Alternative Brakes: For a little while now I have been using “Hope” brand MTB Tech 3 e4 brakes on my custom unicycle builds. Most MTB brakes seem to be compatable and generally better spec and cheaper. All were bought 2nd hand off ebay for a fraction of the cost of new. They are expensive new, but the front sets frequently come up on ebay.
The Hope Tech 3 e4 is IS Mount, has a very user friendly lever, with reach and biting point adjustment. It comes with black hose as std or braided SS. 4 pistons
The lever and caliper are fully servicable and easy to do with a few tools, so swapping hose, replacing seals and pistons is straight forward.
The easy bleed kit, makes bleeding the brakes simple.
Its an excellent set up, probabley over speced for a uni unless you are doing lots of downhill. Lever feel, response, lever travel are all significantly better than the 2 4pot shimano units I have.
Its a UK based company and spares are easy to get.
An added bonus is the look pretty smart and come in a range of funky anodised colours.
Hope Tech 3e4 and Hope Tech 4v4 are both IS mount. Just be sure to buy a front lever, it does not matter if is right or left lever as it does not matter on a uni.
Some pictures for you 
I don‘t understand this sentence. If left or right doesn‘t matter on a uni, why the need to make sure to buy a front lever (usually the left one)?
While I like my hope tech3 e4, I have some downsides to mention:
- Having to take off the reservoir cap to bleed the brakes is quite annoying. It’s not terrible overall, but I find it more fiddly and messy than other brakes. (The newest prototypes seem to finally add a conventional bleed port at the lever https://www.pinkbike.com/news/spotted-hopes-new-gb4-brakes.html)
- The pads make a high pitched squeeling noise that rarely seems to go away. I’ve had this with different pads and rotors, it’s not contamination and others have found similar issues.
- Maybe it’s just me being a bit fussy on brake setup, but my brakes seems to require cleaning and “mobilization” of the pistons quite frequently. Supposedly the newer tech4 versions with steel pistons are a bit better in that regard.
@finnspin I have just converted one of the tech3 calipers to the stainless Steel pistons in the new tech 4 caliper. The action is silky smooth. Yes they are compatable. Kit comes with 4x SS coated pistons and all seals required. So Tech 3 caliper, Tech 4 piston spec. A bit fiddley to do, but easy enough.
@Wheelou MTB brakes usually have a right or left fit for the lever. So you can have either lever, on your side prefference. So font disk, left or right mount, same for the rear disk, guessing if your right or left handed. This means on an mtb the resevoir cap is either on the left or right facing upwards.
On a unicycle the lever is usually centrally mounted, and its mounted upside down, so position of the resevoir cap is irrelevant.
You need a front brake as these usually have 1000mm of hose. A rear mtb brake will have about 1.6m of hose. So a rear would work but you would just need to cut the hose to a sensible length for a une. My hatchets have about 800mm on the hose length. Hope that makes sense.
@finnspin I dont get any brake squeal on mine and have them fitted to 4 unes. On 2 I have the Hope floating 180mm rotor which is a little bit thicker than a std une rotor. The other 2 just the std thickness Shimano rotor.
I did think I might get some sqeal on the dbrake set up but so far thats nice n smooth.
I did swap the pads for sintered, but thats it.
Ok, if you‘re referring to the hose length it makes sense, even though 1m is still too long for my unis (except the 36er with its T-bar). I have one brake with an 80ish cm long hose and that‘s about right. Sure, the excess can be wrapped around the seat tube, but I don‘t like that.
@Wheelou easy peasy to cut the hose down to the length needed, so its not an issue. You dont lose any fluid doing it, although you do need to to bleed it after. Just replaced a black plastic hose with SS braided and it was simple to do.
I bought an mtb bike kit, usually supplied @ 1.6m long. I just cut it in half @ 800mm then upgraded 2 of the unes. 800mm about perfect for my seat hieght. If you are tall you might need more.
I’m really not a fan of hope brakes as I don’t like the look of them. To me they look to blingy and OTT tacky , sorry!
I like all the shimano 4 pots , 7120, 8120, saints.
I know how service and repair them to cure the issue the levers get with not returning nicely and other common issues.
Plus I think they look smooth, smart and most importantly I like how they work and feel.
@m00ms I quite like the shimano 4 pot calipers, they are tidy, sleek and do a good job. I have them fitted to 2 unes. Only downside I find is the levers, there is some reach adjust, but lever travel before the brake enguages is significantly more on the shimano vs the hope.
So I am 50/50 they both do a good job and work just fine.
With the shimano you can adjust pad free play , remove the caliper and gently squeeze lever to push pistons out slightly and then refit caliper , doing this puts the pads closer to the disc giving less travel before engaging.
@m00ms thanks for the tip, I will give that a try.
More a hack than an “adjustment”, over extending the pistons works on most brakes. (Until the pads wear and the normal pad to disk clearance dictated by the seals is reached).
I like your orange muni. A 24" right. Can I have it? 
@Setonix yep its a 24" Oracle built on the cheap, I only just finished it. The frame was in the sale from UDC as they were selling off the dbrake oracle frames, so 40% off that. The orange rim was a second again from UDC so 25% off that. The rotor, seatpost,cranks and pedals I already had. I just swapped the pedal pins. The orange brake and lever, off ebay 2nd hand, I just serviced that and put a new hose on it. The tire and tube off a guy that sells bankrupt mtb stock. The seat, hub and spokes were new.
Nice tidy une, personally I dont like the orange, but the bits were cheaper and discounted.
Much cheaper than buying the same uni off the shelf and it used up all my spare parts
Its only been ridden once so far.
you’ve done a very good job on it.
But why did you go for a gel saddle? Don’t you think the KH Freerides are more comfy?
Also why did you have to swap the pedal pins? I’ve never had any problems with my pedal pins in the past 10 years. It is just now that the pedal itself needs replacing on the 29er. I always ride with shoes with flat soles and then the metal pins keep my feet from sliding off the pedals.
Im not so handy to fix up a uni myself, or maybe I’m just a mollusque 
Hack or adjustment call it what you like , you can just ride it while waiting for pads to wear in while having excessive lever travel or set it so there’s less travel straight away.
As long as your disc and pads are in good condition you will not be over extending the pistons.
@Setonix its just a std Nimbus Stadium Saddle on the Oracle. The Nimbus Air Cover on the mini hatchet I have just makes the Nimbus Stadium Saddle more man friendly. Usually I wear padded shorts for comfort. On the mini hatchet I dont need to bother as the saddle is well comfy.
Haha, the pedal pins in the std Nimbus pedal are fairly brutal on the shins and the back of your legs, I have had a few nasty scrapes down the back of my ankles. Big chunky pins and a bit too grippy for me. So I swapped for a slighly smaller headed pin with a rounded profile, still very grippy but I can adjust my feet easier.