Hope discs get very hot. Don’t touch them to see how hot they are, get your mates to touch them instead, it’s much safer!

Gold, green and red. It only takes 10 minutes to swap them over. Golds for mid winter, reds for mid summer, and greens for the rest.

Gold pads especially can generate a lot of heat, and the fluid expands. I you ride a dry, tarmac descent with gold pads in, you could find the brakes locked on at the bottom, with no more adjustment. Let a bit of fluid out to make sure this doesn’t happen to you. Also some Hope pads seem to be thicker than others, and I’ve had to let fluid out to get new pads in.

They don’t much like water, and only last one summer, but they have power and modulation like nothing else. They also transmit very little heat to the fluid. Spoil yourself and use them in the dry months (if we get any).

It is worst on steep Tarmac, as there are no bumps to slow you down. My worst experience was at the bottom of the tarmac bit of Walna Scar, where both myself and a mate had purple-blue glowing discs, a burning smell, and significant fade. If you are going to the Alps to do 2000m descents then use red pads and the biggest heaviest disc you can find, the heavier the disc, the cooler it will run (check your physics). I have an ancient 185mm 200g disc for such Alpine forays.

Oil or WD40 on the disc means no brakes. The worst offenders are shock oil from leaky forks, and the WD40 spray can. The mags say throw your pads out if this happens, but they cost £14 don’t they. Try cleaning disc and pads with meths or similar, if this doesn’t help put the pads in the oven for an hour or so.

Apply generous quantities of mud to disc, find big hill, brake hard a few times. Brakes will be fine again.