For those still unsure about this, don't be put off by this experience. I have fitted RX4+ in place of SRAM red calipers and can only report a WOW experience. I now have a similar feel to my 4pot Mountain bike brakes. Noise free (widen the spring a little), high modulation and amazing stopping power for alpine descents (my home). Works well also with Trickstuff power+ pads.

I have these on my Contend AR front and rear using 105 R7000 levers, I use the TRP floating rotors and spent time making sure all the pistons move in sync. Brakes are amazing and feel solid. I also changed the bore caps for blue (to match the frame) and I also use braided hose which does make a difference to feel. Always used Hope on my MTB’s and so happy they offered a road/gravel option.

@nimbuscycles2354

3 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear you were able to get them setup well!

@alexlai2580

2 жыл бұрын

Jason, what instructions did you use to make sure the pistons move in sync? Printed ones that came with the calipers or the official Hope video on YT?

I had many similar issues, but I managed to solve all of them, and they are fantastic now. It was a bit of a nightmare TBH but I hope that if you read this it might save you some of the pain. 1. I had RX4, but if you upgrade to RX4+ you can run a 140mm rear, there is a specific caliper for this. 2. I went through many rotors, including Hope, but settled eventually on TRP 25 centrelock rotors, they work super well in terms of braking, take no time with new pads, and come in all the sizes. Reasonably priced too. I went for 140 rear and 180 front with a block made by an English manufacturer, Peak Torque. 3. The biggest problem by far was squealing with the red and blue pads which come in the box. Absolutely unbearable. I found that Hope Green felt pretty good, lots of initial bite and power, and modulation, but they made a horrible noise when cold at the front. I tried many different pads, many manufacturers, most were ok but there was always a problem, brake felt bad or took too long to run in, squeal etc etc.. ..but eventually found a company called Sinter.si and tried their Green pads..and bingo! - High initial bite but super progressive, pull hard and there is loads of power...fantastic feel...and no noise whatsoever. They run in almost instantly also. This was the biggest problem solved. 4. Setup. The pistons are sometimes sticky when new, I push them out by using only one of the aluminium blocks, and put a little oil on them then push them back then clean them. They usually settle in after about a week. I found that getting the clearance took some time, I used a white paper background and did it by eye, and pinched the mount bolts so I could move the caliper by hand until all the clearances were equal. This took quite some time to get it perfect. Since then there's no disc rubbing at all, no noise, I haven't needed to do any further setting. They just work now, and very well.

You have to remove the caliper from the frame to bleed it if it’s mounted on the chainstay - as the bleed port has to be above the pistons during bleeding.

To remove all the air from the rear calliper, it needs to be removed from the frame and positioned so the bleed port is higher than the pistons. I’ve just done the same on my Ridley.

I have a set of RX4 on my factor O2. The rear is working fine, but the front is a nightmare for me. The slight bend for the brake line in the front, makes aligning the caliper very difficult.

@nimbuscycles2354

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing, do you find the brakes to perform any better? I’d love them to have better modulation but it seems that issues with flat calipers aren’t limited to Hope. I believe sram at one point had to update theirs due to some issues (not clearance related I think). Also do you have to fiddle with the calipers regularly?

How is the clearence? I want to replace a Sram force with the hope to improve the clearance for gravel riding

@nimbuscycles2354

3 жыл бұрын

Clearance so far has been pretty awful. I thought the shimano ultegra calipers had limited clearance, but never had issues. I spent a few hours trying to get it to clear properly. I still have a pretty light but consistent rub. Hopefully with a little bit of riding it will wear down and silence itself.

@chris1275cc

3 жыл бұрын

if you want better clearance from older Sram Hydro flat mount brakes you have 3 options. 1. Get Hope floating rotors, they are 1.6mm new vs Srams 1.85 or Shimanos 1.80 This is the cheapest option in the short term but may be expensive in the long run and will improve but not fix clearance issues. 2. Replace the older type calliper with the newer Axs type (yes it will work I'm running them from rival no issues whatsoever). This is the most expensive option out right but probably the best one, I measured just over 1mm extra clearance vs the old type making clearance better than Shiminao and depending on where you live it could be cheaper than the hope callipers in this vid. 3. Replace the callipers with any single pot DOT fluid MTB callipers with the help of flat to post mount adapters. Depending on the callipers you choose this could be almost as cheap as option 1 but its a bit ugly and you can have clearance issues in the rear triangle depending on the frame size/design.

@nimbuscycles2354

3 жыл бұрын

@@chris1275cc My Sram rotors actually measured in at about 1.6mm at the time of trying these calipers out. So that might not end up being a good solution, at least not for the Shimano version. Thanks for the information though, I always thought Hopes rotors were thicker. I had a pair on my previous MTB and they just seemed beefier/heavier but I didn't measure with a digital caliper. Thank you for sharing!

@chris1275cc

3 жыл бұрын

@@nimbuscycles2354 Hi, just to be clear it is ONLY Hope Floating "lightweight" rotors that are thinner, their standard rotors are 1.8 like Shimano. The thing with Hope callipers in my experience is although they are a tight fit the pistons always return fully to their original positions and pretty quickly where as Sram and to a lesser extent Shimano are a little more hit and miss. So apart from a little rub when new as soon as the callipers and pads have been broken in the tight clearance becomes a none issue. One thing you can try is remove the pads and bend out the return spring a little this causes the pistons to be pushed back a little further.

The RX-4 calipers have very little clearance, so getting rid of rubbing on the rotor is nearly impossible. Even thin 1.7 mm thick rotors rub. SRAM 2.0 mm rotors won’t fit. I could not get rid of rotor “squeal” on the rear, despite trying every tweak I could think of. I ended up returning the calipers and re-installed my 2-piston Shimano calipers. I think the RX-4’s need some better engineering to be useful.

@nimbuscycles2354

Жыл бұрын

Definitely agree here, ended up doing the same :/

@Liplip40

Жыл бұрын

Wow. Glad I read this! Thx

4:05 You actually can go smaller on the rear with the "new" (2021) RX4+: Buy the STD variant; black: HBSPC75N.

did you get your issue sorted out?

@nimbuscycles2354

3 жыл бұрын

Shop guy said I bled it fine, I likely don’t have air in the system. He recommend just riding it out so the pads wear down a tad. Someone on one of the other forums I was reading said he shaved about .3mm off the pads and was good to go. I may try that if it bugs me enough.

@alexlai2580

2 жыл бұрын

Hello, I have the same issue, front caliper, outer set of pistons will not, for the life of me retract. I bought a brand new custom bike and the mech also has the same calipers. Rather than the builder holding my bike to keep trouble shooting it, it was delivered to me and I was told to ride it. I probably put maybe 120 miles on it and the seals / pistons ever broke in. I resorted to getting a replacement and guess what? Same f***ing issue! Also thought maybe it was the MC in the lever that was causing it. Did nothing. So if your shop / mech is giving the same advice, to just ride it, that’s concerning. Btw, does the mech have experience working with Hope brake calipers?

cool looking design , great idea but, poor engineering for these calipers. i have the RX4 on my EVO and the RX4+ on my CAAD13. both are nightmares to align and you really have to maintain them every 2 to 3 weeks. tonight while trying to figure out why my rear rotors were so loud, i noticed the one of the pistons was cracked and leaking a little fluid. i am going back to SRAM calipers. i have had these for about 3 years and it has not been fun. maybe Hope are good for MTB, but, not for road. Hope should at least recall the RX4+. soo many issues from everyone. they will not replace them under warranty because they believe it is not their issue, it is always user error. lead-time for replacement are just ridiculous. my recommendation to everyone looking into these is, do not!!! not worth it!!

@SabianDB02

Жыл бұрын

what do mean by maintain every 2-3 weeks?

@TheExtremePower

Жыл бұрын

@@SabianDB02 you have to remove the wheels and make sure that all pistons are moving in sync. if they are not, which is typically the case, then, you have to push the pistons in and pump the leveler until all pistons are in sync. this is every 2 to 3 weeks. these for sure are not worth the headaches. i have the rx4 and the rx4 +, same issue for both models

Looks cool and like the weight savings but I think sticking to my grx for less hassle.

@nimbuscycles2354

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely, it’s definitely more work to run these. Probably not suitable for the folks who prefer to set it and forget it. Hopefully (pun intended) they’ll come out with an updated version of these which is more user friendly.

@alexlai2580

2 жыл бұрын

I think the group with most hassle are people who are using the SRAM version.

few month update review would be neat

@nimbuscycles2354

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Melissa, unfortunately after few rides I decided to part with the hope caliper. Getting the pistons positioned properly and the clearance was just too much work. It could be my frame but it was nearly impossible to keep the pads from rubbing. Switched back to my ultegra caliper with a 140mm rotor. It’s suitable for 90% of my riding but occasionally when I wish I had a mtb it feels like the “extra” braking power would be nice. Thinking to maybe switch to a 160mm rotor in the rear. I’ve got quite the backlog of videos to edit and post but it has been really hard working, going to school, and trying to squeeze everything in. If you do have any specific questions I’ll answer to the best of my knowledge/experience with the caliper though. Thanks for watching.

@mellissanash7517

2 жыл бұрын

@@nimbuscycles2354 thank you for the reply

140mm or 160mm rotor???

@nimbuscycles2354

2 жыл бұрын

Position defaults to 160 on these calipers as I recall.

Hey man same issue alignment is a bitch with these.

@nimbuscycles2354

3 жыл бұрын

Sorry to hear you’re having the same issue. I gave up and put the stock Shimano one back on. It just wasn’t worth the headache. Stopping power of the shimano calipers is enough.

I have the RX4+ piston too. New and has never been driven. Brake vented. Everything cleaned. Wheel installed. The brake was tightened properly three times and the oil ran out of the large pistons. My first Hope brake. Conclusion= garbage What you feel on your brakes is called a doughy pressure point. This is absolute garbage

the word your looking for is modulation :)

@nimbuscycles2354

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!