Buying a set of hopes at the weekend. Looking for inspiration on colour combos bikes mainly black so thinking black with orange bore caps and adjusters or silver with blue but interested in other colours too. I know the colour isn’t important etc etc but it’s bit of fun. Show me what worked for you and what looking back looked awful.
I always go for all black everything with whatever colour hubs suit the bike.
You need to show restraint with Hope kit or your bike will look like it's had a vajazzle.
Black looks fine, silver looks fine everything else looks awful. (this isn't specifically a hope thing)
You might not realise it now you might not admit it ever but in 6 months you'll wish you bought black or silver and secretly hate those blue calipers.
Nice coloured frame, everything else black for me.
Bikes dripping with Hope gaudy colours are worse than cherished numberplates. 🙂
Black. The Hope stuff is probably going to last longer than the rest of the bike and there's no way to know what colour that will be.
Black levers and calipers, silver adjustment dials on the levers is my default as it goes with everything. The only bit I'd add some colour to is the bore caps as they're easy to switch if you change bike. I also prefer the black hoses, just looks better and there's no performance advantage to braided.
Never seen a bike that looks good covered in horrible anodised tat. Don't do it. Black or silver, and preferably black.
Plus, if you buy red, it'll be pink* in 6 months.
*Currently riding pink hubs against my wishes.
This. Took 2 years for me though.
Cheers for your thoughts so far keep it coming. Definitely after subtle over tacky but got a plain black frame so could handle a bit of colour if done right. Going for black or silver levers and callipers for sure but not sure about bore caps etc. Need more pics
Black levers and calipers, silver adjustment dials on the levers is my default as it goes with everything.
This^^^ although I do like the Green highlights they did in the Hope 160. Swapping over all the little bits soon adds up so its as it comes default out of the box for me. No need for braided hose as the standard Hope stuff is more than good enough.
I've seen a couple whilst out and about that look ok with highlighted bits, but most just look vajazzled
I actually like all the colour.
Next bike will be a blue frame, with a few Orange parts, hubs, brakes. But that will probably be it the rest will be black.
As everyone else has said, black. Though I do have blue master cylinder caps which were cheap and a really easy to change and look decent in my opinion.
I liked the Gunmetal that they no longer do.
If you want it subtle what about coloured covers on the brakes, 1-2 matching spacers, dropper post clamp and cassette lock ring.
Normally I'd say black (and that colour matched bikes are a bit naff), for the reasons above.
If the frame really is plain black though, how about orange?
You have to do it all, brakes hubs headset and seatclamp; fork and wheel decals (unless they are completely de-stickered)
This is what I like colour wise, not too much.
I had a 575 in black with silvery grey fox forks. I had hope "gun smoke" bits on that looked really subtle and nice but i think this was a bit of a one off as it tended to blend with the bike rather than pop. It was one of hopes more muted colours.
But as a general rule id go black just to be safe.
Purple, because Purple* will never be in or out of fashion.
Black everything with blue bore caps so you can pretend it's a Yamaha.
The colored calipers look a bit naff* IMO.
*Purple is naff, but in a retro kinda way. And because of this it'll look equally bad / good on the next bike as well.
If you want to see "how not to do it", join one of the Orange owners' groups on Facebook.
Robj20. that looks really good.
If you want to see “how not to do it”, join one of the Orange owners’ groups on Facebook.
I almost mentioned Orange by name in my first post. There is almost nothing uglier than an boxy framed Orange with fully colour coded Hope build kit.
I only say 'almost' because of recent developments in non telescopic forks etc.. It's getting crazy out there!
I like my orange Orange with blue Hope bits. I also want to put purple Hope bits on a HT build. You lot are dull.
Jesus! How boring are you lot? It’s a push bike, live a little. Orange seat clamp, headset and BB. Possibly hubs too. Pimp it! Turn your bike in to a quality street!
Black and buy Shimano. Then spend the savings on other bling bits, plus you'll have better brakes
Orange seat clamp, headset and BB
BB's I think look good. Headsets and seat clamps should be black.
And TBH Hope's seat clamps are a bit of a letdown when the rest of it looks so good. It looks like different people designed each part and left massive gaps between the lever and the band and sharp edges on the band, and a massive bulky adjuster, and it's just horrible.
A nice seat clamp:
Hope:
The non QR one is even worse.
On the other hand. My Salsa seat clamp died in the peaks mud and grit. My hope lives on 🙂
Less is more with hope stuff! A few coloured bit balanced off with black bits always looks smart. I've got a pair of purple hubs but I only got purple because they were miles cheaper when I bought them. I've also just got a pair of blue hubs that will match my black and blue Capra quite nice but again only because the black ones would have been £40 more.
Black and buy Shimano. Then
spend the savings on other bling bits, plus you’ll have better brakessave your money for more calipers and master cylinders and have worse brakes
It’s like a bike funeral in here. Black with a splash of black and black highlights 😂
The colored calipers look a bit naff* IMO.
Yes context is everything.
Hope bling can work if a) you have a neutral colour frame and b) you don't go overboard, like the 90's.
Exhibit 1.
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I went for red after a process of elimination, wanted some colour - didn't like orange, or the blue, and purple was a bit too much, so red it was! Fingers cross it doesn't turn pink...
Black or silver with your highlight of choice.
Most of mine are full black or black with silver bore caps, but the Stache (full black - like Batman, fighting a black hole in the dark, black) has purple bore caps and purple bottle bolts, but that’s it.
90% of the posters so far
Black!
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I almost mentioned Orange by name in my first post. There is almost nothing uglier than an boxy framed Orange with fully colour coded Hope build kit.
I only say ‘almost’ because of recent developments in non telescopic forks etc.. It’s getting crazy out there!
Grab a bucket... here’s my old TicTac Four !
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My fave Hope colour is the old Gunsmoke like I have on on my Speedball. I won’t post a pic, its non squishy front end might send you over the edge.
Hope bling can work if a) you have a neutral colour frame and b) you don’t go overboard, like the 90’s.
Exhibit 1.
I went for red after a process of elimination, wanted some colour – didn’t like orange, or the blue, and purple was a bit too much, so red it was! Fingers cross it doesn’t turn pink…
How do you find the one up stem? Has it come loose at all?
Grab a bucket… here’s my old Four !
Nice! Like the permanent marker work on the tyres 😉
You lose a point thanks to the black pedals though...
How do you find the one up stem? Has it come loose at all?
It's been fine, once I actually got it pre-loaded correctly - first couple of rides were silent but when bouncing the bike on the back wheel after washing it, there was a rattle - turned out I'd not pre-loaded the stem enough. It's been perfect since. If you torque the stem clamps correctly there's no reason why the preloader should come loose, it's also locked off.
Those hoped-up heroes remind me of....
You lose a point thanks to the black pedals though…
Yeah I gave in a week or so later / orange F20s went on.
2016 S-Works Enduro here, so it's already splashed in Monster Green, Graphite and Red. As a result, the seat collar, stem and brakes (all Hope) plus cranks, grips and spokes are all Model T Black...but every single bike that I've owned since 2004 has blue hubs, it's a bit of a thing for me.
It would be very easy to end up with something that looks as though Liberace has sneezed on it.
I've got a set of orange V4's in the garage just waiting for a grey or silver FS frame to hang them on. Will probably go for a few other orange bits, seat clamp, headset, BB and hubs but for some reason I don't like coloured stems...
I lii I Le that metro. I wonder if it was ever finished...
The problem is with hope bling you really have to think about the future. It always looks brilliant at first but it WILL fade and if you buy any bits at separate times they will fade at different rates and depending where the item is depends again how quickly it’ll fade. The most I do now is different coloured hubs and that’s it and even then I would highly resist it. Chris king colour last a LOT longer if I really wanted to do colour and having done the colour components now it would actually be the only way I would go.
Basically in short it’ll look great now but in 12 months time or more it won’t! If you can afford that time span and don’t mind looking at fade then go for it!