Im interested in a lighter wheelset and am currently waiting for the Hope Evo Hoops (gold hubs) to arrive in the shops before I decide.
I was however attracted to the Crank Brothers Cobalt wheelset (gold version) too.
As I am stuck in a gold pimping stage of my chav biking career these look the business, but after reading plenty of reviews on both of them, I can conclude the Hoops are bullet proof with loud freehub and the Cobalt’s have a badly designed freehub which either just lets water and crap in or it simply fails and has to be replaced.

My question is, have the latest Cobalt wheelsets had a redesign or is it more style over substance….are the Hoops the best route to take……either way gold of course 🙂

I was given a set for 6 months to test. Fantastic wheels. The best factory wheelset I’ve used. (Comparing with mavic slr, fulcrum red metal zero, and dt swiss set). Lovely seriously stiff and work well. The freehub pulls of easily. But means you can easily open them clean and regrease l.

I would say like cb pedals, work very well but need a little looking after. The hopes will be more maintenance free. But i would get the cobalts

I have the Iodines – they have the same hub/freewheel internals. The pawl carrier split after 6 months and was replaced under warranty. Have had no issues with it since.

The freehub sealing is not good though and so in the rainy season (October – June :-)) I now strip the freehub and clean regrease every few rides. Doesn’t take long but is a pain in the neck.

I have a set of Cobalts and as above, they really don’t seal well enough. I have had the pawl spring snap twice and both times it was replaced under warranty, 2pure were very good with this. You need to look after them (not my strongest point) but saying that it is easy to do. No issues with strength. I think that there was a bit of a redesign about a year ago but I’m not sure if there has been another one since.

Thanks for your thoughts, bit of a mixed bag then. Cobalts Look great, need some care but you can’t really put your full trust in them to be super reliable.
The Cobalts cost significantly more too.

Any more experiences.