am close to pulling the trigger on a pair of T4V4's but really dont want to get them and have the T4V4+'s or T5V5's roll out to the world the next week...
Don’t worry, it’s just the gravel mineral oil caliper, In a PM configuration, nothing new, and you wouldn’t want this over the V4 regardless
I'm in the same boat, but I don't need the brakes until September so I'll hold out a few more months before buying.
Tech 5 lever with a bleed port would be nice.
Has anyone had Mavens grow the faintest film of mineral oil around the contact adjust dials when storing their bike vertically? It's almost like there's a 3-4mm oval of mineral oil dew around the adjuster rather than a drop coming out of a single, small spot. Only on the rear brake. Brake feels fine in the stand and up and down the street.
Oil that leaked out when removing the bleed syringe reappearing? I'm always finding oil in nooks that I missed cleaning up and had that thought. I can't imagine you wouldn't notice the system losing oil.
To answer Tech Rumors about Hope brakes
I see nothing that implies the new model will be mineral, while the calipers appears to be narrower ( running 1.8 floating rotors and still have pistons in on what looks like a V4 caliper, piston size wise )
Same machining as the V4 caliper but instead of the V4 logo it spots: GR4 and on the top it’s got 3 arrows pointing in different directions.
Not sure weather is a Team only spec V4 caliper with different laser etching or a full new caliper ( I think the last one )
What makes me thing it’s a whole new caliper is the fact that when Rob Warner went for a Factory Visit he got those brakes installed in one of his bikes and when pointing the camera towards them he said “ops let’s not zoom in too much here”
It’s still got the classic bleeding nipple, not the other “bolt” like the mineral calipers such as the RX4+
Master wise, it’s got what seems to be a bleeding port behind the reservoir, which is welcome, and some “evo” shorter and more “hocked” levers, that seems to be easily compatible with the current Tech4 lineup.
Given how long it took them to bring the new Tech4 from the Tech3 I wouldn’t expect them to rush into the market with these updates unlike some other brand pushing what can’t be nothing else than prototypes to the market given the speed.
That is just the RX4+ caliper (mineral or DOT compatible). It's been around for a while now
I got a set of Intends recently and the bite point “grows” as the brakes warm up and I had to keep moving my levers closer and closer to the bars to compensate. This is something my Shimano 8120s did too. Is this normal for brakes or do I need to re-visit my bleed?
I experienced the same with the Trinitys I had last year. Bleeding them again helped get rid of that. Tap around to make sure you dislodge any stubborn air bubbles.
I've had 3 sets and it's not normal at all.
I know these are perceived as being easy to bleed - and they are - but getting all the air out when they ship dry has been somewhat of a challenge for me. Not as bad as some others, but it's not as easy as a good factory bleed to start with either. I get why they ship them dry, if it helps them get more out then that's great, but you will need to work at it.
What I do is flush with fluid, push back and forth, extends the pistons out slightly, bleed (with something like two rotors in place), push pistons in, bleed again, then tap around and try to bleed them vertically, if possible. I then finish with following the instructions provided by Intend, which is basically the disconnect order. Keep in mind if you don't have a secure press on the syringe, you could introduce air between the nozzle and the caliper, so be sure it's pressed in there pretty good.
If it's still an issue then try and bleed again after a ride.
Okay thank you. This is my first time doing a full bleed on any set of brakes let alone a dry set (I’ve done a few lever bleeds before but that’s it) so it’s definitely been a learning process. Im having fun but a learning process nonetheless.
I did notice I had to push the fluid back and forth a few more times than the video showed just due to how many bubbles kept coming out. I did find zip-tieing the lever down and leaving it for a bit helped.
Just keep in mind even small amounts of air can cause weird problems, so I would try it again until you see nothing coming out. It's a process but once you get it flushed through, you won't have the issue again.
I would try the brake lever/zip tie/overnight trick, too. I've always read it was a Shimano necessity for getting air out of the lever (which sounds like your issue) but damn did it help my Mavens. I have no experience with Intends but bleeding anything from dry is going to take a little more effort.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/spotted-hopes-new-gb4-brakes.html
well here goes it breaking into the media despite being out there for awhile. why are media sites so slow these days?
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