Daan

Always a good idea to let your customers test your products. Since they were also micro leaking at the caliper piston end, I've thrown on some Shiguras to do some more product testing. No wandering bite point at all, and that for a Shimano. Also, even on a bleed block, the T4 bite point consistently keeps coming out. It is consistent, in that it always does so by the same amount. Don't know if it's normal for the T4, or if my set is from the beta batch in this regard too, but the difference between initial bite point and bite point after repeated application is too large in my book.

@AdamR28Yeah I guess some pump-up is to be expected. But, have tested this on a Hayes Dominion A2, which didn't seem to pump up at all, and on a Hope Tech 3 V4, which did pump up a bit, but not nearly as much as this one, plus you really had to be much faster with flicking the lever for it to happen. You actually notice this on the T4 while doing back wheel hop stuff. @craigjames think that's a different issue, but could perhaps be this: https://vstatic.mtb-news.de/videos/2/8/4/4/5/1/_/video/487c190_154482_trim.ADF023FE-864D-4895-BA38-346EBBF6A4EA.m4v Has to do with a faultily sized lever piston/body combo due to an error with one of the CNC machines. Don't know why they didn't do a recall of the affected brakes, as there were quite a few. Had the same problem on mine, had to go back to Hope for them to fix it.

Wondered if any of the Tech 4 user's here recognize this? Basically, squeezing the lever a few times in succession makes the bite point come out a good centimeter. When you look at the caliper, the pistons retract quite slowly. It's very annoying. Both front and rear have it, front slightly less bad. Brakes are basically brand new (and have been leaking past the caliper pistons a bit too much too, but that's another story).

Only reason was pimpness 😁 Had issues with my rear Hope hub, bought an Industry Nine and thought I might as well go all in with a carbon rim. But of a waste of money but hey, bike sits in my office so I'm looking at it all day long. As for the inserts, I've been using the Nukeproof ARD for a few years now, and they're ok. Not great, because they stretch enormously. I've had to remove them and cut them down some more I think 3 times already, otherwise they rattle around in your tyre, which I find really annoying. But protection must be alright, as they look pretty beat up and my rim doesn't. And they're not too expensive compared to other inserts and come with valves. Though for a piece of foam it's still rediculous of course 😋

Yeah, have one on the front and used to have one on the rear too, no probs running them tubeless, no flopping tyres either. Running around 2 bar pressure.

Don't forget to clean off the caliper with a good amount of alcohol when you're done, to get rid of any silicone where it shouldn't be.

Tried a good cleaning and relubing of the pistons? Remove pads, let the pistons come out a bit (not too far), (tooth)brush with alcohol, and give it a good scrubbing. Then some silicone spray on the pistons, push them back in, squeeze them out again, silicone spray, back in, etc etc a couple of times.

Haha yeah, with the 110 it's certainly high One ride with the 90, and all feels very familiar again. Though my riding has absolutely suffered from that wrist breakage, not that I feel it much or think about it while doing a move, but the flow and the bit of suppleness that I had are just not there. Frustrating!

I've only got 5 mm to play with on my Silex with this stem unfortunately, figured that won't matter much. The Inspired fork had a bit more steerer length. Yup, great little tool! For ultimate nerdiness I've always thought it'd be great if you could input and compare different head angle plus stem combo's too. Might whip something up when I've got some more time on my hands

So, tried the 110 mm for one ride, don't like it too much. Front end is a bit too high for my liking. Going to put a regular 90 mm one on now, like everyone else

Have you tried the 35°x110 mm stem yet @Tharun Shiv ? I actually misremembered, my current stem is 20x70, so same reach as a 35x90 but about 3 cm lower. My Hex had a good deal more stackers with this same stem, and bunny hops remain a bit awkward on the TMS, so think I could use some more height. Figure I might as well try 110 right away with my 187 cm, but on the other hand, that's not very street Edit: went ahead and ordered the 110 stem, lets see how we get on!

The Trialtech fluid is just water with some additives. I'd only bother it if you think your pads are not retracting fast enough.

Haha well, every day of not being able to do any sports is a day too many Good thing it happened in winter though! How are you running your bars, rolled forwards a bit? I'm using a 80x25 stem myself, bars about vertical, feels pretty good at 187 cm. Though I don't seem to be all that sensitive to small changes on a bike. Loving the silver rims @onzatpro09. How do you find those Schwalbe tyres?

Slowly getting better, thanks man! Was cleared by the surgeon last week, he told me I could use it to the full again. Range of motion isn't quite there yet, certain movements feel pretty uncomfortable, and especially strength has decreased dramatically. My arm is about half the size that it was, pull up and push up reps have decimated and feel very tough. So still a ways to go there. Gave it a go on the bike as well last week, which felt good but also tough. Good is the wrist held up pretty well, harder to swallow was that everything felt extremely wooden, and front wheel moves felt near impossible as my hand tended to misplace itself on the brake lever and collapse, even wearing one of those fancy Mobius braces. Also, mentally definitely not there yet. Still, felt good to start with my comeback

I would definitely rate the Ikon above the Crossmark, more grip in the wet. I also liked the Racing Ralph, but unfortunately it didn't last at all under my riding, tore off knobs left and right. Using the Conti Race King Protection now, not bad, but Ikon has more grip. The Vittoria Barzo or Mezcal are worth a look too. And a bit more knobby, but the Specialized Ground Control could be interesting too, especially if you ride more than just smooth concrete, and can be had for pretty cheap at Bike24. I ride everything with an insert on the rear btw.

I like this a lot! Always wanted to try one myself, as you say, looks super chuckable. Too bad Alias is sort of out of business now.

What Adam says. I find sanding away the paint on the back of the pads helps (it's what the pistons do after a while anyway).

Thanks! Still amazed how such a slow and simple crash can cause this much damage. Surgery on Monday, fingers crossed!

Cheers guys. Unfortunately broke my wrist badly yesterday testing out the TMS, in the most stupid manner, mistiming a simple 180 off a low bank. I'm out for a good while, so will only looking at my bike the coming months

Thanks man! Be curious to hear your thoughts on the 24 v 26. I came from a 24" Ozonys street trials machine myself, and really had to adjust to the mega flexyness of 26" bikes. Much more relaxed on the rear wheel though, and also a bit less cramped on the bike (not too short myself). Though nowhere near as much room as on my friend's 26" comp bike. However, that bike feels as if it will last only two rides under me Thanks! Don't really know if it will last longer with it being steel, the Hex was gusseted like mad, huge welds too. The Silex looks super sleek and slim in comparison. I don't really know about the fork, disc mount looks a bit fragile and on a whole seems a bit less thought out than the frame (whoever thought it was a good idea to weld a cable guide on the inside of the fork exactly where the edge of the tyre sits? Pretty useless, even without a cable clipped in it rubs on my tyre). Anyways, time will tell. Let us know how you get on with yours! The Hex broke on the rear disc mount, right where the weld is and where the reinforced part ends. It must have been cracked slightly there for a while, and then completely failed when I bunny hopped up a wall. Never noticed it unfortunately, hard to notice too with it being below the weld and with the dark frame colour, so the break was quite spectacular. Frame was three years old. Used it quite a bit, reckon 2 rides a week on average. Never expected it to fail though, since that Ozonys lasted six years (with even worse technique ), and was still in one piece when I replaced it with the Hex. Here's a pic:

Nice man! Your pics were the final push I needed to decide for the TMS as well

Unfortunately broke my Hex last week, so was on the lookout for a new frame to swap my parts to. Not that much choice, especially not on short notice: Inspired came through with an offer for another Hex frameset, but decided to go for the TMS. Shipping was fast from France, so here it is already! One short and wet ride in, rear end feels surprisingly solid. Front is a bit flexier than the Hex. Feels really good on the rear wheel, also seems slightly easier to turn/spin on the rear than the Hex. Bunny hop needs slightly different timing/input. Need to give it some proper time and tuning, but so far I like it. Hope it lasts as long as my old Ozonys, as in, unbreakable, even by me

Well, here's another one. Don't know if its weird, too much power, bad luck or a production fault with that weld right there, but it's a first for me: Broke my Inspired Hex yesterday, quite catastrophically. Fortunately not broken myself!

Yes, that's why I wonder why they didn't go for 9 mm. Hayes have done so with the Dominions, which have the same slave piston area as the V4. The T4 lever on the V4 caliper has a tight enough free stroke to be able to handle that. Hardly notice a difference in this regard to the the T3 lever.

All calipers flex quite a bit of you look at them closely, even big ones like the Hayes Dominion, Magura MT5-7, Hope V4. Or maybe especially big ones, since they usually see forces that are quite a bit higher than weaker brakes. As you say, always a trade off between weight and flex. Don't know really why Hope didn't go with 9 mm MCs like Hayes, Trickstuff and TRP, for just that bit more oompf. Having used the V4 T4 quite a bit, I feel they could have. But in the end it's all a trade off between leverage and stroke, and feel at the bite point. Go too small on your MC, and you would need a lot more lever stroke to move the slave pistons the same amount. You could make pad clearance smaller to make up for this. But there's only so much you can play with, as you still want to be able to set up the brake without it rubbing the disc. A solution to this are variable cams like Shimano Servo Wave or SRAM Swing Link. They modify the lever stroke, so leverage at the beginning of the stroke is low and pad movement high, and at the end of the stroke, leverage is high and pad movement little. Then again, it makes for a non linear feel, and when executed poorly, uneven and a lot of wear on the MC piston/bore (looking at you Shimano).