So, my take on the Hope vs Trinity. I'll start by pointing out that I'm a long time Hope user and self confessed fan boi of their products. I've not ridden the T4V4 in anger but I've spent a little time on T4E4 and up until earlier this week there were 4 bikes worth of T3E4 in the stable with RX4+ on the gravel bike and some old pre V-twin cable converters on the road bike.
After hearing how much greater the T4 lever was over the T3, I obviously started getting curious and wondered about upgrading my "big" bike. Hard to justify when my T3E4 were meeting my needs and I had commonality across all the bikes.
Then I started hearing about the Intend brakes and, although I didn't own any Intend stuff at the time, I liked what they were doing.
I'm finally old enough and worked hard enough to be in a position where I could try a set of the Trinity and thought, "why not". Given the limited supply, I could try them and if I didn't like them, no really lose too much moving them on.
Then I broke my ankle! Just about ready to get back on the bike so I've finally fitted the Trinity brakes that have been sat on the shelf a while.
I'm not one to normally bother about set up complexities so I've never minded the more involved bleed on the Hope brakes. In fact, I've developed some techniques of my own over the years involving degassing the fluid and two opposing syringes. Spilling a bit of DoT when rolling the diaphragm on is easily solved with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water.
However, the Trinity are so straightforward to bleed that it has to count for something, even to someone like me. The painless fittings are also worthy of note. Even if mine didn't spin freely at first, the ability to push in and clamp down is so much easier than trying to set the hose angle and constantly tweak the shroud nut to get a smooth cable run.
The putoline fork oil does simplify life in as much as I already use it for the Shimano levers on the gravels bike as well as all the BikeYoke dropper posts. Having a set (soon to be two) of brakes that use the same fluid is easy.
I don't miss having bite point adjusters on the Trinity as I ran my T3E4 with the free stroke as small as possible and that works out to be about the same as the Trinity defaults to.
The other think I noticed was how easy it was in comparison to get the Trinity running drag free. I've always found Hope 4 pots needed a bit of time and exercising to get all the pistons moving equally, no such issue with the Trinity. The other thing that I didn't realise I was going to appreciate is the aesthetic. Not having a reservoir poking up from the lever is a nice look.
I really like the feel back from the Trinity lever. The free stroke is small and almost frictionless. There is a definite contact or bite point and then pressure increases pretty linearly with brake force. However, they don't take a lot of effort to lock up a wheel, just enough to let you know what's happening at the wheel.
Even the T4E4 I've ridden didn't feel as defined on the bite point. It's something that some may like, others may not.
Ultimately, it comes down to force x distance at the lever = force x distance at the caliper. Once you equalise for pads and rotors and minimise friction in your system, it's just physics.
Having said that, it feels like Hope have achieved this with mechanical advantage, the long lever with the long throw. Whereas Intend has achieved this with hydraulic advantage, not wasted any free stroke so they can maximise the useful lever throw typically found on brakes.
Clearly, neither is a bad brake, but I think force based feedback suits me better than the position based feedback for the T4V4.
Who knows, I might try a T4V4 for an extended period and put both sets of Trinity up for sale. I do still love Hope for the durability and the customer support. I know I'll have at least a ten year life span with Hope kit and spare parts but the end of the week if needed.
Hope that helps someone.
