Hope Floating Disc Brake Rotors: Rider Review

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Hope Tech has built their reputation around crafting some of the most blingy bike components on the planet. Even parts like their brake rotors cause other riders to drool with envy. Our customer Julio was looking to spice up his bike and did so with some new Hope floating disc brake rotors. Check out his review!

Overview

The Hope blue 200mm rotors come in an individual branded plastic bag which also included six bolts, every bolt came with a bit of blue thread locker on them to avoid them from getting loose with the obvious vibrations of mountain biking, I wasn't expecting any less for such expensive rotors.

First Impressions

When I pulled them out of the bag they seemed to be very light which for gram savers could be a nice touch. I felt they were a bit lighter than the OEM SRAM 20mm centerlines rotors I had previously installed on my Giant Reign bike.

The semi-floating rotors (they are definitely not full floating rotors) have a blue colored, very light and thin center carrier made of aluminum. I guess the lightness of this rotors is coming from this part which in my opinion is a very clever design. The carrier is labeled on one side with all the specifications of the rotor, including the torque needed to be installed on the hub and on the other side there is some carving for a perfect fit on the hub. The center carrier is riveted to a very cool laser cut stainless steel braking surface which seems to be heat treated for better durability. The braking pad surface is very wide when you compare it to the SRAM centerline ones, I guess to maximize their compatibility with other brake manufacturers and their calipers/brake pads as this rotors are advertised to be used with any other brand. Also, the braking surface has a lot of drilled holes alongside which make them look super cool.

Hope rotors are available in different colors to match your bike's color scheme. In fact, this was the reason for me to get them, they are a great add if you are into giving your rides a bright and colorful look.

The installation took five minutes and went flawless. I recommend to use a torque wrench to tight this bolts or actually any other bolt on your bike, this hobby is already very expensive to be having issues for not using professional tools to do it right.

On Trail Performance

I went for a ride on my favorite trail which I have made my benchmark for testing new equipment. After the first lap I wasn't feeling them well, they had a lot of drag which shouldn't happen as this trail is not really long and they also made some squeaking noise. I decided to have a second lap and they started to perform really well from the middle of the trail and on the noise was gone and I started focusing on the feeling a bit more. By the end of the descend I started to feel them really good with no drag issues. On my third lap I felt the braking on point and a little better but nothing too far from them SRAM centerlines.

Final Thoughts

I guess this is a good upgrade if you are on non-floating rotors but mainly for the looks and not so much on performance. In my personal opinion a bike also must look beautiful in order to fall in love with it by just looking at it.