Hi, as I have read on the thread about brakes, people have problem with Hope brakes to have long lever throw, as I find out it happens when the brake pads wear out, there always is on side of the brake caliper, that moves more freely than the other, so as the pads wear out, the side that moves more has to move to the rotor, bent the rotor and than the pressure in the brake is finally too high, so the other side moves to the rotor. So you have to check periodicly if you brake pistons are centred (both sides must move the same). Hope have a video on their website on centering pistons, they do it with screwdriver, whitch in my opinion is fine, but I didnt like it. So I made this little tool, that you push on the brake caliper on the side whitch moves more, you push it between the pad and the pad spring, than you tighten the little thumbscrew. It works faster if you loosen the BPC on your lever, so there is more fluid flow. Than you push it as you see on the pictures, you push it to the oposit side (away from the better moving side), and than you squeez few times the brake lever and you can see that the brake pad is blocked with the tool, so that the less moving side is free to move out and close the gap to the rotor, you have to be carefull to not overdo it, because than the pad will rub on the disc and you will have to reset the pistons and try again.
Hope Tech 3 V4 long lever throw fix
- Thread starter carlos1
- Start date
awesome post Carlos. That tool looks great. I agree with what you say about needing to center to the rotor sometimes with the hopes. The screwdriver works fine for me, but I like the more sophisticated tool.
I have hopes on the trail bike and the DH bike. It takes quite a while to get lever throw problems on the trail bike from pad wear, but it can happen in 1 day on the DH mountain.
I switched everything over to the stainless steel cables, and that change helps quite a bit with minimizing the long throw. They are just as easy to install as the regular plastic lines IFF (If and only if) you slide the stainless steel fitting and the olive onto the cable before you trim it to length. If you trim first, it can be quite an operation to get the olive on.
I have hopes on the trail bike and the DH bike. It takes quite a while to get lever throw problems on the trail bike from pad wear, but it can happen in 1 day on the DH mountain.
I switched everything over to the stainless steel cables, and that change helps quite a bit with minimizing the long throw. They are just as easy to install as the regular plastic lines IFF (If and only if) you slide the stainless steel fitting and the olive onto the cable before you trim it to length. If you trim first, it can be quite an operation to get the olive on.
Yeah had that problem with the fitting and olive too 
, so when I got the V4(previously I had V2) and I need to shorten the hose on the brake, i just dont remove the fitting and olive from the brake hose, just open the olive, than meassure the distance you need to cut the hose, make a mark with a sharpie, than just remove the plastic cover on the brake hose with sharp knife to your sharpie mark, and simply slide the fitting and olive to your sharpie mark, than trim the hose remove the hollow pin and reinstal.
, so when I got the V4(previously I had V2) and I need to shorten the hose on the brake, i just dont remove the fitting and olive from the brake hose, just open the olive, than meassure the distance you need to cut the hose, make a mark with a sharpie, than just remove the plastic cover on the brake hose with sharp knife to your sharpie mark, and simply slide the fitting and olive to your sharpie mark, than trim the hose remove the hollow pin and reinstal.
That's a really nice little tool
If you don't have hugely off centre postons/pads but do have too long a lever throw try this quick fix to reduce the lever throw (not just with Hopes)
If you don't have hugely off centre postons/pads but do have too long a lever throw try this quick fix to reduce the lever throw (not just with Hopes)
- loosen the caliper mount bolts.
- remove wheel
- advance your pads a little too far with the wheel out
- put the wheel back in carefully allowing the rotor to spread the pads (they'll still be too close)
- and use one of these cheap little tools slipped over your rotor and between the pads to regain correct pad clearance either side of your disc.
- re-tighten caliper mount bolts
- remove birzman tool by rotating the wheel back while holding the edge of the tool and your rotor should be nicely centred between the pads with correct clearance and a nice short lever throw again.
Fuck I've never seen one of those things. Genuinely learnt something new. Thats sweet as.
ALSO NOW I MUST HAVE ONE
To Gary, velocipedist: if I am not mistaken these Birzman and Hayes tools are to alignment the brake caliper so that the disc is in centred on the caliper, at least the Hayes is, which is fine, but if you have V2 or V4 the slot for the rotor is wider because you can use vented rotors (3mm thick) so this tool will not work, it will just put your brake caliper ofset so that the brake pads dont rub on the disc
Carlos,
Thank you for the clarification, and you are correct. I was agreeing with Gary's narrow use case of mostly centered pistons and reducing throw.
These centering tools pale in comparison to the nifty tool you fabricated.
Thank you for the clarification, and you are correct. I was agreeing with Gary's narrow use case of mostly centered pistons and reducing throw.
These centering tools pale in comparison to the nifty tool you fabricated.
Been doing the wheel out, pump brakes, and refit wheel for years to reduce lever throw on my XTs, but didn’t know there were any tools to assist. Good to know.
I agree on aligning the pistons too. Sometimes it seems to be a sticky piston and holding the free moving piston while pumping the brakes helps to get the sticking piston to move (sometimes just past the sticking point will do). I do feel that the piston on the side where the hose connects always moves more though, and over time means loosening the caliper bolts and moving the caliper body to recenter is needed.
Just cleaned my caliper pistons as part of changing pads and bleeding, which I am usually to lazy to do. Unfortunately I just had 1 lever go down with the piston sticking and the lever is not returning. Not sure if some shit found its way in during the last bleed (pushing fluid up from the caliper after cleaning the pistons?). Going to have to strip it down today to see if I can get it working.
I agree on aligning the pistons too. Sometimes it seems to be a sticky piston and holding the free moving piston while pumping the brakes helps to get the sticking piston to move (sometimes just past the sticking point will do). I do feel that the piston on the side where the hose connects always moves more though, and over time means loosening the caliper bolts and moving the caliper body to recenter is needed.
Just cleaned my caliper pistons as part of changing pads and bleeding, which I am usually to lazy to do. Unfortunately I just had 1 lever go down with the piston sticking and the lever is not returning. Not sure if some shit found its way in during the last bleed (pushing fluid up from the caliper after cleaning the pistons?). Going to have to strip it down today to see if I can get it working.
Hi, just remove the brakehose from the lever and use some thin metal wire to push on the lever piston, it has to be thin so you can push it thru the openind for the oil. If you take them apart, probably you wont find anything just stuck piston, so try the wire first. If I remember I have to use some needle