Hope Union, a trio of new SPD pedals to suit gravity, race and trail riders

Humm, looks like they use their own cleat which means, if they stop making the cleat, you’re scuppered.

See recent thread on the Hope cassette. They don’t support legacy products as well as they used to.

That cleat design looks very, very close to a Shimano. Is it the case that the pedals are are spd cleat compatible but that the hope cleats offer different float options to Shimano?

Not hugely fair comparing the Race Clip to the M520. It’s weight is closer to the M9100 XTR than anything else, which also happens to be the same shape as a £20 M520.

If they’re Shimano compatible I don’t think they look too bad.

Probably a great quality and rebuildable offering – but I can’t see any real innovation. The different float options – been done before and more simply by Crank Bros. It’s a lot of money for something that doesn’t offer anything new…

Blimey, the prices are in line with others – didn’t realise Shimamo XTs were £110 now! Last I looked they were less than half that. Hopes are a nice bit of bling, if that’s what you want under your feet.

I made the mistake of trying Tioga Clipmans back in the day and quickly regretted it. Unfortunately the major players are the major players for a reason and adding a new cleat (standard) with no guarantee of a long life is not a risk I would take again, especially with 4 pairs of shoes still in use all with spd cleats.

From PB

Update:

After a few people asked why Hope felt the need to make their own proprietary cleats – rather than using out-of-patent and common Shimano SPD cleats – I asked Hope to comment and got this response:

“We didn’t set out to develop a new system but it naturally developed this way. We have made flat pedals for a number of years but the majority of us at the factory ride clips so it seemed a shame we couldn’t use our own pedals, basically we wanted to stick a clip mechanism on an F20. When we looked at our options the only existing system available to us would be based on a Shimano SPD, however this system doesn’t work too well when used with a big platform, it needs clearance meaning most of the platform would be wasted [ Mike Kazimer noted this in his Saint pedal review ]. We made some prototypes of our own mechanism which solved some of the issues and it worked pretty well first time so that gave us confidence to develop it further and see where it took us”

.—Sam Gibbs, Hope Union pedal designer

I’ll stick to my XT trails thanks

Humm, looks like they use their own cleat which means, if they stop making the cleat, you’re scuppered.

I don’t think that’s really too much of a concern with Hope, I mean, they still do spares for hubs which they stopped making years ago.

Can you add the Gravity pic to the article rather than just hidden behind the header section @singletrackandi ?

don’t support their unique cassettes any more.

What’s to support on a cassette?

Race is 324g vs 310g for Shimano M9100 XTR, so not lighter…..

What’s to support on a cassette?

needs a unique freehub (instead of one of the 3 other possible “standards”)

not sure what they are supposed to be stopping supporting – the freehub or making cassettes, but still leaves people with a useless half-a-system

It’s the cassettes that are discontinued. Don’t know about the freehub but sure people will have those knocking around.

So next time the cassette wears out, it’s the price of an already expensive cassette plus £75 for a freehub body.

And Time. And Shimano.

I use Time pedals myself, when I’m going clipless.

Yep, I’ll definitely be getting a set of these once my old M520’s finally die…

Ah, hmm, don’t hold your breath Hope…!

We made some prototypes of our own mechanism which solved some of the issues and it worked pretty well first time so that gave us confidence to develop it further and see where it took us

Instead, they could have taken the findings from the prototype and worked out how to weave in an existing, ubiquitous cleat design. But that’s cool – just make your own standard.

Just what the world UK needs, another cleat standard.

Chances of finding a Hope cleat when abroad somewhere on holiday will be practically zero.

Heavier than Xtr !
More expensive than Xtr !
Unproven long term reliability/durability !
Lovely coloured anodising that won’t last 3 months in British slop before looking Tatty !

Take my money !!!!

I went away from Shimano’s because the SPD system is no good. They clog up in mud, snow and pine needles and there’s little or no float

I went the other way, from time and eggbeaters to Shimano. I actually find the Shimano float nicer as it’s zero friction/resistance so your foot and knees can find a natural position. Whereas the sprung time/eggbeater pedals push on the cleat almost from the center and it’s just progressive untill it releases. Shimano has less float on paper, but it feels like more in the real world (and I much prefer the definite click).

Boardman MTB pedals, £24 before the BC 10% discount if you have one, 331g

I tried Boardman cleats once when desperate for some new ones. But found the subtle difference to Shimano meant they wouldn’t release consistently From Shimano pedals.

Haven’t tried them the other way arround (or as far as I can recall as a proper set).

Yep, I’ll definitely be getting a set of these once my old M520’s finally die…

Ah, hmm, don’t hold your breath Hope…!

Came here to make the same joke 🤣

However reliable any other system is, it’s still measured as how many times you have to rebuild them Vs a set of 540s.

However reliable any other system is, it’s still measured as how many times you have to rebuild them Vs a set of 540s.

Really?  We have Time ATACs from over 20 years ago that haven’t needed a rebuild yet. Once set did get killed by a rock strike that bent an axle, but the bearings and retention system/bars have been faultless.
I do have one set where the west on the retention bars means they might get retired soon – but not yet.