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Get the Mavens or the GR4
For sure not those crappy Chinese copycats, the quality is just not there
For those with TRPs - I had an issue this morning where the rear went to the bar. Looking at the pushrod on that lever, when pulling on the lever the plate the pushrod goes through moved in slightly with it. Gave it a light spray with Silicon and that seemed to help then gave it a quick cup bleed and had a good number of bubbles eventually come out, but now I notice that if I pull on the lever and hold at bite point, release slightly then pull again the bite point goes slightly closer to the bar. I can keep doing this to the point it's visually at the bar. This might be normal but I don't remember.. Can someone with DHR-Evo's check this? Thanks
I did the mod with 9mm OD bearings and I would not recommend it. Yes, dead stroke is short when you dial the bite point all in, but the pistons will fail to retract properly and after a few miles, the brakes would lock up, both ends, regularly. To fix this, you have the dial out the bite point until you basically get the same experience as with the original rollers.
Radic are extremely short lever throw. They are some of the only brakes I’ve touched and been shocked by how little lever travel there is.
Intend is quite normal lever throw from my experience. Not much different from XT or anything else.
If having the most powerful brakes is the goal, yes, just get mavens.
The amount of power on tap is next level compared to almost every other brake on the market today.
If you advance the piston past the timing port with the lever in the resting position, you have now created a fully closed system between the lever piston and the caliper pistons, where any expansion in fluid volume (as it heats up) will cause the caliper pistons to advance and thus, brake. It's the whole reason the timing port and the expansion reservoir exist to begin with. The only "real" way to adjust the amount of dead stroke in a brake system is to move the timing port or change the hydraulic/mechanical design by altering the ratio between level and caliper piston diameters, or changing the amount of mechanical leverage. These design decisions impact other things, like pad rollback - the higher total leverage you have in the brake (which is what creates lots of stopping power with little finger pressure needed), the less pad rollback you get, which makes the brakes more prone to rubbing for example. This is why SRAM SwingLink and Shimano ServoWave (to name a couple of well-known examples) exist, to push more fluid in the early part of the stroke and then increase the mechanical leverage ratio (which slows down the pad advancement rate) to increase power as you get deeper into the stroke, without having to have the piston sit too close to the timing port in the starting position. Hope did something similar with their latest EVO TR/GR brakes, which also reduced their amount of dead stroke significantly compared to the E4/V4.
TL/DR: they made the brakes the way they made them because reasons.
To add to the swing link, centering Code RSCs on the rotor is a joy compared to centering Code Rs... There's a lot more space between the pads and the rotor.
I went to 10mm bearings on my hope V4s and have never had any locking up issues. Not even close.
Yes, they required some filing to make space but can’t tell on silver levers
I may not have TRPs but I've seen this numerous times. This is an indication of a bad MC piston primary cup seal or an internally ruptured hose. Diagnostic is easy, esp if you have a Shimano bleed cup. Set the lever so the bleed port is in it's bleed position and attach a syringe without the plunger or the Shimano bleed cup (try to keep the syringe facing up if using one). Insert a thick pad spacer or remove the pads and install a bleed block. Add fluid to the cup/syringe. Pull the lever slowly, s l o w l y, and as the lever goes to the bar make note of the fluid level in the syringe/cup. If the fluid is getting sucked into the system and not rising back up, it's a hose. If the fluid raises some on the pull then falls back down to the starting level, it's the MC piston primary seal.
If the fluid is getting sucked back into the system check your brake line at it's tie down points and under the nose cone at the MC to see if there's any obvious kinking going on. If there's an inflection point, that is likely the culprit. Also, you may be able to mic the hose and see if it's swollen compared to the other functioning brake. If so, internal hose rupture is likely confirmed.
If the fluid is just rising and falling, you'll need to contact TRP about a MC rebuild kit. I'm not finding one on their site so can't provide a p#.
FWIW, I just did this diagnostic on a pal's son's Code who was having the exact same issue. The fluid was getting sucked in and the hose was .4mm larger in diameter than the rear. Swapped the line and added a smidge more length to it so it has a smoother transition to the cable guide on his Boxxer when running a number plate. Hope this helps ya!
Thanks - I’ll give that a try. Interestingly I have been looking at new hoses as they are the older TRP ones that are very soft - I do have 2 kinks in the same hose already so I suspect that is the culprit.
That’s an unrelated issue
I’ve had my v4 with that mod for a year with 0 issues
Same my friend and a few customers
100% stock and extremely well performing otherwise. Can you be 100% sure that Hope didn't apply some changes to the later runs of the T4 master cylinders?
Also, I run them with 2.3mm rotors, perhaps that could make a difference, too.
Can’t tell you if they changed anything, if they did it was done without any communication
3 out of the 6 sets were purchased by the distributor as the last run before the Evo came out, and none has any problem of sorts, all running on 2.3 rotors ( latest brakes ) the others are on 2.0 and 1.8
i wasn‘t impressed by the 2 models i rode on test bikes, compared to my intends to be honest. felt like grabbing codes when you are used to XTs.
Can anyone confirm the most recent radic brakes have a steel master cylinder? Mine appears to be plastic
Do you have any experience with Lewis brakes? I've been on Lewis LH4's for the past two seasons and there is literally nothing to indicate poor quality. I haven't had a single issue with them.
I'm upgrading to Hope GR4's, just because I want a bit more power, not because there have been any issues with performance or quality.
I can understand the criticism for their business model, but to say it's a poor quality, crappy product just isn't the case.
Has anyone heard anything further yet on the new Saints? The protos seem to be cropping up on more bikes as opposed to just Jackson's bike halfway through the season.
Worked on multiple AEs ( which are the only one I rate being so cheap ) and LHT/LHP
I believe the quality is a joke for the price, lever anodization disappearing within months, bolts just falling out, masters leaking, master from new full of black particles stopping the fluid, half a caliper discoloring, don’t hold bleed, I’ve seen so much in just like 5 sets alone that is honestly impressive to see people burning real cash for these
When you change pads they NEVER align and need the hole to be bigger, what’s the point to use V4 shape if then they need to be modified or they’re forcing themselves into the pad pin, just beyond me the amount of ficking around needed to make them decent
Plus, the company itself is just a copy cat so it’s worth nothing in my eyes.
So to answer regarding the poor quality, these have been my experiences and why I repute the quality not to match the price asked ( perhaps on yours being significantly cheaper is fine? ) but LHT and P are quite a lot more and in my eyes not worth a cent asked
Weird. Not my experience at all.
I can't speak to issues with anodization (mine are polished silver), but no leaks (masters or calipers), discolouration, bolt issues, bleed issues, etc after two hard years of riding (and I'm pushing roughly 265lbs). The LH4's use the E4 pads, but no issues with alignment. Pads can be a little rattle-y, but not a big deal. Nothing in the two years I rode them have made me question or re-consider my decision to give them a try. I really didn't have any issues with power or stopping, but I want more and that's the only reason I'm changing things up.
Maybe you got unlucky with the test bike brakes you tried? When correctly set up, mavens feel dramatically more powerful than 4 pot XT's or Codes. IMO mavens make saints look like a cross country brake. I went down in n out slab (long steep slab) on 4 pot xt with metallic and I yarding on my front brake like a mother fucker. I wouldn't have any concerns doing that with mavens even on organic pads tbh.
I've only briefly tried Intend and Radic and was impressed by the braking power, but I don't have enough experience on either to offer an actual comparison to mavens.
If you're talking about Lewis, yes they are doing some copying but they are not crappy.
I have the LHT on my DH rig and the build quality is top notch.
That’s refreshing to hear, and I assume is just bad luck in my case since quite a lot of people are happy with them, but yeah that’s it
The power on Mavens is incredible, i’ve never ridden a brake with so much power available.
That said, they’re coming off my DH bike because mine refuse to be consistent for more than half a day. They’ve been worked on by myself and two different shops. They seem plagued by wandering bite points and pump up regardless of piston massages or hocus pocus bleeding rituals.
Nothing kills your flow on trail like a lack of confidence in your brakes. Hopefully (pun intended) my new GR4’s will be better. They seem to have improved my main complaint from the V4.
Agree
I hate inconsistent brakes, one awesome feature about the mt7 was that they were 100% the same top to bottom and fresh/dead pads
The v4 had be almost as good
The gr4 so far are just as good but need more time to have definitive thoughts
So far all the mavens I’ve bled never came back with any issues, I do take my time bleeding them and making sure there’s absolutely no air left in the system, that being said that maxima oil is garbage in my book, it foams like nothing else
So if I were to run mavens that oil would be removed first thing
Am I insane for thinking my hope tech evo GR4s (with stock lever) are like 5-10% less powerful than my T4V4s?
I’m using the exact same pads and rotors between the two generations. Also the bleed is absolutely bomber - no wandering, pumping, or fading.
I’m noticing I’m having to pull just a little harder at the lever to get the same amount of power with the GR4, and it seems to come on slower. Just a little, but still noticeable. Not sure I like it better.
225lbs/102kg on 220mm 2.3mm rotors front and rear with MTX golds.
Am I crazy?
Also just seen this on Andy Kolb's instagram - what's that silver part in front of the rear caliper?
Guessing it's an adapter to make it work w/ the lower axle for the mullet kit (silver dropouts). There's another pic here https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/2026-mtb-tech-rumors-and-innovation…;
I literally swapped v4 to gr4 installing the older used pads on the same everything
And I found a tad less modulation, lots less noise, lever is definitely a bit harder to pull, but the pull is much shorter ( I was also running the 9mm bearings on the cam )
In terms of lever pull I liked the tech 4 better, just lighter feel
I like the shorter stroke on the evo
Power wise I feel these are more aggressive than the v4
Hmmm interesting. I suppose I agree with all of that except the power part. Definitely feel the reduced free stroke and heavier pull. But I do feel the power was slightly reduced. Still a very very powerful brake, just feel like I can’t lock the front up on command like I could with the V4 (not that I’d want to, but it is a gauge of accessible power). Would want to do more back-to-back to confirm. I am using stainless hoses on T4V4 and the stock hoses on the GR4 so not totally apples to apples. Perhaps that has something to do with it.
Post a reply to: Nerding out on Brakes shall we? Not another tech deraliment