it may or may not be a high profit product for them

I think it’s great that Hope decided to make something that they wanted rather than based on an accounting IRR/shareholder value decision etc.

As they say in the video – the whole design & development process brought a huge ‘lift’ to the entire company.

As a ‘contribution to bottom line’ it may be minimal, but as a contribution to the Hope ‘Brand’ I think it’s priceless.

Hope aren’t stupid, they will have done the numbers and be making money on this.

People pay similar amount for boutique Evil/ Yeti/ Intense etc frames and builds, so I’m not sure this is crazy money compared to some. Well out of my price range, but can see why people would want one. Looks amazing.

I think it looks good and would defo support a local firm and have one if I had the cash, which I don’t.

Spec wise it’s not a mile off the launch edition Orange Stage 5 which is 5.5k so frame only at 3.5k would be my guess. Not bad for British made when compared to the Far East completion.

Winced when I saw their bars are £160 but now I see they’re also locally made I might consider them.

Hope aren’t stupid, they will have done the numbers and be making money on this

From memory this isn’t how they structure their financal/ business decisions.

I recall from a few years ago, an article that said they ‘lease purchase’ many of their CNC machines and run them constantly until they have ‘paid for themselves’. They can then be used for R&D and experimental projects etc

During the video they make a couple of light-hearted references to how much the Hope bike project ‘cost’ and accountants etc

Whilst I’m sure Hope won’t be ‘losing’ money on this venture I think it’s refreshing for a manufacturing company to look beyond the purely ‘contribution to the bottom line’ decision making process.

Something that is perhaps only possible these days with a ‘privately owned company’.

They received a free DTI report some years ago that said that the owners could make considerable more money for themselves by outsourcing all the manufacturing to the far-east.

Hope threw the report in the bin …

They didn’t want to make money … they wanted to make a bike! 8)

DTI suggesting that manufacturing being sent off-shore? Surely not!

Aye, but it’s a good story for the fanbois.

Stunning bike. Nitvana in Wedtcott have sold theirs already.

In case people hadn’t seen the video. I’ve watched it twice 🙂

[video]https://youtu.be/8-WgGxwoP78[/video]

Spec wise it’s not a mile off the launch edition Orange Stage 5 which is 5.5k so frame only at 3.5k would be my guess. Not bad for British made when compared to the Far East completion.

There’s no way that would be a 3.5k frame at retail. They’ve spec’d all of their own Hope components made in house by them, also selling direct to customer or only through a select few shops who will no doubt be making very little off the top line (essentially a handling fee) as hope are also selling direct. So the cost comparison with an orange really doesn’t work.
My guess is that they are selling at almost the same profit margin that selling the frame alone would cost but didn’t want to try to sell a frame (inc proprietary hub and brakes) for a high figure (5or6k+?).

Having actually seen one in the flesh, in france after the launch event Im not convinced for the following reasons.

Its really short
The back end looks designed to double in weight at the merest hint of mud
You are forced to use hope parts only on it for the rest of the bikes life as everything is non standard.
The wheels dont do the bike justice for the price

It’s not a short as it was previously – 475 reach in large is longer than a lot of the competition.

Don’t disagree with your other points, though – surprised they kept the propietary stuff, I’d very much prefer it with standard rear hubs/brakes/etc

New Hope mtb

Thought this thread would be about Star Wars.

…is disappoint.

I’d very much prefer it with standard rear hubs/brakes/etc

I reckon there’ll be a cheaper version with all that later. Milk the rich fanbois for their cash to help pay for the set-up, training and R&D, then once the skills and moulds are in place start making cheaper ones to make more coin.

Saw one in the flesh at Swinnertons bike shop today, looks good. And I wouldn’t worry to much about the back end collecting mud, don’t think a lot of these bikes will see anything other than dry trails 😉

Digby – From memory this isn’t how they structure their financal/ business decisions.

I suspect its 6 of one, half dozen the other.

There is no better marketing than denying there is any marketing going on.

There is no better marketing than denying there is any marketing going on.

Actually I think the ‘recieved wisdom’ is that there is no better marketing than ‘word of mouth’.

…and it would appear that Hope have indeed managed to get folks ‘chatting’ about their new product! 😉

Mmmmmm, that’s very nice.

But what colour for the anodising? Decisions, decisions

BLACK

The biggest shame is that they have taken so long to get the bike to market that the geometry is a bit yesterday.

@wrecker read Bontraget’s inyerview in this month’s mag. Current geometry is just a fad with no real performance benefit

Very nice looking. Not enough geometry change from my bike to warrant a change and way more than I can afford to spend so sadly I’m not their target customer.

jambalaya – Member

Current geometry is just a fad with no real performance benefit

Having felt the difference that steep SA and long reach has on tech climbing, I can safely say he’s talking out of his arse without having to read the article

Having felt the difference that steep SA and long reach has on tech climbing

I guess you never rode or studied geometry of the Bontrager OR frames. Or read the article.

brant – Member

I guess you never rode or studied geometry of the Bontrager OR frames. Or read the article.

I said I didn’t read the article. Just disagreeing with the statement that ” Current geometry is just a fad with no real performance benefit” – by citing a real benefit of current geometry.

A steep seat angle and long reach is a new thing?

brant – Member
A steep seat angle and long reach is a new thing?

Not necessarily – but it is “current”

what’s the thoughts behind “some unusual elements… 130mm dropout rear end …with a 17mm thru-axle and 25mm location spacers, designed to maximise stiffness.”

somet goes wrong, it’s non standard, no? are the other standards not good enough? previous rear hub posts

I had the chance to look at one, nearly fell over at £7k but it’s not aimed at me.
For me i cant work out why there is no bottle mount on so many modern bikes.

Here’s my obligatory link to the geometry on geometrygeeks

Actually saw one of these at the weekend at Inners. Was going too fast to look properly though. True story.

geo looks fine (for me). The current trend for slack and long isn’t my thing though.

It looks bloody mint and their rear wheel/hub theory is the way forward.

I think the people who buy this will be lovers of all things Hope, therefore not too bothered about having to buy Hope replacements where there is a SRAM / Shim / xxStandard alternate available easier for less.

I double up on non standard Hope specific parts when going away, with no expectation of being able to purchase overseas. Just consider it a cost of ownership which is actually not too bad when compared to bike park costs for parts / 365 day returns when taking a van anyway 🙂

If this is their proof of concept I can’t wait to see their 2nd / 3rd attempts and hope they continue to grow / keep manufacturing in the U.K.

A few mm extra clearance each side but rules out nice big tyre choices and mud room.

I dunno (never seen it, tyre clearance might be rubbish, but not for that reason) if you offset the hub you can push the cassette a long way over, Surly build fat bikes with 135mm hubs. So presumably Hope just put the cassette where they thought it should be, which sets your drive side flange position, make the left side symmetrical and you’ve got a hub that’s as wide as need be.

And big axles just make sense.