Thinking of getting some new wheels, Stans Crests on Pro 2s and was wondering whether to get the hope built hoops or get them put together by my lBS (or even somewhere like CRCs!).

I already have a set of hope hoops on my other bike and have had no issues with them at all, build quailty appears fine. Problem is I’d ideally like to get em in white with some flashy coloured hubs, for no other reason than they look rather bling, and obviously with hope its black or nothing.

So the question is how do hope hoops stack up against your average lbs wheel build. Whilst the colours are all well and good, i’m not going to sacrifice it for quality (although they are 20 gs heavier!) And if I go for the shop built option who do I avoid like the plague online?

ta

If you order the hoops through a hope tech shop then you can choose the hub colours and I think also order white rims.

Avoid Dave Hinde more than the plague. Just put his name into google and look at the suggestions, “Dave Hinde trading standards” and “Dave Hinde complaints” being the top two.

Blazin – when you say ‘hope tech shop’ do you just mean my lbs that is an authorised hope dealer? I was told they could order the bits, but they would be assembled by the shop, rather than hope themselves. They may have been telling porkies however!

No, several shops in uk have additional tech shop status which gives them certain advantages, one of those is custom coloured wheels built directly from the factory.

18 bikes are a tech shop, superb service, can’t be beaten IMO.

I got mine built up by Moonglu, who were brilliant from start to finish. Allowed me to get exactly what I wanted (White Arch rims & 15mm/ 142x12mm) for no more than the cost of Hoops.

They’ve got the new Arch EX now too, in case you wanted something a bit stronger than the Crest (I have Crest on my SS and Arch on the FS- wanted something a bit stronger, but didn’t want the width of Flow’s!).

Tech shops are the favoured dealers – I think there’s 30 odd of us around the country. We stock lots of their kit, along with workshop backup – as part of this, we get access to Tech Shop specials and one offs.

We can get (in addition to the usual Black)

– Coloured hubs on pairs of Pro 2 EVO Hoops (no extra cost)
– White Flows as an option (£20 more the pair)

I’d have to check with Hope tomorrow, but afaik, White Crest is not a Hope Hoop option – it is something we could build at the shop. We’re on info@18bikes.co.uk if you want to chat.
Si

Regards the build – really bloody good. We saw the setup again today, hand finished as a final check. I’m certain that the time spent on a completely hand built wheel by a decent wheel builder will be better – but the Hoops sit a fair way above “good enough” in my view. Whether you can justify wanting EVEN better build…

Really hard to compare them to a “local builder” as they vary so much. However, in my experience, some shops really talk their wheel builders up but the wheels, while true, are not evenly tensioned. I tested four Hope hoops yesterday and found them evenly tensions, tight and true. Certainly a step above what was built by a local shop last time I tested one of theirs.

cool thanks folks,

18 bikes, what we talking about price wise for a set of factory hoops (with coloured hubs) as opposed to your shop built versions with white rims?

ta

£320 on any of the rim options, Stans ones come with free yellow tape, valves and 2 of the small bottles of sealant. We can also fit the tape/valves, no extra charge- silly video of that here.

It’s no extra for coloured hubs, they’re a 2-3 day turnaround, usually.

click

With White flow, £350. Same free stans bits, same options for coloured hubs.

click

We’re also happy to swap the front axle adaptors around – Crest come with QR and 15, Flow with QR and 20, we can provide whichever 2 you want.

Si

18bikes do you have the new arch ex in stock and how much would they be with hope hubs