just bought Alpine frame, which comes with 12mm maxle light. Want to adapt my Pro 2 to use on this frame. Emailed Hope and they said the maxle light doesnt work as it isnt 12mm where it needs to be to support their bearings. I see the Alpine is sold as a bike with Pro 2s. They said I needed the Hope pro 2 12 bolt thru kit, in which case i must be missing something as I cant see how youd get the wheel in (the axle is fixed in the wheel and the maxle goes thru the swingarm, not into removeable dropouts).

This one I assume

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?PartnerID=79&ModelID=21849

Or would a regular maxle (that is 12mm throughout its length?) work with a just the Hope 12mm end caps? Couldnt find anything on Orange site FAQs, and no customer support email, and Hope’s reply has slightly confused me.

plenty of people run 12mm hope pro II hubs with a maxle light, in fact my blood came with this setup. There is a common problem with this setup though which results with broken rear axles. You can convert your hub and run it at your own risk, or sell the wheels and buy something a bit more compatible.
just do a quick search on broken maxle lights or broken hope pro II for more info

You need to convert your hub with the 12mm axle in your link and then get a maxxle or a bolt thru axle like the one betd do, i use a maxxle lite in my pro2 rear,not had any probs but there’s a lot of reports of hope hubs snapping when used with them,guess that’s why hope don’t want you to use one.

you just need the 12mm axle kit for the hub, and ideally the full thickness maxle(Orange and Hope appear to have worked together on this and persuaded Rockshox to start production of thes again).

A lot of frames run 12mm by 135mm and 150mm through axles, what’s the spacing on the alpine and how does the axle secure to the frame?

If the lighter version of the Maxle is snapping just upgrade to another axle that is compatible with the frame.

MC can you post up a picture of the through axle as well as the dimensions, I have a collection of through axles and one might be compatible.

i have snapped 2 Pro II internal axles using a maxle lite setup on my Alpine. The main bearing, behind the freehub body has no support as the maxle lite is machined out to be…..Lite. You can get round this by wrapping gaffer tape round the maxle lite to try and add a bit of support. I managed to get my hands on a Maxle from a guy in France via ebay and have not snapped another internal axle since. Hope is aware of this situation i have been told but nothing has been done yet. Hope replaced both under warranty, so top marks to them.

Yep, not the Maxle itself that’s snapping, but the hub axle. Orange now use full thickness Maxles on all the new bikes, may be worth a call to see if you can get one from them(call early though, they’ll be gone by dinner time on a friday).

Remove free hub and axle end caps, noting which cap is on which side. Drift axle out out non drive side, 1 bearing will come with it. Then fit new axle and bearing with 22mm socket. Refit end caps and freehub.

I bought the service kit after doing this (around £20) – it does make life easier.

Video here of servicing is of help: http://www.cyclistno1.co.uk/features/maintenance/hope-pro-ii-rear-hub-service.htm

this is what happens with Maxle Lite

Good Hope Video here for Drifting out and chaging
http://www.hopegb.com/page_mep_force_32.html

thanks all, looks like I need the 12mm bolt-thru kit and a different full thickness maxle or equivalent. Kaesae it is 135mm x 12mm, the maxle light screws into the driveside of the swing arm, but being a Light is only 12mm for about an inch either end and is waisted for most of its length, which is obviously where the Pro 2 bearings sit.

Pro 2 axles still snap with full-fat axles, there’s just not enough metal in them and there’s a horrible stress riser too. But it does go a long way to solving the problem. (IMO it’s really shoddy of Hope, they could redesign the axle easily to add more meat)

so Northwind, Sailor, what wheels would you recommend other than Pro 2?

I’ve got a 12mm conversion I bought on here last week but no longer need.

And to answer the above question Hadley, bulletproof hubs.

thread resurrection to pass solution on to future googlers. Most people on the net recommend the BETD Intense axle which is £45. I took a bit of a punt on the Sun Ringle Stiffy axle on CRC based on a single review there saying it fitted a 2010 Reign (which has 12mm maxle light) and their return policy, and it is perfect, and £25 which is much less offensive than BETD’s price. the axle end takes an allen key so at most you need a spanner for the end nut (I have a cool tool so its not an issue).

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=26370