Two mates taken Hope crank’d bikes in for service this week, both had failures on the axle splines resulting in parts of the spline snapping off.

If you’ve got one it might be worth checking..

Ah I’ve just had the same problem warrantied!
The crack in mine made itself known by making a god awful noise, as if the BB bearings were shot, if that helps.

Which version? presumably the old one.

I gave up on Hope a while ago. Yes, their warranty is great but it needs to be as so much stuff goes back to be sorted. Basically they’ve got a fancy CNC machine and are churning out parts that really shouldn’t/don’t need to be CNC’d.

My list included three cracked hub flanges and a exploded freehub body before I got other hubs. Never had a peep out of any other hub I’ve used.

How does that add anything to this thread?

Any pics, so know what to look out for?
Thanks

breatheasy, I’m the same, hub warrantied three times, and a headset once. Never had a hub fail on any other brand.

Which version?

Yes, the original one not the EVO

If its covered under warranty, won’t they just send out a new axle??

Basically they’ve got a fancy CNC machine and are churning out parts that really shouldn’t/don’t need to be CNC’d.

My list included three cracked hub flanges and a exploded freehub body

You are suggesting that hub bodies and freehubs shouldn’t be CNC’d?

You are suggesting that hub bodies and freehubs shouldn’t be CNC’d?

Basic material science, metal has a grain which ideally should align somewhat with the forces being applied to it.

Forging (i.e. stamping bits into shape) achieves this, CNCing doesn’t. Imagine taking a log and chiselling a hub shell out of it, you wouldn’t be entirely surprised if the spoke tension eventually pulled the wood apart along the grain would you?

BIG DISCLAIMER: I only studied materials for half a term, many moons ago.

Well. It just so happens that Hope hubs are machined from forgings.

So while your half a term may well hold true, a little more knowledge always helps.

my pro 2’s cracked around the disc bolt holes, sent them photos and they just said keep an eye on them. Never seen it on Shimano, Novatec or DT hubs.

Basic material science, metal has a grain which ideally should align somewhat with the forces being applied to it.

Forging (i.e. stamping bits into shape) achieves this, CNCing doesn’t. Imagine taking a log and chiselling a hub shell out of it, you wouldn’t be entirely surprised if the spoke tension eventually pulled the wood apart along the grain would you?

You want to go onto Hope’s website and take a look at the forgings they start with before CNC machineing.

They are near net shape forged then CNC machined. So all the metallurgy is as good as it can be for a bike hub. They’re not daft them folk at Hope. Cut their teeth making jet engines so bike bits is a walk in the park for them.

Edit – teeth grinder got there first.

Haha, as I was typing my post a little voice at the back of my head was wondering “do Hope near-net forge?” but like an eejit I posted anyway…

I smell bullshit

2007 pro 2 shell here still going strong on my only mountain bike… Gets ridden 3x a week, been on 3 rims.. just saying..

my pro 2’s cracked around the disc bolt holes / Never seen it on Shimano, Novatec or DT hubs.

Same here. Pro 2 Evos. 6 yrs old but intermittent use on my 2nd MTB.

So all the metallurgy is as good as it can be for a bike hub. They’re not daft them folk at Hope.

No. And the metallurgy may be 100% but perhaps a bit more material in a couple of areas where they’ve been seen to fail could prevent this.

carlos

If its covered under warranty, won’t they just send out a new axle??

Or a set of the newer Evo cranks

I had an axle fail as per the OP so contacted Hope CS for advice. The person I spoke to insisted I must have installed the cranks incorrectly, when I stated that I’d followed the instructions to the letter said that breakages should be expected on mountain bikes. No mention of warranty or replacement for me.

Currently running a pair on each bike, looks like another thing to keep an eye on!

As above I had the same issue, spindle snapped at the tangs…spoke to hope who said I must have fitted in correctly as they had never heard of the problem…(LBS had warranties 3 sets before mine) unfortunately hope had fitted my cranks as the lad I bought the bike off is well known and does allot of work for hope.  Obviously at that point I was out of warranty as i wasn’t the first owner.  Showed the crank design to a couple of people who know about these sort of things each of which laughed.  Crap design, heavy over engineered and weak.  Took them years to develop too.

had an axle fail as per the OP so contacted Hope CS for advice. The person I spoke to insisted I must have installed the cranks incorrectly, when I stated that I’d followed the instructions to the letter said that breakages should be expected on mountain bikes. No mention of warranty or replacement for me

Was this a bloke called Chris ?

I had a pair of x2 evos fail from corrosion inside to out resulting in complete brake failure …. My fault though especially as rear wheels are taken out more than the front to get bikes in cars etc.

Decided he was a walloper

Cut their teeth making jet engines so bike bits is a walk in the park for them.

Didn’t think the airlines would tolerate amazing CS over reliability!

Thankfully Hope provide amazing reliability and CS then. A small number of people on a biking forum who have had failures for undetermined causes doesn’t really mean there is a problem. No product is 100% reliable and not designed to be so or all mountain bikes would be ridiculously over engineered and heavy. All MTB parts fail. We’ve had the lot on this forum over the years. No component has demonstrated 100% reliability. i’m sure Hope are in the mix with everyone else if you actually had the real data at hand.

This also happened to my Hope crank… Hope warrantied it and replaced the axle (not the crank) and included a note to the effect that I had not installed it correctly – pretty sure I had. Anyway, thinking back I had been re-tightening the preload ring because I kept getting play in the crank… at the time I thought the preload ring was coming loose but on reflection I think it was the other end that was coming loose (splines being pulled out of the interface) and I was just taking up the slack with the preload ring. The crank splines then failed because they were not properly seated …just a theory, I’m not an engineer! Anyway, I generally rate Hope products very highly; never had any issues with their hubs or brakes when I have had plenty of issues with other brands… now back using Shimano cranks though!

In fairness to Hope, I’ve only ever had one item of their kit fail on me and that was an XC hub that I was giving a hammering to on my DH bike.

I have moved away from their products though, not for quality reasons but for cost ones. I just don’t feel Hope’s quality is significantly better than other brands to justify their much higher prices. I understand that for some the “Made in the UK” tag is all the justification they need to pay more but I’ve never been one for such jingoistic nonsense.

I understand that for some the “Made in the UK” tag is all the justification they need to pay more but I’ve never been one for such jingoistic nonsense.

I’m no Hope fanboy, but buying things that are UK made isn’t just jingoism – it’s good for all of us.

Cut their teeth making jet engines so bike bits is a walk in the park for them.

LOL, I wonder how many engines were repaired under warranty?

I like hope and have always used their hubs but I’ve never liked their cranks. I don’t like the look of them and they are expensive.

For the money I can’t see past shimano cranks. My 2nd hand xtrs, picked up for £80 have been in 3 bikes.

Yep, splines broke away at the end …

Have to say, after the experiences i’ve had with the cranks, and past experience with brakes and hubs i honestly can’t see me buying any more hope parts, not because of quality, but because as others say, they’re just not worth the price any more.

I personally think the crank design is terrible, not sure what jet engines they built, but i’m going to guess they were just a manufacturer for build to print products, so no design element.

LOL, I wonder how many engines were repaired under warranty?

Google Rolls-Royce Trent 1000

Doubt their is much aluminium in a trent 1000. Not in the bit that gets hot anyhow.

the problem with the ‘wedge’ that goes in the end of the axle – see pic above – is that it requires a huge amount of specified torque; 70 Nm I think. This is a lot! And the Hope-supplied star socket that you have to use is relatively long, so keeping it all straight and true is hard when leaning on it.

As said above, it’s a dubious design in many ways. Tricky to fit. Even trickier to remove, and more complicated than other designs (and indeed the new EVO design).

Further to what @wobbliscot says: you can only have great CS if you’ve a very low number of failures on your products, it’s not financially sustainable if there’s a lot of returns.

I’ve quite a few Hope products – mainly hubs and BBs – and they’ve been fine. I don’t have Hope cranks as I don’t see the need for 30mm spindles – I seriously doubt anyone can apply enough force to feel the difference in deflection between a 24mm and a 30mm spindle when you’ve got flexible tyres and compressible footwear in the system.

As above – if they are in warranty, return them. If not have a polite chat with Hope.

you can only have great CS if you’ve a very low number of failures on your products, it’s not financially sustainable if there’s a lot of returns.

That also depends on cost though. As a few have pointed out Hope stuff isn’t exactly cheap, so they can afford decent CS. PX/OO obviously take it to the other extreme.

That is true Colin and the cost of the CS will be amortised into the price that everyone pays regardless of whether their individual item fails. There’s obviously a sweet spot between reliability, number of returns and profit.

I don’t think Hope are big enough to have a dedicated CS department, according to their website they’ve around 100 employees, so it’s likely that whoever’s next to the phone picks it up hence the “did you get …” comments.