Goodridge Hope Mono Mini

Advantages: Longlasting, made by a great British company
Disadvantages: Can be a tad fiddly to fit.

...I've had Hope brakes on my mountain bikes for longer than I care to remember, and I've currently got two full suspention bikes set up with Hope M4 brakes, I love the brakes, and have never had a problem with the Hope pads, so I've always stuck with them. I live and ride in South Wales, where it's wet, rocky and more gritty than muddy. I always stick to the sintered pads, and make sure I bed them in properly before I take them out on their first ride. In summer, when it's a little dryer, I've even got a loop I use to specifically bed my pads in (how sad am I?). But it's worth it, as when bedded in properly, the pads last for many, many months before they need changing. Which is good, as although changing the pads isn't difficult, I more often than not, find it a bit of a faff. The pads aren't cheap, coming in around the £12 mark... Read review

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Advantages: Stops well, works in mud, doesn't fade
Disadvantages: Can be a little trying to get fitted correctly, can be noisy at times

...a lot better if you read the manual first. My front disc took ages to get bled correctly, my rear brake which I bought some time after was bled in minutes with the benefit of hindsight. Firtting the brake is a little tricky as you'll need to fit spacers to the caliper mounting bolts to make sure that the disc runs central. For the forks that I originally had it fitted to, the spacers supplied with the brake weren't enough and more had to be purchased from that unlikely bike accessory shop, B&Q. Apart from that, unless you need to change the hose length, you can just bolt the disc, caliper and lever to the bike. With the earlier batches of the Mini, Hope were supplying a manual written for their other brakes with only a passing mention of the Mini, which was new for 2001. The newer batches (thankfully) come with a more complete manual... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent stopping power, good feedback, ouses quality
Disadvantages: None

...I purchased the Hope mini brakes to replace the Giants own brand type that were on my XTC3 bike, these brakes were ok but the back brake had caused me no end of problems, so I looked on the net and after reading several reviews I decided to purchase the Hope Mini. I purchased the Hope mini's from my local bike shop for £110 a wheel and the kind gent fitted me them for that price as well. Like any type of brakes they will not be working at there full efficiency until you have done several miles, I noticed after I had got the bike out of the shop, after getting the brakes done they did not feel really powerful, but after 2 miles I could feel them becoming more powerful, and now they are excellent. The stopping power of these brakes is amazing, they give you an excellent feedback and are very quiet I have noticed no brake noise apart... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful