I’ve read a lot about hope pro2 hubs breaking when used with both old style maxle’s and the newer maxle lights.

It would appear from the internet chatter that, if you use a maxle light you can expect the hub to break within a few rides, and if you use the old style maxle, it might never break or it might break after a few months.

two questions:-

– Where can I buy an old style maxle for a reasonable price? and what other reasonably priced axle could I use as a substitute, preferably one that I dont need to carry a spanner around for.

– Is there any sort of foolproof fix to stop the pro2 hub breaking short of buying a totally different brand new hub

Cheers all

I have been running a pro 2 evo and a RS Maxle on the back of my five since i got it in april and had no trouble at all.
What is supposedly breaking in the hub?

Any shop with a Fisher outdoor account should be able to get the old style maxle.

You can upgrade the hubs to Evo spec to avoid them breaking – new axle bearings and end caps.

roddi, the maxle lite is thinner in the middle than at the ends. The Pro2 (aluminium) axle doesn’t like this and snaps at the freehub bearing.

I think my mate who had this problem got a maxle from BETD, which can be fitted using a multitool. No problems since.

Jonedwards – thats interesting that an upgrade to evo spec fixes the issue.

Can you buy those parts directly from hope? or is there an internet shop that sells them.

My rear Pro 2 axle just snapped at the freehub/hub body interface. Maxle light on Orange Blood.

Can you buy those parts directly from hope? or is there an internet shop that sells them.

JRA sell them- you also need a freehub body on top of that list -sets you back the best part of a hundred quid though.

My rear pro II axle snapped in half with an old style Maxle, but this is after 3 years hard abuse (not particularly rad or anything just rubbish as cleaning jumps so a few heaving landing to flat).

I’d still buy another Pro II hub though as the cost to fix it was just a new axle and a bit of hammer work, so about £15. Cheaper than replacing the complete hub when spares are NOT available as would possible by the case with other brands.

Actually, knowing Hope, I suspect they would have sent it to me free if I’d bothered to phone them! 😀 As it was I see this as fair wear and tear.

Solutions in previous threads rather than pay a packet for a maxle get an abba stiffy axle from crc for 25 quid.half the price of the betd one.

My Pro2 axle snapped a few weeks ago at Cwmcarn (Alpine 160). I sent it back to Hope who replaced it free of charge, no hassles at all. I also spoke to RockShox who offered to replace my Maxle Lite with an updated design, which is not tapered in the centre. This had to be done through my LBS, but again went very smoothly. Just about to head off to Morzine for a week, so we shall see if the new setup works!

In all the substitute/replacement axles I’ve seen from BETD , superstar , CRC etc , the axle has a nut on the end. Is this nut used, or does the bolt just screw into the same threaded hole in the frame that the maxle screws into?

Also when the hope hub snaps, it looks like the sort of failure that would leave you stranded, is this correct? or can you ride it out? If it leaves me stranded thats a big issue.

I broke five axles last year on Pro2’s. One with a Maxle lite after two rides. The next four were with a Hope reccomended BETD Intense solid bar axle (very good item if a bit expensive, no spanner required as the end has a hole which you stick an allen key through). With the solid bar axles I was getting about two months use before the axle would snap, but at least with the solid bar I only knew it had snapped when I took the wheel out, if it snaps with a Maxle Lite in the rear wheel binds and your ride is over unless you take the chain off!

Of the gang I ride with two other riders are snapping multiple axles running normal Maxles… and another two riders are having no problems with this set up… no one is running the Maxle Lite. Those of us snapping the axles are the guys that do the big drops – so if your not doing daft stuff it’s safe to to say a normal Maxle or bolt through will be fine for a few years, but get a spare axle for the parts box and check it every so often. Mine usually gave a little warning by being a bit bent before they snapped which you could see because the cassette would wobble. With the hub not binding up and hence not ruining my rides I was happy to live with this issue until Hope came up with the promised fix.

Hope have been great with me and rather than change hub brand I’m now running Evo hubs… so hopefully no more repeats.

@torsoinalake – Cheers bud.
Mine isn’t a maxle lite and its a new pro II evo so fingers crossed!

I too have had repeated axle snappages, but with an old Hope Bulb hub on a conventional 12mm Maxle. The axle wall just isn’t thick enough to cope.

I’ve been given an Evo at a substantial discount (thanks Hope!) so we’ll see how that one goes.

On a similar note, I have a Pro2 12mm axle and a Superstar bolt for sale…

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-hope-pro2-12mm-axle-and-superstar-12mm-bolt

Julians you don’t need the nut the axle screws into drop out just as the maxle does