Hope Hub's Died (cheer me up with brilliant customer service tales)

Split in half, flange to flange 🙁

Tell me Hope are brilliant and will repair it and send me a lifetine supply of haribo*

*I’ll settle for a fixed hub TBH

Normally they rebuild the wheel with a new hub in superfast time. Well from what I have read on here…

I would be very suprised if they don’t sort it FOC.

That happened to mine. I rang them up to ask if spare hub shells were available as I couldn’t find them. They told me to send it in and rebuilt it with a new one. (Not the wheel – I’d already taken it apart.) I don’t recall how long it took but it only cost me the postage and was done within a week or so of me splitting the hub.

The fact that it split in the first place, something that’s never happened with any other hub is a whole other issue…

how old is it?

I wouldn’t worry about it splitting. I had a couple of early Pro IIs that fractured and Hope replaced no worries and in rapid time, zero cost. I came to the conclusion that it was down to dodgy wheel builds and have had zero problems with Hope since. One set of pro IIs on my DH wheels are 3 years old and going strong.

Hope will sort it in no time, no questions and no cost (usually).
Call them.

Don’t worry, it’s only a bad batch 😉

But they will fix it- after all, you’ve already paid for the repair. They’ll do a good job of it too.

I’d heard that the first batch were just machined from billet but later ones went back to being forged then machined, hence the first pro2’s had issues.

But they will fix it- after all, you’ve already paid for the repair. They’ll do a good job of it too

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=365

Could have bought something similar, for the same price elswhere, I’m sure it would never fail, and the backup would be brilliant.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

I’m sure it would never fail, and the backup would be brilliant.

SS dealt reasonably well with my mates’ wheel when the freehub cracked, fwiw. But the bearings went way faster than you’d expect from a Pro2, so that’s closed the cost gap.

But between SSC and Hope who would you expect the better customer service? Yes ok the Hope stuff is dearer but it’s made here in the UK, with UK staff etc.

sv – Member

But between SSC and Hope who would you expect the better customer service?

TBH really good customer service would be making hubs that don’t crack, axles that don’t snap, etc. It took them a ridiculous amount of time to fix the axles issue and they still don’t offer it as a warranty retrofit for people having trouble with the old parts, frinstance. But they’re very good at fixing their shortcomings which generally makes up for that.

Having said that, if next time my axle snaps I’m just about to do a race, or off for a week in france, I suspect I’ll be less happy about the excellent warranty!

What he said.

Shimano don’t get these threads cos they rarely break.

They’ve swapped out cracked disc rotors for me in the past without batting an eyelid. These were several years old and something most people would consider a wearing part (unlike a hub shell). If they didn’t see you right, you’d probably be the first.

Even if they sold you a hub shell to rebuild yourself, it would be better service than most people. Mate got turned away with a two year old cracked magic hub as it has served its design life!

My lights died, they fixed them FOC 😀

My hubs went on the flange for the disc rotor. Fixed them for me FOC. Really good service.

Two hope hubs cracked in the last five years, both replaced and wheels rebuilt FOC in super fast time.

Light set sent back and LEDs + cabling replaced FOC.

Plenty of experience of Hope’s awesome customer support here. I’m sure you’ll find the same.

Mine did the same.. Filled out the form, explained they where 5 yrs old… Posted them Monday, got back a lovely Pro Ii Evo built up into my old rim on Thursday..

Cost me nowt.

Appart from the £10 to post the wheel to Hope.

Fantastic service, & the reason I’ll keep buying their products..

Seriously tho how many shimano hubs have we heard of cracking etc?

Shimano hubs don’t usually last long enough to crack in my experience…

Didn’t they used to crack because they were CNC’d from billet? Now they CNC forged blanks? I weigh 16 stone with work backpack (I commute) and the bike gets ridden on and off road a lot.. I have two sets.. been great, despite the clicky clack (which I like and don’t like for different reasons), they seem to spin almost as well as cup and cone…

I had a Hope BB bearing die ultra quickly (just one side), and they offered to fix it free, but I think it was my fault, so I bought new bearings and fitted them myself..

I split a spoke flange off an xt hub
it was shimano though so I chucked it – they ate disposable items

my 2 sets of pro2s (dh bike, xc bike) are both running perfect after years of abuse
if they ever did fail I know o could get hope to sort it. hubs for life !

Shimano don’t get these threads cos they rarely break.

Well I’ve never had a pair worth keeping beyond the life of the first rim, rotor mounts fail, freehubs are disposable annualy (sooner if used over the winter), and they (the rear alone) weigh half a lb more than hopes.

So realisticaly even if its a write off its probably been better value than the shimano alternaive.

cynic-al – Member

Shimano don’t get these threads cos they rarely break.

Hmmmmmmm. Well. Maybe once upon a time- my Exage is 20 years old and still in its prime, but is it still true? Quite a few people had freehub issues over the last couple of years.

van cough cough – Member

Didn’t they used to crack because they were CNC’d from billet? Now they CNC forged blanks?

Nah, I’d heard that too but recently I saw a cracked Evo, so it’s definately not just a bad batch (when was it ever?). Not so common that it worries me tbh but common enough that there’s definately an issue.

bigG – Member

Plenty of experience of Hope’s awesome customer support here.

That is the point, though, isn’t it! They convert failures into good stories, which is the best thing you can do with a failure, but if they made their hubs so they didn’t crack you’d not hear any stories about how well they dealt with it when the hubs cracked at all.

Two things i’m sure about in this life.

I’ll never ride as good as think i can from my armchair.

Hope will always give good customer service.

some of my customers had this issue a few years back with their Pro II hubs and all the hubs were rebuild with new hub shell FOC by Hope within several days of us posting them to Hope.

we then rebuilt the customer’s wheel with the rebuilt hub, FOC.

Hope told me some of their blank hub forgings were faulty, hence the problem

I had recent problem with an SLX caliper. That means it’s scrap. My 5yr old M4’s are still good and worth rebuilding at £45 for a complete overhaul.

Shimano pedals are scrap once their worn out. You can bet Hopes won’t be.

Surely rebuildable is the way forward?

I had recent problem with an SLX caliper. That means it’s scrap. My 5yr old M4’s are still good and worth rebuilding at £45 for a complete overhaul.

Shimano pedals are scrap once their worn out. You can bet Hopes won’t be.

Surely rebuildable is the way forward?

From a customer/consumer perspective absolutely, from a business perspective absolutely not. Shimano are a world market leader in their field and use disposability and inbuilt obsolescence to keep their products selling. Non-serviceable parts (eg. no seal kits for calipers), prohibitively priced spares (eg. XT lever blade costs as much as entire unit) and regular supposedly none-reverse compatible upgrades (we have 7, 8, 9 and 10 speed bikes in our collection) and spec or standard changes keep people buying new kit.

Mugboo – Member

I had recent problem with an SLX caliper. That means it’s scrap. My 5yr old M4’s are still good and worth rebuilding at £45 for a complete overhaul.

Shimano pedals are scrap once their worn out. You can bet Hopes won’t be

Shimano SPDs are servicable 😕 Just that nobody bothers, because they’re so cheap in the first place, you only save a couple of quid by rebuilding and they last for ages anyway.

As for the brakes, you need to take into account the initial cost. And you could have bought a cheap caliper and either swapped the whole thing or just the relevant seals- and you’d get a new set of pads into the bargain too. Works out not much more expensive than buying a Hope seal kit.

But again, people tend not to bother because a whole SLX brake is £55, so investing £26 to fix it isn’t neccesarily the right route. You definately wouldn’t spend £45! It is pish that Shimano don’t sell the seals and pistons seperately, but it doesn’t really have a huge impact.

its actually the UK Shimano distributor Madison that is to blame for the lack of Shimano spares, not Shimano themselves

this again comes down to a business decision by Madison (relating to stock levels)

it also makes sense for shops and customers in some way because its often cheaper to buy a new disc brake caliper than to buy the spare parts and then have a UK workshop charge you the labour to strip / rebuild and re bleed your brake, compared to installing the new part and rebleeding

you can actually get spare seals/pistons and MC parts for Shimano disc brakes outside of the UK, if you shop around 😉

You learn something new every day!

On here.. 🙂

My wife ripped the flange off an old XT hub (just after it was built onto it’s second rim).

She also has a set of Hope hubs that are now 15 years old (4 rims, 3 sets of main bearings, 1 set of freehub bearings).

Their early LED lights weren’t as reliable, but have been fixed foc every time.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Well I’ve never had a pair worth keeping beyond the life of the first rim, rotor mounts fail*, freehubs are disposable annualy** (sooner if used over the winter), and they (the rear alone) weigh half a lb more than hopes***.

So realisticaly even if its a write off its probably been better value than the shimano alternaive.

* – how? Never heard of that
** – what’s your cleaning/service regime?
*** – uh…sorry, that’s crap

You also ignore that an LX hub is about 1/4 the price of a pro 2, skewing your entire premise..

LX hubs are considerably heavier, have poor seals, wear out without being able to get spares and the freehubs fail.

And considering this piece of nonsense I don’t think you have much credibility on this one

cynic-al – Member

I’d go LX or SLX, Deore less well sealed, and as to hub vs freehub, whichever is cheaper (no idea).

You may well get what you have running OK again with new bearings and maybe a cone – it should wear smooth over time, but no point if the freehub internals are goosed of course.

HTH.

Once the hardened surface of a bearing race is pitted it is scrap. The idea that a hardened bearing surface can wear smooth once it is pitted is laughable

Seemingly great customer service/warranty if the axle, freehub or hub shell fail.
If the freehub bearings catastrophically fail prematurely and trash the guts of your hub however (18 months weekly xc rides, none of that there yourkshire grit in our local woods) it would seem that you get to purchase the parts and service at full retail. 😕 Seriously, I have shimano hubs that have done twice those miles just between even looking at the bearings let alone replacing them, and still on original freehubs. Not so sure about more recent ones, but m765 just go on and on…

Shimano has 4000 employees of whom 400 are in R&D. Hope has… what, about 50? And how many in R&D?

I’ve been round the factory just up the road and they are an excellent company. If you want lightweight components you can expect the occasional failure, it’s how the manufacturer deals with the failure that matters.

Shimano pedals are scrap once their worn out. You can bet Hopes won’t be.

I’ve never killed Shimano pedals, nor serviced them. I’ve never needed to, but I do know it’s possible.

On the other hand, I’ve serviced Crank Brothers ones loads, and they’ve still died without warning.

Re Hope, I like them. I’ve not broken any of their stuff, other than through crashing, and they’ve been great on the odd occasion when something has been less than perfect. Plus, I can ring up and ask for a 205mm vented disc with a 4-bott Rohloff pattern and just get a “yep, we can do that” response. They make stuff, rather than just being a distributor.

And their V2 brakes are the best I’ve ever used, regardless of price, origin, name……just excellent.

TandemJeremy – Member
LX hubs are considerably heavier*, have poor seals**, wear out without being able to get spares*** and the freehubs fail****.

And considering this piece of nonsense I don’t think you have much credibility on this one*****

cynic-al – Member
I’d go LX or SLX, Deore less well sealed, and as to hub vs freehub, whichever is cheaper (no idea).

You may well get what you have running OK again with new bearings and maybe a cone – it should wear smooth over time, but no point if the freehub internals are goosed of course.

HTH.

Once the hardened surface of a bearing race is pitted it is scrap. The idea that a hardened bearing surface can wear smooth once it is pitted is laughable******

* well it’s around 380gm for a shimano rr hub IIRC, pro 2 appears to be 312gm, so that’s <20% heavier, not bad for 1/4 the price.

** in your opinion maybe, having taken both types apart many times I wouldn’t say there’s a lot to choose – they work on the same principles.

*** the only spare you can’t get is bearing cups, and as I’ve said before these are replaceable (from another hub say) with the right tools.

**** you mean the bearings go? They do in hope hubs too. I’d accept that freehub sealing is probably the weakest link in shimano hubs (particularly recent ones from what I hear) but you can get spares – in fact you could get a new LX hub for the price of your hope bearings, and so effectively have a new hub in the same way.

***** you must think I have some credibility, or else you wouldn’t be arguing with me? The shop I spent years wrenching in appears to also, they’ve had me back in recenly.

****** you appear to be presenting something as fact here, do you have any evidence? I’ve actually run hubs with pitted races, and they do get smoother over time. Have you? Given what you say, you can’t have spent much time running shimano hubs or trying to fix them, if you had, hopefully you’d know something about it, and you don’t I’m afraid. It’s not engineering perfection, but to me it was the final nail in the coffin of “shimano hubs are disposable”, which I think is most commonly said by you!