Hope Tech 4 X2 brakes review

Trail-bike brakes with tons of adjustment on offer

This competition is now closed

By Tom Marvin

Published: December 13, 2022 at 8:00 am

Hope’s lighter-weight caliper is paired with its new Tech 4 lever, boasting 30 per cent more pressure than the previous version of the brake.

The Tech 4 lever is all new, with Hope offering it across its range of cross-country, trail and enduro/DH brakes.

It features a new lever blade that’s longer than the Tech 3 lever, giving additional leverage according to Hope.

The question is, do these improvements make the Hope Tech 4 X2 our downcountry brake of choice?

The CNC’d aluminium blade has a subtle bend halfway along its length, as well as a knurled end to stop your fingers pulling off the end during hard braking. The blade features dimples where your fingers pull, to offer improved grip.

The blade also pivots on sealed roller bearings, while internal seals offer reduced friction, with Hope claiming this allows a lighter spring rate for the lever return. The lever has both bite-point and lever-reach adjustment tool-free dials.

The lever attaches to the bar with an easy-to-use hinged clamp. Shifter and dropper lever mounts are available, with Hope claiming there’s 30 degrees of angle adjustment, as well as the ability to run them either side of the lever clamp. Given the overall length of the brake levers, this is beneficial.

The one-piece X2 calipers hold two pistons and push on Hope’s Racing Compound pads, designed to give impressive initial bite and high overall power. The hose banjo is adjustable, aiding rear-triangle hose routing. Piston caps can be specced with one of six colour accents, while the calipers and levers are offered in silver or black.

Bleeding the brakes is easier with Hope’s bleed pot and replacement top cap system, however the Tech 4 lever requires a different top cap to the Tech 3 lever.

I’ve had reasonable success with a more traditional repeated filling of the reservoir, though of course it’s a little messy. It’s not quite as sophisticated as syringe-based offerings, but with patience, I’ve found a good bleed can be achieved.

I tested these brakes with Hope’s floating rotor. Hope offers the X2 caliper with a Flat Mount option – commonly found on road bikes and gravel bikes, but also mountain bikes such as the Orbea Oiz.

Hope’s CNC’d finish has many admirers, however I found the overall finish, especially on the lever-adjustment dials, to be a little sharp. I’d like the edges to be a little softer to make adjustments a little more comfortable on workshop-weary hands.

The adjustments themselves are broad in their range, so getting the individual levers to your preference is fairly easy. However, I’ve found balancing both levers to be a little tricky at times.

This is because I’ve had some variability in the factory bleeds across the four Hope brakes I’ve tested recently (including two Tech 4 V4 systems).

I found this diminished once I’d bled the brakes, and cut the hoses to length. If you feel your fresh brakes are a little ‘wooden’ or spongey, I’d recommend giving them a bleed, even if you’re on a factory bleed.

Power is delivered early in the brake’s stroke, with the race pads grabbing the rotors in an assertive but controllable manner. The bite is almost instant, but avoids being harsh or overly grabby on slippery terrain.

There’s a fair amount of non-progressive lever travel, where power levels only grow marginally. Then, at the very end of the stroke, the full force of the brakes can be felt.

This results in plenty of power modulation – it’s easy to control the application of power through the lever pull. Some will love this classic Hope feel; some, though, may find the brakes’ long lever travel, before the maximum power is achieved, not to their taste.

In our stopping tests, power proved mid-table, sitting somewhere between dedicated XC race brakes and more enduro-leaning offerings.

The lever blade is sprung, and though the lever internals and pistons have been designed with reduced friction, they don’t have the lightest-feeling lever around. Likewise, the spring acting against your finger muscles can contribute slightly towards hand fatigue.

The Tech 4 X2 stands out as an excellent trail bike brake, bridging the gap between skinny two-pot stoppers and those with eye-popping power.

On the surface, the construction is excellent, though after digging deeper I felt the finish could be improved a touch.

However, riders who like plenty of adjustment, want a light but powerful brake and like Hope’s signature feel will appreciate the extra power the Tech 4 lever provides.

This year, our expert reviewers have tested a selection of the best mountain bike brakes, split into two broad genres.

First, there’s a selection of the most powerful stoppers, aimed at downhill, enduro and electric mountain bike riders. We’ve kitted these brakes out with 200mm rotors front and rear to get the most out of their four-piston calipers and tested them on an e-MTB and our enduro bikes.

The second cohort is targeted at cross-country and downcountry riders, who still need plenty of stopping power without upsetting the scales. These two- and four-piston brakes grab onto 180mm and 160mm rotors in our testing, fitted to our downcountry test rig.

Before hitting the trail, we gave each brake a full going over in our workshop. Hoses were cut to get the brakes fitting neatly and to check out how easily they’re bled at home. We weighed and measured them, making sure no detail was missed.

We lined our levers up against SRAM and Shimano shifters to see which play nicely and weighed up the balance of cost and spec in order to reach our conclusions.

Senior technical editor

Tom Marvin is a technical editor at BikeRadar.com and MBUK magazine. He has a particular focus on mountain bikes, but spends plenty of time on gravel bikes, too. Tom has written for BikeRadar, MBUK and Cycling Plus, and was previously technical editor of What Mountain Bike magazine. He is also a regular presenter on BikeRadar’s YouTube channel and the BikeRadar podcast. With more than twenty years of mountain biking experience, and nearly a decade of testing mountain and gravel bikes, Tom has ridden and tested thousands of bikes and products, from super-light XC race bikes through to the most powerful brakes on the market. Outside of testing bikes, Tom competes in a wide range of mountain bike races, from multi-day enduros through to 24-hour races in the depths of the Scottish winter – pushing bikes, components and his legs to their limits. He’s also worked out that shaving your legs saves 8 watts, while testing aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. When not riding he can be found at the climbing wall, in his garden or cooking up culinary delights.