Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

Neil

How are the hope brakes? I have been reading mixed reviews of them online. Are they worth the extra 50% on top of the cost of the BB7s?

How sturdy is the bracket/widget? Is it likely to break or is it fairly sturdy? My concern is when locking the bike up and someone else bashing it or catching it with their bars/levers.

Apples and oranges really- with the Apex levers anyway.

I did have far more success with a BB5 and a Tektro drop bar lever- that was a very powerful and easy to modulate brake.

However, the Apex lever simply doesn't pull enough cable to get a BB7 to work (road version).

Hence the travel agent- bear in mind that this does reduce power though, although it was a compromise I was happy to make.

The bracket is cut out of 2mm thick alloy plate- I have zero concerns about its fragility.

In fact, if I did actually use it to race cross this winter I'd be far happier that the braking gubbins was out of the way under the stem- if I stuffed it at speed the brake levers are likely to hit things, underneath the stem is pretty safe. Making an assumption here, but I reckon Apex levers are cheaper to replace than Hydraulic Red.

Hope power and modulation- really good, not great, but good- in comparison to full hydraulic systems that I've run that is. In comparison to the BB7's it's much much better.

Lucifer is correct on the effect of salt on the BB7- it can and does eat them very quickly unless you keep on top of cleaning them- salt that they spread on the roads over winter that is.

I've no regrets at all about changing to the Hope system, it's simply a better braking system than before.

As I have said- you are welcome to have a go.