I’m after 165mm cranks and Hope seem to be the only ones readily available at the moment. I think the earlier version came in for some criticism but are the current ones any better? How about running them with something other than the Hope 30mm BB which makes the whole set up rather expensive to my mind?

Can run them with any 30mm BB, although the Hope is about the best and justified the price.

Old ones (I have both) took a lot of effort to fit and remov, new ones are one bolt and a preload collar, same as SRAM/RF/others and much lighter too.

They’re stiff well made, pretty much immune to foot rub, I’m very happy with them.

XT and XTR cranks are available in 165mm (both in stock at Madison) – I’d buy either over Hope.

Why? Will they take SRAM chainrings?

I’d still choose Shimano likewise- the Hopes are barely lighter than my ancient M970s, despite Hope being a spiderless design and the Shimano being spider’d. M9100 is a good chunk lighter. Obviously weight isn’t everything but none of these are delicate cranks so that’s one of the few things to differentiate them. Honestly lower end, or cheap old shimano are a good comparison.

I think if the Hopes were branded DMR or something they’d not sell half as many cranks. But they do look lovely to be fair, and it’s ace that they come in shorter lengths.

I’m saving for a pair of 155mm cranks. They look nice and a few friends have abused theirs beyond belief.

To be fair Shimano cranks are pretty good although I do remember reading somewhere that the overall length of Hope cranks are shorter (after the pedal hole) than Shimano and the like so offer more clearance if you’re one of these people who complain about pedal/crank strikes.

Hope EVO are excellent. The original Hope cranks, not so much.

Race Face do several 165mm cranks. I just sold a set of Aeffect R 165s in favour of the Hopes. Different ballpark for price I know.

the overall length of Hope cranks are shorter (after the pedal hole) than Shimano and the like so offer more clearance

Correct. Hope claim it gains you the equivalent of 5mm clearance, and looking at the profile of the ends on mine I can believe that.

It’s maybe 2mm at most between my shimanos and the current hopes- the hopes basically square off the end of the arm. Definitely can’t hurt though.

With some cranks the forgings are the same and the “shorter” lengths just have the hole drilled further up the arm- my racefaces are like this, it’s not brilliant. But the Hopes are tailored for every length I think, even the really short ones so that’s a nice touch

I bought new Hope Evo cranks to use with a 30mm Hope BB on a Yeti SB5C. They look nice, but they were awful. Adjustment needed every 3 rides. The tensioning collar is locked with a tiny allen bolt, which simply isn’t enough to lock them. I’ve never had as much aggravation from a set of cranks before or since. After 3 months, went back to Shimano XT and changed the BB size. Fit and forget.

Rotor BB30s are a good option, look to be well sealed, come with spacer rings and the BB30 tool that fits a HT2 spanner.

@rockhopper – a) that wasn’t mentioned and b) compatible rings for both are available from Wolf Tooth and others.

Rotor Kapics are available in 165 and extend very little beyond the pedal boss too.

@sillyoldman I didn’t ask for alternatives – I asked about Hope cranks.

Apologies – I just read it to mean you were after 165mm cranks and that Hope were the only ones you could see to be available, but you were unsure if they were any good or not.

I fitted Hope Evo cranks to cranks to my Yeti asr5 and have had no issues with them. The adjustment collar is made from aluminium rather than plastic, unlike the SRAM ones, which adds a few grams to the equation. Not had to adjust them since fitting.

I have some of the evos on my Moxie. Fitted and forgotten. They have been great. Aluminium lock ring means you can’t strip the thread as easily as plastic ones

Going through a similar process at the minute. Want 165s as my current XTR 175s are smashing on everything so especially interested to see that the Hopes are genuinely 165mm and not 175mm with a redrilled hole etc.

I’ve been looking at Unites and DMRs as alternatives but a few weeks ago when I looked last, I couldn’t find 165mm DMRs in anywhere and am still unsure about the Unites…