Chakers1998 Posted April 14, 2023 Report Share Posted April 14, 2023 I wanted to give this brake mod a try because I found that Hope Trial Zone brakes have too much bite on the front, even with 180mm rotors and the standard red pads. The idea first came when I looked at the brake spares on TartyBikes and found that the Echo Tr and Trial Zone pistons were compatible; so, I thought that the seals would surely be the same size, which they are, give or take a tiny amount. The next stage was getting a mineral oil lever, and I wanted a Shimano one because their Servowave system in my mind would give more modulation compared to a linear leverage ratio lever. @onzatpro09 very kindly lent me a Saint m820 lever to test this mod. After 6 months my observations have been: The power on full squeeze is as good as the Trials Zones and MT7s that I have used but this has more modulation than either of those brakes in my opinion. The lever throw is short and can be made incredibly short if the lever is overfilled. I have not noticed any degradation in brake performance, which was common with the Trial Zones and required constant maintenance to work at their peak. I have not had to touch this brake for the 6 months that I have tested it. I haven’t had to bleed it and it hasn’t leaked. The visible confusion when explaining using a Shimano lever with a Hope calliper is always a bonus. Should anyone wish to do this mod themselves, these are the steps that I took, and it is as easy as changing a pair of worn or perished calliper seals. How things started The first step was to completely dissemble the calliper and clean any DOT fluid that was inside. I used Loctite SF 7063, and this stuff is amazing at cleaning any contaminants. I also used this to flush out any DOT that was in the brake hose. Next, was to pop the Echo seals in. I gave the pistons and where they sit a good coat of Hunters silicon grease. After that, it was just a case of popping the pistons back in and this is where I noticed that the Echo seals have a slightly smaller internal diameter than the Hope seals, but I have not noticed the lever feeling hard to pull. One finished calliper. Then it was time to assemble everything into a working brake using the Shimano barb and olive. I didn’t have a bleed funnel for Shimano brakes, so a zip tie had to do. Thanks to Ali C for this hack. How it finished 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Private Repress Posted April 14, 2023 Report Share Posted April 14, 2023 (edited) I thought my shiguras were exotic, but this is impressive! Now you need to settle on name… Homano? Shimope? Haha Edited April 15, 2023 by Private Repress 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chakers1998 Posted April 14, 2023 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2023 15 minutes ago, Private Repress said: I thought I was my shiguras were exotic, but this is impressive! Now you need to settle on name… Homano? Shimope? Haha I think that SHope got settled on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javimic Posted May 21, 2023 Report Share Posted May 21, 2023 I'll keep that in mind for the future! I could combine some shimano zee levers with the hope TZ calipers. By now I'm using mt7 and I love them, but it's always nice to try something exotic! As for the name, I give Shimope a vote. 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaderaMark Posted June 19, 2023 Report Share Posted June 19, 2023 i have an old echo tr levers with magura mt2 caliper on my echo 26.... dping well for year, should i call it "MagEcho or EchoGura"..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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