Hope’s minimalist XCR carbon lever started out mated to an X2 twin pot brake caliper, making it ideal for proper XC applications. Roll on a few years and that XCR lever has moved on, finding a new soulmate in the more powerful E4 four-pot brake calliper. It’s now one of the best disc brakes for down-country riders, and I reckon it’s been well worth the wait if you like to go hard on the climbs and the descents.

Beautiful machined alloy body mated with hi-tech carbon blade is a sweet set-up.

Design and specifications

The XCR lever is radial, meaning it’s at right angles to the bar, and that’s a big change from modern Hope designs, where the main piston and DOT fluid reservoir are parallel with the bar. There’s a hinged clamp to help you fit it easily, and it’s compatible with the shifter and dropper lever mounts from the previous Tech 3 lever, so setting up a tidy control space is easy. The stripped back design, machined inside of the clamp, and titanium hardware also saves 40g compared to the Tech 4 E4 set-up.

The only thing that’s really missing from the hooked carbon blade then, is independent bite point adjustment, like you get on the Tech 4 lever. There is a reach adjustment screw though, so you can dial in the lever to your finger length.

It’s a light lever, with few bells and whistles, but the fundamentals are sorted.

At the far end of the hose you’ll find the proven single-piece machined E4 four-piston caliper, complete with maximum performance Green Race pads. Standard and extra hard wearing sintered compound pads are also available. The lever and caliper are available in seven different in-house anodised colours, but there’s no braided hose option, as the aim is low weight not extra armouring.

The brake package is priced and sold separately to the rotors, so you can mix-and-match on sizing to control overall power. If you ask your local Hope dealer nicely, they’ll probably sell you the calipers, levers, and XCR specific hose separately, so you can convert your current stoppers, or even build your own brake mashup.

The E4 caliper adds oomph to the stopping power.

Performance

At 229g for the lever, caliper, and front length hose, the XCR E4 almost exactly splits the weight difference between XCR X2 (at 196g) and Tech 4 E4 (at 270g). That makes them 40g lighter than Shimano XTR or Formula Cura four-pot brakes, and only 7g heavier than SRAM Level Ultimate four-piston units.

It’s the power-to-weight ratio that really impresses too. Hope says the theoretical leverage gain is only 10% over the XCR X2 brake, and slightly less than the previous Tech 3 E4 brake, which always felt underpowered to me on the trail. It doesn’t feel that way with this set-up though, with a keen initial bite, and then a consistent increase in stopping power as I pulled harder on the levers.

Unsurprisingly there’s a bit more of a soft-squeeze feel from the direct-to-piston connection, compared to the metal roller cam leverage change of the Tech 4 lever, so I didn’t experience quite the same startling stopping power when I was really pulling hard. On the other hand, the significantly lower power compared to Hope’s Tech 4 E4 set-up means I could run lower traction race tyres without immediately turning the rear wheel into a ski as soon as I tickled the brakes. They’re powerful enough that most riders in the target group will be fine.

Spice up your whip with a matching anodised rotor for ultimate bling.

The larger E4 rear caliper and pads handle heat better too. So while I’ve had brake fade with XCR X2 in extreme extended descending situations, the XCR E4 has been rock-solid, even when deliberately dragged to double-check. It’s definitely a lot more powerful than SRAM’s Level Ultimate four-pot as well. And, unlike some radial brakes, it doesn’t obviously lose lever advantage when the lever is set close to the bar for smaller hands.

I did miss the bite point adjustment, to totally tailor that lever response, though and the longer pads and caliper of the E4 are a little harder to set up than the X2 to get the rotor skim-free. The stock Race pads can get noisy occasionally, and the feeder cup bleed process isn’t as quick and clean as SRAM’s Bleeding Edge double syringe flush, either. I’ve had zero issues in several months of riding though, and Hope’s support at events and via the factory is legendarily good.