I'm not sure if putting tie wraps round it to hold it together did much good, but Stuart still rode all the way down from Selside to High Nibthwaite on it 🙂

Do ya think it's the cold that's killing them? It was pretty cold today.

My Hope seatclamp split in two the other week 🙁

Do ya think it's the cold that's killing them?

No, it was only about 0°C. BTW it's a Pro II. One of our other members had one fail a few weeks ago.

never seen it that bad. they will give you a new one.

they will give you a new one.

But will they pay for the wheel rebuild?

Pay? Send them the whole wheel and they're probably rebuild it for you. They've got a wheel building facility for the Hope Hoops and they know how to do right by their customers.

Daffy – Member

Do ya think it's the cold that's killing them? It was pretty cold today.

In metals there is such a phenomena called the ductile to brittle transition, which makes them less impact resistant at lower temperatures. With some steels this can be near or even above zero. BUT!! Aluminium and aluminium alloys do not experience this and even get more impact resistant as the temp goes lower, so no it isn't the cold…

EDIT although on reflection maybe you were alluding to the effects of differential expansion of steel and aluminium alloy, or the effect of freezing of water. These both have the capability to cause a crack like this, it really depends on the design of the hub..

A fellow guests Pro2 did that in the Alps last year. He had to buy a Mavic Crossline in order to keep riding. No idea what Hope did in regards to replacement.

They replaced my XC hub when the spoke flange snapped in couple of places.

Just sent them my Vision One light that has decided to stop working, will only turn on momentarily. It did that new out of the box too! As long as they replace it i don't mind.

[img]http://qu6n1g.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pK_fYjmL3-oG11HDJnS7_JCQFY-iP5AfqqfT7D135kmYsAgZSvG9eZzY2dEGUo4RkOqw-vyICDj_4pfrY5IDYNbFxDTGuYGDb/DSC01050.JPG[/img]

Snap, or Crack even.

This happened to me during the initial climb at the start of the Mash Up at Afan on 5th December.

Excellent Service from MERLIN CYCLES and HOPE

Contacted Merlin who I'd bought it from, who asked me to return it. (10th Dec ish). They then forwarded it to Hope for asessment. I recieved the complete rebuilt wheel with what appears to be new spokes and bearings also on 24th December.

I paid the return postage to Merlin only. And I should also mention that the wheel was over 2 years old though it had only seen infrequent trail use.

Great Service thanks Hope & Merlin Cycles.

My pro2 died the same way last year and hope replaced it. This year my vision4 died 3 times and they have repaired it each time gratis. Last week my seat collar snapped and they replaced that no problem.

sweet…they r some pretty good cracks…they seem to be starting at the spokes?

how old are the hubs?

Honest question:

Having seen these levels (or less) of failure in other items from other manufacturers, followed up with the same levels of customer service, why are Hope less vilified than others?

have your hubs been exposed to road salt?

I would suspect that Shimano hubs outsell Hope by quite a factor, if this is the case why is the internet not awash with photo's of broken Shimano hubs?

sure as hell puts me off their hubs… Even if they have quality customer service, i'd rather not try it out… Never found my mono minis particularly reliable either. XTR for me i think

if this is the case why is the internet not awash with photo's of broken Shimano hubs?

I tend to think of Shimano hubs as being broken from new. I've never had a Shimano freehub last longer than 9 months, and of course you cannot replace the inner bearing race which is part of the hub. But some people swear by them – I'm just glad never to have to need cone spanners 🙂

that happened to me the other week. Tookj it back to the LBS, Hub body was 18 months old and was replaced by Hope, but I did pay for a wheel build…

Had Hope hubs on my bikes for ten years, I've done thousands of miles and never had a single problem (other than dropping a pawl whilst servicing). The Shimano design seems to need a lot more TLC. They are the only Shimano part which design wise I don't rate.

I'd continue to use Hope. All parts on an MTB stands a chance of failure just down the loads and nature of riding off road. In fact I think a Hope hub is the only thing I've never destroyed. Actually, that and bars, seat post and stem. The rest have been trashed in crashes or scraps.

I had it happen to a pro 2 last year, replaced under warranty no problems, they rebuilt the wheel for me and I had it back within a week. I think it was because the early ones were CNC'd form billet, I think the later ones are forged to prevent this happening. I also had it happen to a goldtec which was not replaced under warranty, won't buy another one of them.

I had a few pro IIs crack on me. As usual Hope sort it out straight away no questions, even when my hub was out of warranty! I also have a hope rear xc hub that is 7 years old, has had only 1 bearing change and has never failed on me.

I gave up on hope proIIs for a while but went back to them last year for my DH bike. I am now convinced that it's all in the quality of the wheel build and I have had absolutely no problem with my DH wheelset despite severe use.

Warranty, pricepoint and ease of service make hope pro IIs the best overall package.

I had the second pro II hub crack on me in under a year.Both hubs cracked around the spoke eyelets. The first one they replaced the hub body but didn't rebuild the wheel. This time they have changed their international system (I live in darkest Germany) and after sending the hub at the beginning of January I have just got the message that they have lost my hub completely!

The same thing happened to my rear hub last year. Hope via Jungle replaced the part and rebuilt the wheel. I can't complain about that but I was disappointed by a lack of explaination.

Mind you, when you send your wheel away, make sure they return the disc!

Yep same happened to me, just riding up a (steep) fireroad. Hope rebuilt the wheel and got it back quick. LBS told me it was pretty common, which seems confirmed by this thread.

Apart from inability of converting to Thruaxle/Maxle, I think the old XC hubs were better.

Apart from inability of converting to Thruaxle/Maxle, I think the old XC hubs were better.

Me too. But they do have a habit of snapping axles…..

Ah yes I did snap an XC axle. Better snapping an axle than a shell, I spose. Probably best if nothing snapped or cracked though.

I think the bulbs were the best.

I love this shot of the tie wraps holding it together:

Cheap cassette used on that one too ^^

I've got a Hope XC hub, came off my 90s MTB, now on my road bike. Great piece of kit – about 18 years old. On only its 2nd set of bearings.

Cheap cassette used on that one too ^^

I do the same, but my freehub is steel 🙂

Hope recently replaced my mates xc shell.. he cracked the one they sent as a replacement a year ago.

He commutes on his.

Can't fault them on aftersales care.

I'd be interested to see why these failed exactly. They're failing from the spoke hole. I doubt it's anything to do with temp (alu doesn't exhibit a particular increase in brittleness like some metals (DBTT)). I assume its a materials fault, because I have an old hope Ti front hub that's thinner material than I like to think about around the flange, and it's been fine despite being used a front on a 6" bike in the alps with a heavy rider. I wonder if their supplier is supplying dodgy alloy with voids/inclusions.

Just changed a set of bearings after 8 years in my rear Bulb. Front is still on it's original set. I'd say its done several thousand miles now.

Hope hubs are brilliant.

have said similar about rim failures around nipple holes but I think it may be stress corrosion cracking, which is as its name suggests cracking along grain boundaries of parts under stress in corrosive environments. Some alloys (and tempers) are more susceptible than others (spent 2 years researching this for Alcoa as they had problems with it in some specific aerospace applications, but it was a few years ago now!).