[Closed] Hope Bearings .... help!

Kinetic Bearings

My Hope headset bearings are marked Hope made by Enduro. See if you can get Enduro bearings cheaper.

Kinetic for me,too !

I usually get mine from Simply Bearings.

Is there actually play in the wheel?

Simply Bearings.

I had original Hope hubs back in the 80s and the bearings seemed to be terribly fragile, needing to be replaced quite often. Are they any better these days?

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Del
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Is there actually play in the wheel?

No. The NDS bearing feels a little rough when not mounted but it feels like something has collapsed - its really audible under heavy load.

I did wonder if there may be too much tension/load on the bearings as the QR was and now 10mm DT RWS is really tight to try to avoid disc rub.

I've bought bearings from Trail Vision, they explicitly say that they fill the bearings with extra grease specifically for bike use.

https://trailvision.co.uk/collections/wheel-bearing-kits/products/hope-pro-2-evo-rear-hub-bearings

Is there actually play in the wheel?

No. The NDS bearing feels a little rough when not mounted but it feels like something has collapsed – its really audible under heavy load.

If anything has collapsed in the bearing it'll be a lot more than feeling a little rough

The end caps should prevent over loading the bearings with pressure when doing up the axle, as the lip on the inside sits on the axle itself.

Have you checked -
BB
Crank preload/installation
Chainring bolts or direct mount lock ring

Wych Bearings - they do Enduro brand bearings which are proving to be a good replacement.

I bet they all come from a small number of factories and just get different shields. Water ingress seems to be what ruins them.

Bearings take your choice only nothing that you get 10 for a fiver.
I'm using a Polish company FLT, which is about 1/2 the price and seems to have a good reputation. Certainly no problems fitting them.

Seems every new Hope hub needs a new set of tools and uses a different sized bearing and its pointless to own so many when you'll only use them a couple of times, so maybe try to find a friend with a wood or metal lathe, and get them to make some drifts. Someone here maybe.

No. The NDS bearing feels a little rough when not mounted but it feels like something has collapsed – its really audible under heavy load.

Suggest you have a good look at the freehub. I managed to completely destroy one on my SS. Immediately before it brought my ride to an end I had the wheel out and the fw and all felt fine on my rather cursory look. The outer bearing had collapsed. Couldn't see it when it wasn't under load but the fw was making quite a remarkable angle when you loaded it 😬
So much so it scored the axle, destroyed a spacer, ground the top off the locking in the dropout, the outer race came out in 4 bits along with a few bits of metal that might once have been balls, and I 'extracted' the inner race with a punch. 😆
The other bearing was pretty much ok, so it's still in there 🤔

Kinetic are the best, I can't recommend Winstanleys during this pandemic, my usual go to. Don't know why people recommend Simply bearings, their prices are crap, I live within walking distance and don't use them.

Don’t know why people recommend Simply bearings, their prices are crap

Seemed keenly priced on the branded bearings i wanted for a praxxis BB

They also had them here sat morning despite the current situation after a 9pm Thursday night order.

If your looking for the cheapest shite get on eBay. They will sort you cheaply.

Ive has poor experianced contrary to globaltis based on nothing bunches with cheap bearings both professionally and personally.

Seems every new Hope hub needs a new set of tools and uses a different sized bearing

Really? I've had pro 2, pro 2 evo and now pro 4. The evo needed 1 more tool than the pro2 and the pro 4 needs one less than the evo.

Interesting Del.

I took the freehub off, checked the bearings and all appeared fine.

I’ve ordered a pair of Wheels Manufacturing bearings From my LBS so will see if that makes a difference.

Make sure the seal reseats properly when you reinstall the hub, it's not always obvious with the Pro 2 Evo 🙂

@yohandsome - Do you mean free hub seal? That definitely went back in with a reassuring click.

one thing to note is - id be surprised if you have killed the main hub bearings without taking out the freehub bearings.

USed to kill those small inner freehub bearings with regularity - my record being 400km

Till hope suggested i use non Stainless bearings - which were less brittle.

FWIW, I tend to try to source Hope OEM bearings as they are stainless steel (most aftermarket ones are not) and last longer as a result, especially on MTBs were corrosion is often the cause of failure rather than race wear. They tend to work out pretty cheap in comparison to Enduro, comparing like for like with their stainless offering.

I've just checked the prices for my wheels and frame bearings, all Enduro, including max and stainless, kinetic bearings wipes the floor with simplybearings, a £3+ difference per bearing in some cases.
Nobody is recommending ebay cheap shite trail_rat.
Bearings for Hope, kinetic wins.

Managed a bit of tinkering time last night.

Removed and checked the BB (Square taper UN73) - All fine there. Cleaned BB threads re greased cups and re installed.

Checked and re greased pedals (XT SPuDs) both threads and internally and re installed.

Checked Uno ring was tight and reinstalled.

Chain (Sram 991) is relatively new.

Absolute Black rear sprocket looks fine too.

I even took the track end adjusters out to make sure they weren't rubbing on the 10mm axle.

Quick ride earlier and noise is still present.

Will pull the free hub off again later but an 95% sure it's not that. I have another that I could throw on to full rule out.

I love bikes. I hate bikes.

So a bit more tinkering time tonight.

I completely replaced the freehub with a spare I had and the noise appears to have vanished 🤔

Checking the freehub I removed all bearings appear to be smooth. The only oddity I noticed was the spacer (between the 1st and 2nd bearing) wasn’t “free” like the spare I put on. It doesn’t appear to move at all.

This will make, or looks like it will, bearing removal hard if not impossible as there is no obvious way to reach the inner race of the first bearing 🤔🤔

Hope to get a proper test ride tomorrow.

I plan to still replace the hub shell bearings .....