Right in the Tech 4 V4 box, you’ll find a fully connected brake, TWO extra sets of brake pads, olive and barb, and mounting hardware. That’s right, you get their Racing compound pads installed in the caliper, PLUS their E-bike compound pads and Organic pads as spares. I’ve never seen another brake come with this many sets of pads, which is definitely a welcome sight to see from Hope. Both their E-bike and Race compound pads have given me loads of power and modulation without wearing out too quickly, but I have yet to test out their Organic pads.

All that power is getting supplied by the calipers, which unsurprisingly also feature some beautiful CNC work on the caliper body. Little fins are built directly into the caliper to help with heat dissipation and keeping everything cool on those long descents. Inside the caliper, it’s a four piston affair, with one pair of larger pistons and a pair of slightly smaller pistons. This is exactly what sets the V4s apart from the E4s, as the E4s only have two sets of the slightly smaller pistons to save a bit of weight. Now I don’t know about you, but the weight difference of the slightly larger piston is well worth any gain in power I can get!

Bleeding the Tech 4 V4s is unlike any other mountain bike brake out there, but actually identical to bleeding a car brake! You won’t be using any special syringes or vacuums, but instead just good old fashion opening and closing the system as you pump the lever. The only tool you need is an 8mm wrench to open and close the caliper bleed port as you pump the lever, and a rag to clean every thing up when you’re done.

Those four pistons do their jobs amazingly well, supplying some of the most power I’ve gotten out of a set of mountain bike brakes. Hope’s reputation precedes them, and all the praise I’ve heard about their power immediately came to life on the first descent. Often times, brakes are judged by how hard you have to pull on the levers to lock the wheels, but with the Tech 4 V4s, I had to be conscious of how lightly I pulled the levers to keep from locking up the wheels.

With how little pressure I had to use to apply tons of power to the brakes, it became a lot easier to stay off the brakes until I hit a braking zone that allowed me to dump all of my speed before a technical section and enter with the perfect speed. That kind of trust in a set of brakes unlocks a confident riding style and lets the bike fade into the background while you rip down the trail.

On the longest steep descents that require a constant and strong presence on the brakes to keep from careening off the hillside, I was able to get these brakes to overheat and start to pump up even with 220mm HS2s front and rear. By the time I got enough heat in these brakes to start changing, my hands and the rest of my body would usually be ready for a break too, so I never really found this to be an issue. But when they did start acting up, the only symptom was the bite point moving further out from the bar but still providing all of its power without missing a beat. A quick bandaid fix for this is pulling over for a second, using the bite point adjustment screw to move the bite point back towards the bar where it belongs, and taking off again. (Just remember to reset it when you get to the bottom!) I also wouldn’t say that these brakes heat up any sooner than other brake options, and are still completely useable when they do get up to a higher than optimal temperature.

For those of you who want to keep your brakes cool as long as possible on the descents and money is no object, Hope does make a 3.3mm vented rotor specifically for the Hope Tech 4 V4 brakes, but they cost a pretty penny and are relatively difficult to come by! With a completely different design to any brake rotor we’ve ever seen, we’re confident that these would dissipate heat more effectively than any other rotor on the market if you’re willing to put up with the added weight of basically having two rotors strapped to each end of your bike!

The Hope Tech 4 V4s are now carrying the torch of my favorite brake system, with their incredible power that feels like it could stop a school bus. Without any finesse, that power is worthless, and the lever adjustments make the power incredibly useable and comfortable. Especially when you take into account the three sets of brake pads each brake comes with and not needing to buy a bleed kit for this brakes, their value is also pretty impressive, at $265 per end.

While they aren’t the lightest brakes around, that’s a product of their overbuilt nature and I personally value the peace of mind from brakes that are built to last. These brakes should be on the short list for anyone looking for fantastically strong brakes that are easy to bleed and are incredibly easy to live with.

Current Bikes: Chromag Lowdown

Bike Size: Medium/Large

Favorite Trails: Oriental Express, Galbraith

About Me: Hailing from the sunny landscape of California, Tor headed north and landed here in the cloudy town of Bellingham, WA. His riding style is "PINNED" and he loves to scope out those seemingly impossible triples. He loves riding and also loves sharing his experiences with others. You can catch Tor in front of the camera or behind the keyboard, but best of luck catching him on the trail!