Bought these 2nd hand about a year ago (07/08 Model) in the Red colour, I run them with a with 203mm rotor on the front and a 180mm mon the back. I brought them and I thought these were the perfect brakes for the Mega valanche that I did last year, and to be honest these are the first what i would call heavy duty brakes that I have brought. I have run XTR disk brakes for the last few years on a more Trail bike. I was just never really blown away by these Hopes or my trip to the Mega, it is hard to tell what a diffrent brake would feel like as you need to do the same runs as you have with the originial brake. One thing, one of my othe rmates brakes over heated on the Mega but mine were fine and just keep workig the whole time I was there.

Have since bought fibrax sintered pads made a fairly big difference, hope floating rotors - still bend too easily and not much difference and goodridge braided hoses, more solid feel but only a little more power. After all that money I'm still not blown away.

Just to say I'm not hope-bashing, love my Hope kit and as it is a UK company then the stuff just lasts where other kit would be needing servicing or replacing every year.