I've had shimano recently, they are ok, but about 18 months in and the cup and cones are cactus… what about you?

Hope Pro II

Hope XC on my Marin and Shimano XT on my Kona. THe Shimano hubs spin more freely, but the Hope freehub makes a nicer noise

Hope Pro II's on my Nicolai – one set of front bearings in 2 years

Mavic on the Handjob – no problems in 8 months

Shimano RS20 on my roadie – too new to know

No name summit probably formual on my commuter – too cheap to care

hope pro2 on both mountain bikes, sturmey archer on the cruiser, shimano xt on the tourer and fulcrum on the road bike.

A motley selection – I've got Hope Bulbs on my Marin, a set of Formula hubs on WTB wheels lying fallow and a set of Deore hubs too.

Hope XC on my main ride. Had them since 2002 and only ever required annual re-greasing

Burgtecs. 18 months of pretty heavy abuse in all weathers and they've just needed the bearings replaced.

Nice bits of kit, though not entirely convinced they're worth the extra over hope…. but they are pretty.

Hope bulbs, getting on for 9 years old now, still on the original bearings.

Pro2's.

pro 2 so bloody noisy though.

shimano on the winter wheels, hope on the summer set.

DT 240. Almost 6 years old and changed one bearing so far in the rear hub.

Hope XC on my FC. Originally on an old hardtail. Never been any trouble. Had a lot of use on the HT but bugger all on the FS. Hope for me in the future for geared bikes.

Surly on my SS. Had to have a new set on the rear last year. Didn't know that they are angular contact bearings and even though it's a cartridge bearings they can still be adjusted. If I'd known and taken up the slack they'd probably still be running. I know now, dun I?

As for shimano – I feel they'd be great but you need to lube and adjust the cones regularly. The main reason I went to Hope was that I had a shimano freehub pack up and the cost of the new body was most of the cost of a new hub. Hope are rebuildable (?) (as I'm sure others are).

I recommend Hope and wouldn't be too upset with Shimano apart from the freehub issue.

Hope bulb front xc rear on GT , Bontrager on Orange.

a pair of hope xc hubs which are 6+ years old and still fine, the freehub gets a service about twice a year.

a pair of goldtec draco hubs which cost the same as hopes, have a similar design rear (serviceable freehub, choice f colours, choice of steel or Alloy freehub body, very good hubs. No problems in about 3 years, and oe freehub service. Just ordered another rear wheel from BETD with a draco to replace a knackered wtb laser disclite

one front wtb laserdisc lite, 6 years old, no problems….but the rear died – freehub couldn't take single speeding and after 6 years and one replacement frehub when the second went I decided to bin the wheel.

cartridge bearings are great. No fiddling with cup and cones, no servicing needed and I find the seals have been very, very good so no need to drift out bearings and replace yet either for me 😀

Got xt on one set and the other wheels have On-one 456 9mm QR front and hope xc ti on rear.

Hope Pro IIs all round.

Hate the noise, love the value, ease of servicing, long life and versatility.

Pro2's

Chris king on mine 🙂 Bullet proof and you have to love the buzzing noise!

2003 Hope Xcs on mine. Minimal servicing. They will last beyond eternity!

dt240s – replaced the drive side bearing 2x but they have had starship miles on them… front hub fine

other bike has Hope XC hubs = fine apart from the odd bearing change over the years

I dont rate the newer hopes as much !

paul

american classics -had for two years, no probs. engagement isn't as fast as a hope tho.

hope sp xc3 – very nice but a tad loud

Pro 2s for about 2 years, faultless. Had some Hope Bulbs for about 3 years and never even laid a spanner on them, Hope hubs seem to last forever.

CK on my 3 MTB's (3 24mm fronts, 2 ISO disc rears and a SS disc rear).

Hope Pro II's and Chris King. Hope are good value and are easy to service, King are hubs for life.

My history:

Shimano XT – lasted maybe 9 months before a new freehub was needed. High mileage though.

Hope Pro2s – Lasted 10 months before the rear packed up completely and had to be sent back for repair. Hope were fantastic, but still.

Shimano XTR – Faultless for over a year.

Hope XCs – faultless, but they're sodding heavy buggers.

Mavic Crossmax SL – Needed new bearings at the 14 month point. okay though.

DT240s – Superb hubs, but the rear disintegrated while at Glentress and couldn't be repaired.

Crossmax SLRs. Excellent wheels. They’ve been battered to buggery on a 150mm bike and are now on a hard tail. 2 years of abuse and never ever put a foot wrong. I wish they were quicker to engage though.

Hope Pro 2 SS. The LOUDEST thing I have ever heard while not pedalling. I was quite frankly embarrassed to stop pedalling…perhaps that's the point.

Hope Team XC3s – Sheared the hub spacer off on the first ride…really nice wheels otherwise, but I sold them once repaired.

Chris King – The best I've ridden. Have several sets of them which are maintained once per year at most. Once you get past the annoying stage when they're new (loads of stiction and needing the preload tightened after and sometimes during every ride) they're amazing. I've had nothing go wrong with a set other than blasting the seal off one at MM and it letting water in. *stupid Muc-off pressure washer took all the decals off every other bike part too*

Hope xc's – beeen going for 5 years

A2Z XCF's – nice and light, only had them 6 months tho' so can't comment on longevity yet.

selection of hope, on one, goldtec and mavic.

as long as you avoid on one freehubs there all much of a muchness (reliable)

XT on one bike, some sort of Richey on another, Formula on the spares and DT on the Soul. Oh and Exage on the ancient mtb I think. So far all work exactly as well as the others 😉 The DTs are the only cartridge bearing ones which is my preference as I'm terrible at cup-and-cone, but the XTs have been fine anyway. The Exage ones are about 19 years old so they've done OK I reckon, they're on their 4th set of bearings though and the cups are pretty worn.

hope bulbs +hope xcs 🙂

nukeproof on one bike – 20mm and qr rear – upon recommendation from the owner of bikevillage. bearings sounding a bit ratty on the rear now, but run and engage fine. happy with them.

rohloff/king combo on the other. say no more. quality, last a lifetime.

got some surly 1x1s purple anodised special editions, which are lovely, but without a bike – built into 29" halo freedomdiscs with a WI duo frehub… available for sale… 😉

Hope Pro ll and I love the noise!

Industry Nine on my main wheels, mix of DT Swiss 340, ZTR and Hope Bulbs on other wheels. None come close to the I9s though.

Hungry monkey, i'm also running nuke proof generators, the front is still super-smooth whilst the back is completely
fu£&ed, loads of play and crunchy as anything. I've only had them for 5 odd months, don't think I'll be buying anymore.

Pro 2's on full sus, Mavic on HT.

Bonty Race Lite on MTB (rebranded DT Swiss Onyx as far as I know), Pro-Lite Luciano on the road bike. Both work great and had no problems yet, but Bonty will probably have to have new bearings fitted soon. Pro Lites are loads better than Tiagra hubs I had before.

Hope pro 3s (sniff sniff) I think you'll find that MY noise superior

Chris Bling ISOs on one and they are wonderful. Hope Pro 2s on the another which are excellent, I don't mind the noise and for the money if the bearings give up after some months of abuse I don't really care as they can be replaced quite easily.

Chris King 20m front, pro !! back, all good.