after years of abuse, the freehub body on my Hope ProII looks like it’s been mauled by a rabid premenstrual badger.

I was amazed that they cost £55 to replace. this seems extraordinary to me. is there a cheaper way of doing it? or an alternative solution? I will probably just file off the burrs and gouges and risk not being able to get the cassette off rather than spend that much.

Given the price of the hubs now and the amount of machining on the freehub it ‘feels’ about right.

opt for the steel one as a replacement?

I do just file the lumps off if the do occur, though,

Sounds about right tbh…

Use a cassette with an alloy carrier to lessen/prevent damage in the first place? That may be just as expensive in the long run though! 🙂

I don’t know why Hope don’t put steel inserts in to the freehub like American Classic do, it stops the cassette chewing through the freehub body.

I think the last time I replaced a freehub body was on a Shimano hub about 20 years ago and it was about £15. this seems disproportionately higher. do you pay more for the Pro II noise?

I use an XT cassette so the gouges are from the smallest few cogs that don’t sit on the carrier.
just remembered that I have a spare Hope wheel so I guess I could steal the freehub from that….

When you consider its £16 for a set of bearings for the wheels, and there are 4 in the freehub, its actually pretty cheap. Does it include a new set of pawl springs too? If so then even better, especially given the ‘Years of abuse’ they can take.

I believe American classic have some sort of patent on the insert. I’ve heard of people using carpentry staple though.

£55 does get you three new bearings and a set of pawls and springs though.

even if the price is justified, I can’t justify spending that much on a wheel for a second mountain bike that won’t be used now apart from pootles in the park.

Out of interest do people follow to torque setting for the casette lock ring. I was amazed how much it was. As I’ve only put a casette on I can’t say if it helps. But it should prevent movement and damage?

I don’t, but no matter how tight it was it wouldn’t stop all play between the cassette and freehub splines. it only needs a small amount of movement to start gouging.

No you don’t need anywhere near the official amount.

I should have one spare shortly- upgrading a wheel to Evo spec, once I have all the bits anyway. It’s worn but not worn out, so if you don’t mind waiting…

if you don’t want to keep it as a spare then that would be amazing!
if you remember at that time and want to drop me an email we can arrange something I’m sure. 🙂
Thanks!