Hope Trial Zone Tips

[Chakers1998]

Hey guys, first post!

I recently dropped on a 2019 Fourplay Team at a price that I simply couldn't pass on, sold my Flow that had MT7's to make space for the Fourplay and would like to know what the people who are running the Hope Trial Zones do to eek out all the performance? I bought some Jitsie pads from Tartybikes, and the rear brake is noticeably more grabby than before. The front is noticeably less grabby than the rear, and cleaning the discs with Fairy and boiling water plus boiling the pads on the hob in a pan helped to a degree. I think there is a slight bend in the disc as it rubs intermittently, could this cause a less "grabby" brake feel? 

Would also like to know what people who run the Hope v2 rotors at 200mm or 203mm think of the difference between those sizes and 180mm, and whether they are worth it?

Chakers

[Daan]

Congrats on the new bike! TZs are a pretty solid brake, but due to the high pad area pretty sensitive to straight setup and perfectly faced disc mounts. If not perfectly straight, the bite point feels soft. But not less grabby, so a bent disc won't have effect on that. You could try straightening it with an adjustable spanner, but depending on how it's bent, you might do more harm than good. If cleaning rotors and pads with dish washing liquid helped, you could also try cleaning the brake rotors and pads a bit more with some acetone (and sand the pads down a bit). In my experience a 100% success rate for resurrecting dirty rotors (don't forget to clean inside the cutouts too), and has a good chance with dirty pads as well.

As far as rotor size goes: 200 mm will give you noticeably more power, but do you need it? I've always been fine on 180, even on a Hex with bigger wheels, and I weigh 91 kg. The few times I've tried 200, they got bent way too quickly, which got expensive fast.

[Chakers1998]

5 minutes ago, Daan said:

I've always been fine on 180, even on a Hex with bigger wheels, and I weigh 91 kg.

I weigh 113kg...

Quite a bit of weight to stop. 

[Daan]

I'd still give the 180's a shot though, if that's what you've got now. Can always upgrade later if they prove too weak; 200 mm will give you 10% extra leverage over 180. And then get a spare, for when you'll inevitably bend one

[Chakers1998]

1 hour ago, Daan said:

I'd still give the 180's a shot though, if that's what you've got now. Can always upgrade later if they prove too weak; 200 mm will give you 10% extra leverage over 180. And then get a spare, for when you'll inevitably bend one

Thanks for the info, Daan.

[DJEHB]

I’m a pretty weighty guy (95-100kg) and I’m running a 180mm trial zone set up on my 26” hex. I’m using jitsie pads with a trial zone rotor and I’m finding the brake spot on, I’m actually gapping to front further than I used to on my comp bikes.
 

I previously had a 200mm set up (same brake, but sram rotor and normal pads) which I felt was just a bit overkill so made the switch to the above. I think the winning combination for me is to always combine new pads with a new rotor, but that’s certainly not always necessary I just rather eliminate the risk of a poor brake and get on with enjoying the riding (I’m a fussy rider and will not enjoy my bike if anything is off).

[Chakers1998]

@DJEHB

Definitely something wrong with the front brake. I turned the bike upside down to look at how the pistons were being pushed out and retracting, and found that I couldn't push the pistons out past where they already were. I could pull the lever to the bar and it would barely move out and when I put the wheel back in the fork, the lever still pulled to the bar. This has happened twice now; first time I chalked it up to being set up poorly, but I recently bled it and the lever feel was nice and firm until I pumped the brake when the bike was upside down. There is also this weird squelch like sound coming from the lever when I pull the brake now. Have I got busted seals in the master cylinder?

[DJEHB]

3 minutes ago, Chakers1998 said:

@DJEHB

Definitely something wrong with the front brake. I turned the bike upside down to look at how the pistons were being pushed out and retracting, and found that I couldn't push the pistons out past where they already were. I could pull the lever to the bar and it would barely move out and when I put the wheel back in the fork, the lever still pulled to the bar. This has happened twice now; first time I chalked it up to being set up poorly, but I recently bled it and the lever feel was nice and firm until I pumped the brake when the bike was upside down. There is also this weird squelch like sound coming from the lever when I pull the brake now. Have I got busted seals in the master cylinder?

Hopes don’t like operating upside down, or even being upside down at all for that matter. Could simply be down to that. 

[Chakers1998]

The E4's on my MTB have never had this issue when I've had to pump the pistons out to clean them.

[DJEHB]

Prev E4 + V4s I have had even leak oil when upside down so am not sure how you’ve avoided that one

[Chakers1998]

I bought some new pistons and seals for the front, and OMFG this brake is insane! super grabby and super powerful, to the point that the rear feels weak by comparison now. Feel a bit silly for ordering 200mm rotors now, but hey ho they will get used regardless.