Had the bearings replaced by my LBS, they also said they replaced the paws in there as well.

Aside from feeling like I was ripped off (£45 for the bearings, £15 for the pawls, £15 for labour and £10 because the bike was dirty!!!)

I've noticed the hope buzz is alot quieter and I've realised the wheel doesn't free spin as well as it did before. Just compared it to another proII rear I've got and it spins alot freer/longer.

Does this mean there's something wrong or will the new bearings free up with a bit of use?

I would say theres more grease in the serviced one. Pull freehub off and clean some of the grease out.

quieter buzz = grease between the pawls and ratchet surface. will probably get louder as the grease gets displaced as you use it if you cant be bothered removing the freehub (and you think the loud buzz is a good thing).

Just spent the morning rebuilding an old Hope XC hub with new axle and bearings and it is (as I would expect) a lot tighter and doesnt spin as freely. The bearings will loosen with time as everything beds in.

Did you get a quote before you put the hub in? Did they ask your permission before replacing the pawls, which it appears you never asked them to do? Have they kept the old bits to prove theyve done what they said?

"

£45 for the bearings, £15 for the pawls, £15 for labour and £10 because the bike was dirty"

Did they actually clean the bike for that extra tenner, or just charge you for the inconvienience of the dirt?

Well it should get a decent ride tomorrow so I'll see how it goes hopefully it will loosen up.

Re quote – I was told the £15 labour and that it was £8 a bearing and would 'probably' need a couple. So was expecting in the region of £30-40 not £85 so was a bit surprised! No they didn't give/show me the used bits

And no they didn#t actually clean the bike, I can't claim it was clean but I did actually give it a very quick rub down before I took it in as it was absolutley filthy before. The hub & cassette however were spotless as I was debating doing the work myself & had cleaned it up – but didn't have the right tools

Stripped my hope hub down last year after 2+ years expecting to find something that needed replacing.It was all fine so just put a touch of grease on the pawls & threw it back together again.

It's a very easy job to do …

I know at least one bearing needed replacing because it was sounding like a knackered BB (in fact I replaced the BB first thinking it was that!) It's only 18months old but I used it all through winter so reckon that killed it off…

I'll probably give it a go myself next time

I was servicing a rear bulb hub in my cellar only a few months back, it had been well abused for years with no cleaning or attention yet the pawls were fine and the bearings were spotless under the plastic seals. I just gave them a light oil and a smiggin of grease on the pawls and the hub functions great, took no time to do either. To my memory there are 3 bearing sets in a bulb, two in the hub body and one in the free hub. I think there are 4 sets in the Pro II, two in the hub and two in the free hub. Assuming they changed all 4 bearing sets at £8 each and for some amazing reason all 4 pawls needed changing that doesn't add up to £85. You might want to remove the free hub and remove some of the excess grease. Or go back to the shop and calmly explain the problem, your displeasure with the price and suggest you'd like to see the knckered pawls and 4 sets of worn out bearings. I'd clean out the hub and put the bike shop on a black list of shops never to use again.