Hello Vital MTB Visitor,
We’re conducting a survey and would appreciate your input. Your answers will help Vital and the MTB industry better understand what riders like you want. Survey results will be used to recognize top brands. Make your voice heard!
Five lucky people will be selected at random to win a Vital MTB t-shirt.
Thanks in advance,
The Vital MTB Crew
Simply bleed the brake with the rotor and pads in place. It will work fine I'm very sure.
Round 2 of weird Hope things...
After having bedded in the new Galfer red pads yesterday, I wanted to check all backplates for signs of moisture today and thankfully all were bone dry. The kick in the face I did not expect was all phenolic inserts being caked with the red paint from the backplates of the pads. This is a matt finish unlike the green pads, and as the green pads have only had issues with the text coming off, I now had a new experience as you see on the photo below:
I had to literally pry the pads out because they were stuck to the phenolic inserts, and all I had done was bed them in in dry weather on a paved road. I'm a bit lost for words at this point because I've never had to deal with bs like this before from any other brakes/pads. As my patience is running thin with these brakes, I decided that I just don't want to deal with any other set backs so I decided to just go to town on the backplates with isopropyl alcohol and clean it all off(yes, I know some will claim it's got a purpose probabbly dampening vibrations or some bs, but I simply don't care)
So, this is how my red pads look now, and all I can think is how that red paint could've contaminated the pads/rotors and created a mess on its own. When the phenolic inserts looked like that after a quick bed in from dry conditions, I just don't want to know what it would do after one run in the mud.
If anyone got tips for better options of pads that also have no bs with paint coming off, please share. I'm just trying to get to a day 1 experience of brand new brakes as it's supposed to be like.
that's like a Galfer shite paint issue tho, the purple ones i'm using didn't do that, at the same time a bit of paint was coming off my trickstuff power pads on the mt7 but it was a non issue, by the time the pads were done i could just brush it off everything with a toothbrush and some disk brake cleaner
The only issues I had with the stock green pads was due to contamination, so I feel like just ordering new one's now as my calipers seem to do what they should be doing. I liked the bite and performance, and it seems like most pads will squeel with these brakes, so why not have as much bite as possible. I'll give the red one's a try for now, just because I'd like to have something to compare to.
Another thing is that after I did a full tear down of the calipers, and mounted everything dry, I haven't had to touch the pistons at all. I just bled the brakes with the bleedblock, popped the pads in and that was that. The pistons seem to settle in place where they should be unlike how it was prior to this.
I believe they both needed some wear and tear + my tear down, and how they function now is how they should've been straight out of the box. As long as I now at least can just start to use these brakes normally without having to constantly pop out the pads to check for moisture, I can start to just get some miles on them.
It sucks to buy a new bike part that has problems or doesn't live up to expectations. I use galfer red pads in my gravel bike and there are always circles worn into them where the paint has come off but it doesn't seem to have any impact on the brake's performance. If you don't like the paint coming off then Hope's sintered pads are not painted and work really well, particularly if you value consistency and lifetime over maximum power.
Out of interest are you planning to use something else than silicon grease to lube the pistons? In my experience the pistons need some lubrication to keep the brakes functioning well and I use Avid dot grease for this because I can't get Hope's recommended lube where I live.
My plans are to never lube pistons at all, again. General cleaning with isopropyl alcohol however, that is all I'll be doing from now on.
From time to time you will need to change piston seals and/or pistons, and simply do a tear down and refresh them. Like I've already stated, I have just disassembled and fully cleaned two calipers, and I remounted everything bone dry. Right off the bat they just started working like I expected them to when I mounted them the first time.
The only reason why I tried silicone grease when I was setting these brakes up for the first time, was out of frustration because my pistons were really not willing to cooperate, so I tried to follow Hope's advice even though these were brand new. Everything in me told me no, but I was willing to try anything at that point. That was a big mistake, and I'll continue to use bone dry parts from now on.
If you think you need to lubricate the pistons, something else is wrong.
Did you mention your trouble with the silicon and the 2 piece pistons to Hope to see what they say?
I won't contact Hope about any of this out of one simple reason. I am the one who applied the grease on my own pistons, so I'm simply owning up to that fact. That's why I'm just being transparent about what I did and show that I clean up my own mess afterwards. Once all of that's taken care of however I will voice my opinion on this being a recommendation, because that is the actual wrong part in my opinion.
If others still want to lubricate their own pistons, by all means. I'm not going to stop anyone.
I just feel it's important to be transparent and that means about both the good and the bad. At the end of the day I've learned something now afterall, which is of value.
that's why i woul've told them about the issue, cause yes, you did that, but it's on their Tech Book, but yeah it's good for us to know what can possibly happen. I'm against lubing piston in general myself.
I would suspect pushing the pistons back in could be a 'problem' vs. normal operation (not sure if you would really need to push them back in anyway...). The bleed block is about the same as bleeding with pads and rotor place (if both are more or less unused).
But this is just guessing.
This, if it is recommended by them, surely it makes it reasonable to voice your opinion/experience.
Yes, definitely contact them. Hopefully it will lead to improved brakes or instructions. Afterall the reason for the stainless steel piston sleeve design was to reduce friction and the need to clean and/or lube the pistons so often and if their recommended lube is leaking and contaminating the pads then that's a big issue.
It's as simple as Hope stating in their tech book that it is normal that the pistons don't move in a synchronized manner. There's no mention of how much or little drag is supposedly normal. Then moving on to their new Evo brake(s) where they say they have actually spent time at creating a solution to allow for a more freely moving piston. I'm sure there's other things done to the whole system that is improving things.
My own brakes were just overly stubborn and needed some good wear and tear to brake(pun intended) them in. Hopefully their next system will deliver better.
At the end of the day I personally just want to put it behind me, and put my focus into riding and looking forward to get more real world feedback of their new brakes.
The piston they mention on the Evo is the one at the lever, where they put an extra guide bushing to make it move smoother, anyway, fair enough
Ok, then I've misinterpreted the information. It still doesn't change anything, because I now know that wear and tear has helped the pistons to run more smoothly so with that knowledge I am prepared if I end up in the same situation again at a later date. That means just start using them as-is.
As I've stated earlier I never wanted to send the brakes back because who knows how many months I would have been without brakes at the worst possible point which is the start of the season. I did also say that I had a theory of just allowing them to loosen up through wear and tear, and just try to use patience. That did pay off because it did actually work.
I've been out for a ride today and all pads are still bone dry on the backplates and the pistons as well, so I believe it was good to just clean off that paint so I don't need to worry about it at all.
I believe I will just order Trickstuff Power+, Galfer green and Sinter green for the front brake now to quickly just be able to test different pads to be able to find my go to pads faster. The red Hope pads just make lots more noise and have no bite to them, so I believe going for max bite from a more organic pad(the red pads lean more towards sinter so need heat to work) is the ticket for me and my riding because that's the lever feel I like. Just performance from the very beginning.
I'm currently rebuilding/tweaking my nomad ready for the annual morzine trip, on inspection both v4 calipers are leaking on the inner big piston-so slight though but it's worried me enough to buy a rebuild kit-is this a known issue? The brakes are crazy good, 220mm magura discs on uberbikes eeb pads.
just one info in case you don't know, the Trickstuff Power + need to be replaced in time, reason being the friction material is connected to the backplate with plenty of metal teeth.
while usually the backplate has some holes where the friction material goes through and sits, these don't have any holes. i've seen a few worn past the limit and despite looking like there was still enough material from the sides the metal teeth were pocking out scratching the rotor.
i'd be curious to know what you like in the end, i still think the green Hopes are the ones i like the most so far, while the Purple ones are not bad at all but don't have quite the same grab to it and a bit more noisy too, i'm surprised they don't turn the caliper into black dust like they used to on the MT7
Alright, Code calipers added to the end of Guide RSC lever and hose. Banjo bolt works fine. Running stock160mm rotor so banjo bolt sits super close to spokes. Once I get a 180 rotor it should have more clearance.
That aside, I tried twice to bleed it and the lever goes straight to the bar. I got my Code RSCs on my other bike feeling firm and awesome, and the front line is still the Guide RSC and that feels good, but I’m not sure what’s going on here. Bleed like Code or Guide?
Pad contact dial was all the way out per instructions. Performed a piston massage to get them all moving evenly.
Hmm, I think I found why… my lever syringe was still pulling a vacuum when I picked it up to put it away, so I don’t think I let the system equalize when i unscrewed it.
Guess there’s tomorrow…
I've got a Mondraker Crafty E bike with Shimano XT brakes (standard pads and 203 centre lock discs). After long steep descents at the weekend, the brakes were cooked. Levers pulling closer to the bars and brake fade was more than present. What's the best solution to improve this (apart from braking less)?
Changing to an e-bike specific pad like the purple Galfers?
Changing to 220/223 discs and 2.0mm rotors rather than the 203mm 1.8mm ones?
Or a combination of both?
Fresh mineral oil in the brakes so that doesn't need changing. Thanks for any suggestions.
I run 220 and thick rotors with mtx gold pads - but any bigger, thicker rotor and more aggressive pads will help.
If you've cooked your brakes on the ride as described, I would flush your brakes with new fluid as well.
Purple pads have become extremely popular recently - they really are good.
we run them with galfer wave rotors 2mm, often 223 upfront and 203 rear on XT brakes.
The real answer is Mavens with hs2 rotors.
+ 1 on the mavens to be the one to rule them all. My set has been flawless and hasnt been touched and i dont even have to worry about aftermarket pads or different rotors as the whole package is pretty much perfect to me.
When i first got my new bike with mavens on i wasnt pleased at all. I have been on the dominion bandwagon for a long time. After ridding the mavens for a while now i must say i got used to them. I put the contact point almost all the way in wich made it easier to modulate the brakeforce (and not to perform a full on brake manouver when i just sligthly touch the lever). Depending on what i ride i switch betweem a bike with dominions and the new one with mavens. I feel like the hayes need considerable more fingerstrength to get them to brake powerful compared to the mavens.
I am a really big fan of MTX pads, I gave the reds a shot about a year ago. Compared to Shimano resin/metallic and TRP resin/semi metallic:
-Bedded in so quickly and easily it was comical.
-Never seemed to fade or falter regardless of heat/moisture
-Bike sat for over 3 months during the winter, first ride out they felt like when parked (Have had issues with Shimano pads).
They are just now at 1mm remaining with over 1,750km's/55,000m of descending on them. There might be more powerful pads available but they just work so damn well I am hard pressed to run anything else (other then maybe the golds).
Been thinking about reds. Gold were a little finicky on setup.
Alright, now I got the lever feeling rock hard which is awesome. Got the pistons moving synchronized so no uneven contact.
however now it has almost no power because of my rotors having been used with organic pads and I only have Code semi metallic pads (the bronze SRAM ones), even though I have cleaned the rotor, maybe I didn’t clean enough?
Did you run in the pads? Installing fresh pads (even on a rotor that's seen only metallic pads) gives no power at first but you can feel the power coming on during the first or second hard braking event when running them in.
I had to grind these particular pads a little because the previous owner most definitely did not have the correct spacers on his caliper; these pads had that 2/3rds wear pattern where the top third was unused and they had developed a ridge. Plenty of material left on them, though.
I have 4 pairs of Sram bronze pads: 2 from my own Codes (replaced with TruckerCo golds currently on my enduro bike), 2 from the RSCs I purchased.
I just grabbed a random pair to install, and they happen to come from the brakes I bought. I would have had to flatten them in the future anyways to get rid of that ridge. I thoroughly wiped the rotor with isopropyl and microfiber. Should I rough-up the rotor? They are 8 years old and only ever saw organic pads.
Mondraker Factory Racing went from riding Shimano brakes/drivetrain in 2024, to SRAM brakes/drivetrain in 2025. In the latest B Practice Podcast we asked Dak Norton about how it's been going from Shimano XTR/Saint to SRAM Mavens. It's interesting to hear how even a rider of his caliber has still had to adjust to the power/modulation of Mavens.
** Hope I'm not disrupting the conversation above too much
i have had my eye on the mavens and from what I am hearing the new base model seems like the best balance of power and modulation. anyone have experience on both?
Post a reply to: Nerding out on Brakes shall we? Not another tech deraliment