I am a huge Hopetech fanboi..... but I haven't changed my Guides RS for Hope because its wasn't worth the money.If your level brakes are not up to your standards, I would go with a replacement. I haven't used level but I have uses guides and for me, they just don't have the stopping power i need.
Hope brakes are great and can be picked up for a decent price when on sale from chain reaction.
As the designated Hope re-enforcer (It is my job to follow behind JTmofo and re-enforce how good hopes are). This is exactly my thinking on my current Sram RS brakes. I cant see the justification for paying for HOPES at the moment. I have the 2016 RS Guides and about to get them replaced under warranty(2016 had a design issue and this is brand new old bike). Then just going to use themI am a huge Hopetech fanboi..... but I haven't changed my Guides RS for Hope because its wasn't worth the money.
Buy a bleed kit and learn how to bleed Guides properly (and often) and you have nearly as much stopping power as E4 with a little less lever feedback and feel.
I am pleasantly surprised well my Guides pull me up......
Yes mate it isI've ridden a mates Tech 3 V4. maybe 10-15% more power then RSC, but RSC will die a lot earlier form dirt getting into the master piston seals, I have little faith. If you already own RS/RSC its not worth swapping to Tech3/V4 at the price difference. I'd love to myself
Ant, swap to metallic or semi metallic pads at the same time you go bigger rotors. Is your fork rated for 200mm front rotors?
Yes mate it is
Looking to get better brakes im currently running sram level brakes and standard discs 180F 160R but id like more stopping power. Have thought about going to bigger discs and wondering if i can run ice rotors with sram brakes. Whats peoples thoughts cheers Ant
The key word here is "almost", indicating that there are exceptions. And here is a probable exception. IceTech rotors have quite long arms on the aluminium spider, which foul on some calipers. Avid Elixir and DB calipers definitely do not play with IceTech rotors, because the caliper depth hits the tips of the spider arms. I haven't observed attempts to fit the Levels with them, but given they are the current direct replacement for the Elixir and DB series brakes, and appear to share similar caliper dimensions, including the critical depth, it is a fair assumption that they will be similarly incompatible.You can run almost any rotor with any brake caliper.