Hope brakes on a Whyte e150rs

[EMTBSEAN]

It’s coming to that time of year again and my family have been asking me what I want for my 58th birthday, I’d really like a full Hope brake setup, ie levers, callipers and rotors mainly because the Sram ones I have aren’t great, and also because the Hope brakes look awesome and I’m a Hope tart as well anyway my question is this, can it be done on my bike without too much hassle, ideally I’d like to reuse the rear hose unless it’s not too hard to re-route the Hope brake hose through my frame, any help would be appreciated please especially anyone who has done this on a V1 2020 Whyte e150rs/s also would I need any special tools to assemble the hoses etc, thanks guys 🫡

 

[Mamba90]

I will at some point be embarking on replacing my Code RSCs for Hope V4. The fact its hard to get the silver/purple setup is actually good for me as its making me pause/I'm skint. If I were you I'd replace the lot. I would not be minded to reuse the hoses. Obviously routing the rear will be more faffy but you can insert a special screw in thingy that attaches to new and old simultaneously - thus allowing you to pull the new one through using the old hose. The price I am looking at with vented rotors is not insubstantial. Please post pics when you are done so I can admire your work. I feel hope are pretty easy to bleed btw.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Thanks for your feedback Mamba90, I wasn’t aware of the screw in gizmo so thanks for pointing that out to me, I’ll see if I can get my mitts on one, I think I might need a new grommet for my bike, I’ve got time to get all the stuff/tools I’m going to need for the upgrade, if anyone else has any advice that might help I’d appreciate that please

 

[Stoffel]

I’ve got Hope V4’s on my E160 with floating rotors.

Maybe ask how much your LBS would charge to supply and fit them. I think they charged me about £80 fitting charge plus they supplied the brake kit for around £60 less than I could find online.

Paying £20 to save a lot of time and phaff was definitely worth it for me.

 

[Mamba90]

I think it's one of these:

Reverb Barb Connector - TL-RVBT-BC-A1 - RockShox - Service

Reverb Barb Connector, TL-RVBT-BC-A1, RockShox

www.sram.com

 

[Healy]

I have hope tech 4 e4 with the hope floating rotors on my Whyte e180. The are like night and day compared to the sram brakes. Brilliant brakes. Tested a megawatt the other week and it came with hayes dominion brakes. On par with hope

 

[Healy]

The bike shop fitted them for me. They had to drop the motor. Think you may be able to use the existing hose tho. You will need to change olive and insert tho

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I’ve got Hope V4’s on my E160 with floating rotors.

Maybe ask how much your LBS would charge to supply and fit them. I think they charged me about £80 fitting charge plus they supplied the brake kit for around £60 less than I could find online.

Paying £20 to save a lot of time and phaff was definitely worth it for me.

Thanks for letting me know mate, I’ll get in touch with my LBS and see how much they can do this upgrade for me, it’s taken a bit of a back seat as I’ve had some bad news, I have discovered that I have cataract in my eyes so I’m facing surgery again, I will check it out but all of a sudden it’s not so important

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Thanks for all your help and advice guys, it’s very much appreciated 🫡

 

[mike156]

I've had hope Tech 3 E4 and Hope Tech 4 V4 brakes along with their floating rotors. I'd opt for V4s and different rotors. The E4s run into pad taper issues and the 1.8mm thick rotors don't last long. I and a friend have both had issues with the hope rotors running in to the brake posts on the fork too. The "rivets" stick out pretty far and you can get unlucky on some forks. The different piston sizes on the V4 fix the pad taper issues. Get some 2.3mm rotors as they fit fine in the V4s and the extra mass helps as the 1.8s overheat. The outer diameter of the 1.8s always wore quicker on me and going to 2.3s has helped.

The purple ebike pads are pretty great. The greens bite hard initially, almost too hard on the front. But I've had problems with them fading.

None of my friends like the way the Hopes feel though. Might want to try some out before your buy. Most brakes are soft to pull until they get very firm all at once. The hopes tend to start very soft (just pulling against the return spring), but then ramp up smoothly. My buddies say they feel spongy but to me it feels right, the harder you pull, the more they stop and full stop is almost to the bars on mine.

The tech 3 I feel had the better level shape, and you could run them tight against the grips if you used the hope shifter mounts to get a good position on the shifter/dropper. The Tech 4s still feel pretty good and do work better than the tech 3 if you have the shifter/dropper mounted separately from the brakes. I have had the tech 4s be sticky though when the lever doesn't return fully on its own.

They sure look great though, much more like MX brakes, and they bleed easily.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Thanks Mike for your detailed reply mate, I might have to look into this more in-depth as I have Revgrips which are quite chunky grips, I have had issues with the AXS shifter paddle with the Revgrips so it would be prudent for me to do more research with regards to that alone, would I be right in saying that Hope sell a separate mount to move the levers out a little off the bars to avoid this issue, would it be better to fit the adapter to move the callipers out a little to avoid the rotors rivets, I have done some reading and decided upon the V4’s already as I’m not exactly a lightweight rider but I didn’t know the thicker rotors fitted them so thanks for pointing that out to me mate 🫡

 

[Wilko58]

Thanks Mike for your detailed reply mate, I might have to look into this more in-depth as I have Revgrips which are quite chunky grips, I have had issues with the AXS shifter paddle with the Revgrips so it would be prudent for me to do more research with regards to that alone, would I be right in saying that Hope sell a separate mount to move the levers out a little off the bars to avoid this issue, would it be better to fit the adapter to move the callipers out a little to avoid the rotors rivets, I have done some reading and decided upon the V4’s already as I’m not exactly a lightweight rider but I didn’t know the thicker rotors fitted them so thanks for pointing that out to me mate 🫡

I've got RevGrip Pro's and Hope V4s and don't have any issues. I've changed my dropper lever to a Wolftooth light action but left it on it's own mount rather than the Hope adapter as it would have been too far into the grips. See photo.

 

[Wilko58]

I should add that the rear caliper can have issues clearing the magnet but I didn't - you do need to put a washer under the magnet mount though as the floating rotors have a dip in them.

 

[Mikehorti]

ideally I’d like to reuse the rear hose unless it’s not too hard to re-route the Hope brake hose through my frame

I also have an e-150rs and found rerouting the rear brake hose rather difficult, even using a cable routing tool. I had to take the motor housing cover off to help the hose through. It’s very tight in there and the hose has to bend sharply around the motor and it snags easily

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Fantastic responses to my question, I have just ordered my brakes off the back of reading these replies, I have the fatter Revgrips but they’re not much fatter, I also have the same Kiox controller too, a picture paints a thousand words I have to order the barbed routing tool and the rotors and a bleed kit, all in good time, I may have to ask more questions about this but I’m really grateful for all the help you guys have given me so far

 

[Wilko58]

Fantastic responses to my question, I have just ordered my brakes off the back of reading these replies, I have the fatter Revgrips but they’re not much fatter, I also have the same Kiox controller too, a picture paints a thousand words I have to order the barbed routing tool and the rotors and a bleed kit, all in good time, I may have to ask more questions about this but I’m really grateful for all the help you guys have given me so far

Hope do a great bleed kit and it isn't much more expensive than generic kits.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Hope do a great bleed kit and it isn't much more expensive than generic kits.

Thanks for your reply Wilko58, I have been shopping around for a bleed kit and I have to agree the Hope bleed kit does look better in build quality and materials, I’m not surprised though as most of the Hope stuff seems to be like that, thanks for your feedback though mate

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Following on from these replies I have bought myself a Hope easy bleed kit but the Reverb stealth barb gizmo is another story altogether, I found one on eBay but it’s over £15 with postage, some greedy little wannabe entrepreneur I might not even need it as I have some movement on my brake hose, I bought a Park Tool copycat cable routing kit for my old shifter setup, I’ll try that first before buying the barb gizmo, I’m not a tight ass, it’s the principle of the thing

 

[Wilko58]

Where are you Sean? You can have the one I've got

 

[steve_sordy]

.............., I’m not a tight ass, it’s the principle of the thing

I so identify with that!

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I’m in Sheffield mate, you’re not an imposting southerner though Steve

 

[Wilko58]

I’m in Sheffield mate, you’re not an imposting southerner though Steve

Bit too far to collect but I'll post it if you can wait? Message me with your address if you want it.

 

[steve_sordy]

I’m in Sheffield mate, you’re not an imposting southerner though Steve

I was born further north than Sheffield, still in Yorkshire though.
I left Bradford in 1977. Although my dialect had to go fairly quickly and my accent has slowly changed over the years, I am still recognisably "Northern". To those that have an ear for it, I am still from Bradford. About five years ago, I met a guy from Manchester when on holiday in Tenerife and he said that I was "unmistakeably from Bradford"!

My Dad was a Geordie and I still have some of his twang. I can still mostly understand Geordies when they are in full flow, but I can't speak it!

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I ride off-road though pal

 

[Wilko58]

I ride off-road though pal

Did you get your brakes fitted?

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Not yet, I’m waiting for my rotors to arrive but even if they arrive this week I’m doing a plumbing job this weekend I get that done in time to do my brakes plus I need to source the correct sensor magnet

 

[2WheelsNot4]

also would I need any special tools to assemble the hoses etc

No. 2x8mm spanners to do up the hoses, and I fitted the barb by bashing it in with a rubber mallet.
I would say just make sure you get the hoses cut squarely, but thats the same on any brake hose.

Master cylinder covers are T10- torx(I think its 10, pretty sure, just cant think offhand)