Hope Technology Factory – A photo tour
Mono calliper stands out from the crowd
News Online Feature

Hope Technology Factory – A photo tour

April 14, 2011
Part finished brake lever bodies...
From a block of alloy to a seat clamp...
Disk brake spiders are stamped from sheet alloy
Tolerances need to be kept tight - this is the calibration bench for rear hubs. Bore diameters are measured to within thousandths of an inch to make sure bearings fit correctly...

This always helps - they go the other way up in the other machine...
Ian explains...

Sliding heads - dangerous.
These Swiss machines are usually used for making parts for watches - they're extremely high precision...
Yup, they even make the tiny little parts in house.
A bleed nipple is born...
...the finished product.

The skewer threading machine is a bit of a classic - 1956...
Bar is put into the machine and threaded within a second...
...the finished item.
It is classic.
A new idea - someone in the office wanted a flat pedal for DH racing so they made this up...
Neil seems quite pleased with it.
This is the special jobs area - all the trick one-off bits start here.
Hub pawls are made from hardened steel - it's hard to cut
..because it's in very thick multiple plates.
It's called wire Electrical Discharge Machining and uses electric current and thin wire to cut through steel plate up over 200mm thick when the plate is submerged in a non-conducting fluid.
The technique means accurate shapes can be cut from hard materials with little distortion or change in the material's properties. Ideal for highy stressed hub pawls...
Along with the high tech there's some less advanced engineering kit.
Plasma cutters can make quite a few rotors at a time..
..and the speed is impressive.
Disks are put into an oven to temper them and make sure they're flat and true.
A rotor fresh from the oven. The one in the foreground is then held in a water cooled press to give an even temper and make sure it's flat.
The alloy spiders are then riveted to the disk - and it's done...

..plenty more to to come, head to the next page…

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31 thoughts on “Hope Technology Factory – A photo tour”

  5. I’ve bought Hope stuff in the past and having experienced their customer service which is without doubt the best I have experienced anywhere, I now buy it because it works great and I trust it. And should something go wrong (that wasn’t my stupid fault!) I know that help isn’t far away. Keep on guys!

  7. I really like that hope parts are a totally different business model to anybody else. I might be wrong but most other companies are selling a product with inbuilt redundancy through parts that will break and are nearly impossible to replace. Hope though making something where most of the parts are replaceable and serviceable quite simply at home usually or they often refurbish in the factory. How cool is that and pees on anything that most other parts manufacturers offer from a great height.

  9. really interesting artical, great to see everything being made in house, speaks volumes about their ethics, ie not spreadsheet designing.

    have always had hope stuff on my bikes because i trust it, but must admit, i use the big S brakes ;o)

    oh, and put me down for those pedals!

  10. As with many other STWers, I love attention to detail. This was great and added a lot of character to a revered name in mtb. I’m even more excited about my new Hoop (on it’s way in the post!). I feel my bike may develop a Hope infection soon…

    Lovely cranks too!

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