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While Aaron Gwin was directly involved in the development of the DH-R EVO brakes, some of the lessons learned in that process were applied to these lighter weight Slate T4 EVO brakes, which still pack a punch.

TRP’s Slate T4 EVO is competitively priced but still comes with a fair number of features that are good to see. That said, the overall finish isn’t quite as polished in some places as you’ll find on some pricier brakes.

At the lever end, the lever blade is textured with dimples and has a decent amount of finger security thanks to a well up-turned lever end.

The lever has reach adjustment that’s easy to actuate via a turn wheel on the inside of the lever blade pivot, and there’s a pretty decent range of adjustment available.

The lever is held in place with a hinged clamp that has a top-loading bolt. I like this because it means you’re less likely to drop the bolt when loading it.

The clamp isn’t overly broad, but this doesn’t seem to compromise the lever’s fairly stiff overall construction.

TRP says that it’s made the hose a touch wider in diameter and stiffer too to help with routing through frames. At 1,900mm per end, there’s plenty of hose length for the left/right-specific levers.

The hose enters the caliper at an adjustable banjo, meaning it’s easier to get a clean cable routing in the rear triangle of your bike.

The caliper holds four pistons that push onto a resin pad that’s accessible from the top of the caliper. The pads are then held in place with a screw-in pin.

The caliper is reasonably open, which I like because it makes pad swaps easier. Pad shape is similar to that of some Shimano pads, and thus the two are interchangeable.

I liked the feel of the TRP brakes, not just the comfortable lever blade that gives your fingers a secure pull on them, but also the reasonably light lever stroke that helps with hand comfort and arm pump on long descents.

Power levels are good thanks to the caliper’s four pistons. The initial bite is significantly softer than on Shimano brakes, but a little sharper than the likes of Formula. In that regard, it’s a relatively neutral feeling brake.

Power levels really start to grow in the lever’s mid-stroke, so gentle speed scrubbing with the early stroke is easy to manage, but it doesn’t take too much effort to have a real effect on your speed.

Top-end power levels aren’t as high as some brakes, so those looking for a set of stoppers for an enduro race bike or e-MTB might be better served elsewhere.

However, when it comes to overall performance, I think these would be a good option on most trail bikes and I’d certainly be happy to see them on mid-priced builds.

TRP’s Slate T4 EVO brakes work well, with good, if not exceptional, power and a tidy looking, easy to work on caliper. There will be obvious comparisons with similarly priced Magura MT5 and Shimano BR M520 brakes.

The Slate T4 EVOs don’t have the power of these two brakes, however their initial bite is a little softer and easier to manage than the Shimano BR M520s, and the lever construction is better than that of the Magura and comparable to Shimano’s.

They’re similar in weight to the BR M520s brakes too, but close to 100g heavier per pair than the MT5s.

We rounded up 12 powerful hydraulic brakes to find out which are the ultimate speed-scrubbers.

To get to know what it’s like to live with these brakes, we asked the brands to send us their official bleed kit, then trimmed the hoses to our ideal length.

As such, we’ve cut and bled every set we tested to see just how easy they are to maintain. Then we saddled up to see how they performed on the trails.

Overall braking power is important, but so too is the ease with which you’re able to access that power – if you have to squeeze the lever really hard, that’s likely to lead to arm pump. Brake ‘feel’ is another key aspect – it’s subjective, but some people like a really grabby feel, while others prefer the power to progressively build as you squeeze the lever. We also needed to work out just how powerful the brakes are, and how resistant to heat build-up.

So, with the help of both leg power and some electrical assistance, we took them to the top of some of the South West’s steepest slopes and pointed our bikes downhill to see how these 12 stoppers coped.

Note: Weights and prices are for a single brake (caliper, hose and lever, but no rotor or adaptor, unless otherwise stated).

Tom Marvin is a technical editor at BikeRadar.com and MBUK magazine. He has a particular focus on mountain bikes, but spends plenty of time on gravel bikes, too. Tom has written for BikeRadar, MBUK and Cycling Plus, and was previously technical editor of What Mountain Bike magazine. He is also a regular presenter on BikeRadar’s YouTube channel and the BikeRadar podcast. With more than twenty years of mountain biking experience, and nearly a decade of testing mountain and gravel bikes, Tom has ridden and tested thousands of bikes and products, from super-light XC race bikes through to the most powerful brakes on the market. Outside of testing bikes, Tom competes in a wide range of mountain bike races, from multi-day enduros through to 24-hour races in the depths of the Scottish winter – pushing bikes, components and his legs to their limits. He’s also worked out that shaving your legs saves 8 watts, while testing aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. When not riding he can be found at the climbing wall, in his garden or cooking up culinary delights.

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