Hope caliper pistons

[komdotkom]

The pistons in my M820 Saint calipers have inexplicably broken inside the caliper. Christ knows how this is possible, but the inside of the caliper is full of ceramic bits and the outers of the piston look ok.
I want to replace the pistons rather than buying a new set of brakes but given that Shimano won't sell spare parts I have to look at some alternative options. There's some guy in China making aluminium pistons, but at US$20 a unit it doesn't really add up.
It seems that the Hope V4 caliper runs the same size pistons 16mm&18mm, does anyone know of an Australian supplier for Hope spares that isn't a dick? They are available off CRC for $8aud but are currently out of stock.

 

[shiny]

Wiggle has the Hope pistons, but no description on what each option is. An email or online chat with them should sort it:

http://www.wiggle.com.au/hope-phenolic-caliper-piston/

Also SJS Cycles has them, bought from them before, good shipping rates as well - https://www.sjscycles.co.uk

Aussie distro is Bike Sportz, was many years ago but LBS got me some parts for Hope hub and parts were expressed posted overnight.

 

[teK--]

Maybe ask around for someone with a leaking saint caliper so u can pilfer the pistons.

 

[komdotkom]

This is going well......
No stock at CRC or Wiggle, no plans to get any.
Australian distributor hasn't replied to my email, I just wanted to know if they had them so I could order from one of the LBS's that they supply.
SJS don't have stock of the size that I want, no plans to get any and don't do special orders for such small items.
Contacted MTB Direct, they don't do special orders either.
So I suppose I'll just get some Hopes then....

 

[teK--]

The universe has spoken lol.

 

[Minlak]

So it seems some ham fisted fool has a hope e4 caliber here that got cracked when “bleeding” the brakes. He could be persuaded to post it to you. Haven’t looked at it in 3yrs I assume it’s still working.

 

[link1896]

This is all assuming the hope pistons fit in the shimano callipers. Have you found anyone else who has done this? Will the shimano rubbers fit hope? The Hopes will be using EPDM that will not like mineral oil.

Have you emailed the Hope factory and ask for parts direct?

Not at all a good advertisement for hope and their claim to fame of parts always available.

 

[komdotkom]

Just got a reply from Bikesportz, nil stock until mid year.
I'll get a set of E4 Hopes in the meantime (more because of an absence of any alternative worth considering ) and make some replacement pistons for the Saints from some 7075 I have left over from another project.
Link, good point about the compatibility of the phenolic pistons with mineral oil that's not something that I had considered.

 

[Joe_MTB]

Won’t help you much right now, but just for comparison when I had a sticky piston on a set of 3 year old Hopes I emailed them for advice and they sent me a full seal kit free of charge. Shimano’s view on customer service is that you should just buy a full new set. You’ll appreciate having Hope in the long run.

 

[Joe_MTB]

Oh and I wouldn’t go down the the alu piston route - those things will overheat just looking at them