Quote from: Tijoe on September 26, 2026, 03:26:19 PM


Frog wake FV4-L:  I have been running one of these as my front brake on my bikepacking rig for about 9 months now, 2000+ mile of heavy duty work, and have been very please with this brake so far. To date, thumbs up so far.

What pads are you running? I was just looking into resin pistons and shimano apparently doesn't rate their calipers with resin pistons for sintered pads.

These are interesting h ttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005013172828792.html

Four piston with quick release hoses and adjustable lever blades, not sure why you'd want either of those but it's interesting none the less.

Was looking at the Frog Wake's again and noticed the pistons are resin which isn't hugely confidence inspiring.

Quote from: Tijoe on September 26, 2026, 03:26:19 PM
I went all in on the IIIPro MTB E4 brakes starting back in Nov. 2022.   I purchased and tried to run 4 sets of these brakes on my bike builds.   My conclusion after wasting endless hours trying to get them to work reliably is that they are garbage!  They are too hard to bleed to get all the air out.   I also discovered that it appears that if you let the brake pads get worn out over 1/2 way, the seals start to suck air back into the the calipers.  This drove me crazy wondering why a couple of my brake sets worked well, and the other 2 sets kept having problems.  I replaced the seals, and the problems didn't go away. Then I purchased a Hope Tech E4 brake set, converted one of the IIIPro calipers to run DOT3 fluid, and was able to confirm that the new seals still sucked in air despite having new DOT3 compatible seals.
I only have one set left in operation, on the bike I ride the least.

lavistaa, I suspect that the flat mount PRO III calipers are basically the same IIIPro caliper design, so don't let you pads get too worn out, or you will probably start suffering the same caliber failures as I did.

Regarding Wheeltop brake calipers.  I've been running the original RA700 flat mount calipers for over 2 years without any problems.  They have been fantastic calipers to date.   I had a problem with my shift levers where the pistons in the lever set locked up solid.  I replaced the lever set about 1.5 years ago and all has been well since.  All I can say is positives regarding the Wheetop road calipers.

I tried a set of ZTTO M840 MTB 4 Piston Hydraulic Disc Brakes back in 2023, and didn't like them.  Not very good modulation and I didn't think that they had very good stopping power.

Frog wake FV4-L:  I have been running one of these as my front brake on my bikepacking rig for about 9 months now, 2000+ mile of heavy duty work, and have been very please with this brake so far. To date, thumbs up so far.

In general, I am making my comparisons of what is a "good brake" to my Hope Tech E4s, and Shimano XT brakes.

I'd like to hear more about riders experience with Lewis brakes.   (They are too expensive now versus a couple of years ago, but I still have interest in them.)

I've seen some slightly negative things around Lewis brakes recently. Something along the lines of lacking power and feeling wooden. No experience in real life with them though.

For an expensive Chinese brake these look interesting. SUHR R740

h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ8cHQxifDg (broke the link because the forum is doing weird things with youtube links).

Quote from: adri on September 17, 2026, 03:49:40 AM
I went with the DR390 Wheelset, Preatty cheap and actually really durable.
Running that wheelset for a few month in the bikepark and the only problem is that the bearings are not the best quality.

Those are really cheap and you say they hold up? Pretty impressive.

Are the bearings cartidge and easily replaceable?

Found a few videos on youtube breaking down the design of the F-Pros but for some reason the forum is grabbing the link and turning it into an embedded flash video that is broken.. any way look up the ZAAKR_JSHOUBIKE channel.

Also the Not Another MTB Channel has a review of them that is quite positive.

Pretty convincing. I'll probably try a set sometime soon.

Thought it might be good to have a central thread for people to report their experiences and ask questions for Ali's hydraulic brake options given there's lots of separate threads and what a minefield brakes can be.

To start off: My experience with Wheeltop flat mount road callipers that come in their TX wireless group set has been flawless so far. Installed them on a flat bar gravel set up attached to a shimano mt200 lever. Push bleed from the calliper was perfect first time with no faffing about, just one syringe up into a cup. Pads seem decent. Stopping power seems good.  Cannot comment to long term use yet as they're only a few months and half a dozen rides old.

Also running a Tanke branded TRP HY/RD knock off on my commuter. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007218455879.html

Again no issues. Braking power was sufficient. Haven't had a lot of time on it yet and probably won't any time soon as i'm not riding the bike its on much. They feel pretty heavy but I don't have an original TRP to compare to.

Are you using their callipers or did you attach them to some other brand? Let us know how they go long term to. It's really helpful.

Brakes from ali are a minefield. For instance the original IIIPros, the Trickstuff knock offs, seem to introduce air into the system at the lever. Just saw another youtuber having the same issue that Tijoe was having here with them.

Interesting looking levers.

Post your impressions when you have some.

Recently tried five sets of grips from Ali, still cost less than one set of genuine grips from an LBS but.. they're all quite hard. Functionally they're fine, shapes are good, lock on works etc (mostly - Riderace set had some issues), just the rubber isn't as plush as the real thing from Ergon or ODI.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010807622105.html - Riderace -  Probably the softest. Still not as soft as my standard Ergons. Found these to have a little bit of play even when fully tightened down. Tolerances between the clamping ring and plastic inner are too large.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005012848120006.html - Fake ODI eva foams - softish but not much grip.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005653148373.html - ODI branded Ergon knock offs. Really like the flare at the end of the bar, increases the feeling of response and control. Grip is fine. Just harder rubber.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006334986335.html -  Same compound and feel as the ODI branded Ergon knock offs. Probably from the same factory. Slight amount of play in one when tightened down.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009307672982.html - More ODI knock offs. Different oem to the others by the look and feel of them. Hardish rubber and soft bolts that rounded too easily. Completely the opposite of what you'd actually want.

Anyway thats my recent experience. Won't be buying any more Ali grips unless I know for sure they're as soft or really close to it as the real thing.

Anyone found something close to a plush feeling ODI or Deity grip on ali?

Quote from: crazyravr on February 12, 2026, 08:12:05 AM
If you care about saving 100g on your bike go for it. If you dont, get whats tested and true. There is nothing wrong with 105 cassettes and cheaper.

Yeah, when a Linkglide cassette is the same price and trouble free i know which one i'm getting. Not worried about weight though.

Quote from: Tijoe on June 27, 2026, 01:18:23 PM
I took a look see at my Wheeltop 4 piston brake set.  The calipers look clean and likely use 16mm pistons.  They appear to be another variant of the Hope Tech E4 calipers. (These Wheeltop calipers use the same brake pads as the ProIII 4 piston calipers, and several of the other E4 variants.)

I like this Wheeltop brake lever assembly design in general.  (I have come to prefer the "Radial Levers" where the master cylinder pushes fluid straight toward the bar instead of at a pivot.)      - Versus the "Standard Levers" where the master cylinder sits parallel to the handlebar. Like the IIIPro lever set-up.

Rattling concerns:  When I pick up the Wheeltop lever assemblies, the rear lever assembly appears to be very quit and there is no play between the lever actuation piston that goes into the hydraulic assembly. 
Then I picked up the Front lever assembly and immediately notice around 2mm of play between the lever's piston that is held-in-place with a "C" ring down into the hydraulic section of the assembly!   This play in the front lever assembly lets the lever move back and forth such that if I shake it, it does in fact make a rattling sound!    Now I am wondering why the rear is stiff/firm and quiet, and why the front lever assembly has 2mm of play that allows rattling of the lever!

I don't have time to investigate why today.   Wondering if there are 2 generations of design, where I have one old design and one new, where Wheeltop knows they have a rattle issue and made changes, and I was sold one old design paired with one new design.   

In the attached images, the first one shows the area where the lever piston moves in-and-out about 2 mm allowing the lever to "move-freely" and rattle.

I enqired with one of the sellers on ali if they were aware if any rattling issues had been address. They knew nothing about it. What a bummer.

Quote from: Tijoe on December 03, 2025, 11:01:33 AM
I am not sure if I want to use my Frog Wake thread and dilute it by discussing other brake brands.  Perhaps I should start a new "Generic Brake" thread.

Thoughts?

I think a general brakes thread would be good.

I want to be able to precisely control when my bbs02b cuts out so was lightly feathering a brake lever using it as clutch when i'm shifting. I keep losing magnets and in general am over the diy hall effect solution.

Anyone have any experience with these levers? Or any others with integrated 3 pin cut off switches?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005011942984249.html?

Quote from: Tijoe on June 26, 2026, 08:03:53 AM
I purchased a set back in Nov. 2025.   They are sitting in my pile of "new gear" to be used some day.

How are the levers? Any rattles? I referenced your posts about the iiipro e4 levers yesterday actually. Was wanting some flat bar levers as I've picked up some of the Wheeltop Road calipers and couldn't remember if you'd concluded the issue was in the lever or the calliper. Thanks for sharing all that work.

Yeah the look great but like i said there's a couple of videos on yt from guys that got them for initial reviews and they found issues with them having to much modulation and then the power coming on all at once late in the lever stroke as well as lose rattley lever bearings. Sounded like they had some issues that needed fixing before hitting the market.