When Peter says ‘far better’ what he means is the bearings may last longer on XC hubs, in his opinion.
It ain’t opinion, it’s a bleeding FACT! The bearings are SHYTE! There’s a lot more than just me found this. If I still had the pic of the Pro 2 bearings sitting next to the XC bearings, you’d understand why. 🙂
He does neglect to mention that the Pro2 is lighter and more adaptable.
Indeed. Jack of all trades, master of none.
Or that I had one XC that snapped 3 axles before I chucked it in the bin, wrecked…..
TBH, if I was buying new wheels and had a free choice, I wouldn’t touch ANY Hopes with a barge pole. Sure, they’re easy to fix and Hope customer service is brilliant, but I just get tired of calling Hope and fixing their crappy hubs.
Snapped axles, the retaining flange for a front 20mm adaptor circlip falling off, broken pawl springs, a cracked off spoke flange, gouges in the alloy freehub bodies no matter what cassette you use (And that’s why Pro 2s are lighter: Soft alloy freehub bodies) and umpteen bearings. Cheap to run they are not. Or reliable. XC’s just break less often and use less bearings…..
Given my choice and a lot of money I’d go with XTR or Royce. Right now I’d have Deore over Hope. Honestly. Fit an XT freehub body when it packs up then 50 pence worth of bearings and a blob of grease once a year. They last just as long as Hope, take no longer to maintain, and are about 1/4 of the price to buy and run.
But I keep picking up cheap Hope hubbed wheels or hubs (Front Pro 2 wheel £20, Rear XC wheel £50, Rear XC hub brand new £60) so I keep using them, and at that price it’s silly not to, but when the supply runs out, I’ll switch the remaining few I’ve got left back to Shimano. Which are cheap. And boring. And don’t have a posh look-at-me designer name on them. And don’t fall apart…..
