Emailed Hope yesterday as I was curious about the release date of the 36-9 cassette that had been reported some time ago.
This is what they emailed me back…

‘Hi, we are still working on the cassette, but now we are going for a
10/36 or 10/37. We might have something by September, possibly!’

Interesting huh?

Don’t hold your breath…

So long as the plan is for it to be retro-fittable to Pro2 hubs, they’ll shift a fair few. The 10-37 sounds interesting so long a it will work with existing rear mechs unlike the 11-38 from KCNC(?) which requires the extension for an XTR mech. Should make 1×10 a little more useable to more people.

Hope guesstimate of September could mean anything though.

I emailed hope in April 2011 asking about hub compatibility, before buying new wheels was told Evo 2’s and Pro 3’s would be retro-fit-able and that they’d be available early ’12………… I won’t be basing anymore purchase decisions on their info.

I notice the didn’t specify the year….

For shame really. A 36-9 (or even better 37/38 bottom gear) would go a long way with single front, even here in the alps. If it could be used with an existing 10 speed drivetrain, that is …

You’d imagine that XX1 has stolen their thunder a little.

It took ’em 4 years to make a tube with clamp on top 😯

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/38-Tooth-Cog-for-Mountain-Bike-Cassette-38t-Sprocket-/251167802960?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a7ac48650

Anybody tried this? I’m gonna give it a go on my mega I think, not sure whether to loose the 11 or strip a cassette down and custom ratio one up

Rorschach – Member

It took ’em 4 years to make a tube with clamp on top

To be fair the Chinese Democracy seatpost did end up reasonably nice.

If it’s anything like the new XD freehub, it will be a direct replacement on Pro 2 Evo & Pro 3 hubs, but won’t fit the old Pro 2.

However, you can modify the Pro 2 and bring it up to Pro 2 Evo Spec by replacing the axle, 2mm spacer and end adaptors. I have just done this on 2 old pro 2 hubs to enable the XD freehub to fit

9 tooth was never gonna last, they can get away with it on microdrive bmx setups because bmxs dont actually get ridden very far. Even 10 tooth might be a bit ambitious.
Did I read all or some of the cogs at least will be aluminium?
These factors make me a bit dubious… Other than that I wish they’d hurry up and release it.

Did I read all or some of the cogs at least will be aluminium?

IIRC the pre-production ones were anodised green and gold, so must have been all alu. Lightweight over durability, not a huge issue as long as they make that clear!

Spookily I was thinking about this last night (slow day yesterday).

Wouldn’t it be easier to just machine a cassette and freehub combined and sav even more weight off it? Obviously changing cassette would be a bit more tricky.

That’s exactly what they’ve done? 😕

I notice the didn’t specify the year….

That’s a standard Hope policy 😀

Wouldn’t it be easier to just machine a cassette and freehub combined and sav even more weight off it? Obviously changing cassette would be a bit more tricky.

erm, as Njee points out, that is what the cassette project is all about. originally it was just an engineering project to see what could be done. the proto was all alu and scheduled for release on the original dates but wasn’t durable enough during testing, likewise the 9t made the chain run too rough.

The new version is Ti and steel sprockets directly mounted to the freehub body for want of a better description. but is still undergoing testing hence no firm release date yet. There’s a lot more work than people imagine in sorting this, one of Hopes R&D engineers has spent nearly 6 months solid on the cassette already.

Spev, was lookin at that cog too, well 41 tooth. There’s a thread on mtbr on it. Looks interesting. Looked at me ratios and thought might ditch my 15 & 17 and replace with 16 tooth cog. Don’t fancy loosing my 11 tooth!
Also thought I’d go up a bit at front for better overall spread on my 1 x 10 setup. At the mo I’ve biased towards climbing.

Spoke to the guy about a custom 10t lockring but required specific tooling he couldn’t commit too.

He did say he’d help out with duty if req’d. I’ve a friend also interested. Maybe a mini group buy. Might get us a price break!

10-36 would be good, using a 28t front ring you get almost the same top end as 32tx11

Hope massively missed the boat on this one, specialized and others were playing with bastardized capreo cassettes 2 years ago while they were touting their great 9-36 cassette at shows…. Since then very little new from hope xx1 has stolen the jump on everyone and now there’s a couple of home brewers/small companies managing to do extended range cassettes….

Too slow Hope, too slow….

If you really need a massively wide ratio cassette, Just change the largest 3 sprockets on a shimano capreo (9-25 stock) to suit your needs!
Oh.. You *need* disc brakes? WTF did we ride before discs? Oh, yeah, exactly the same stuff.. That won’t work then, eh? 😮

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/38-Tooth-Cog-for-Mountain-Bike-Cassette-38t-Sprocket-/251167802960?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a7ac48650

Anybody tried this? I’m gonna give it a go on my mega I think, not sure whether to loose the 11 or strip a cassette down and custom ratio one up

This caught my interest as you could use the 36T version to add to a 9 speed XT cassette – trouble is – it weighs 155g 🙁 so overall it would weigh the same as the HG 9 speed 11 to 36 cassette.

not worried about the weight (well not until I shift a bit off myself), not sure whether to go for the 38 or the 41 at the moment

41? Enjoy the sound of chainslap much?

Cant we go backwards and just have a carrier and separate cogs so we can select our own set up 😛

duirdh, the capreo wont fit my mega (and neither will v-brakes) so smart comments about whether we need disc’s or not are not relevant really.
I’ll most likely go 38t and see how it goes, think I’ll get rid of the 11t as it probably the gear I use the least (pump rather than pedal DH as i’m getting on a bit now 😆 )

spev… If your willing to drop the 11 then it would be far simpler to run a smaller front ring. The benefit of the 38 or 41 is to get a bigger spread of gears off the single ring.

yeah thats what I decided last night, if I can find a 30t front ring then I’ll give that a go. Trying to get a simple set up without knackering my already dodgy left knee is complicated 🙁

Extralite do one – although it’s designed as an inner for a double. Anything smaller than 32t and you need to file your spider so the chain clears it. Or you can use one of those Widgit things.

Aye I’m running 2 x 10 cranks (80/120 bcd) and figure a 30 or 31t chainring is about right for me too. Fortunately a coupla manufacturers are starting to do these in 80 bcd.

so now that we know x01 is still silly expensive and its nearly september, what are the odds hope will have it ready soon?? 😉

also what price- 100 quid too optimistic?

emailed Hope about this last week and basically told: “Yeah, errm, oh that. Still on the back burner but no time soon”

This is bound to be something the MTB community will look back on and laugh at in a few years time. A 41t rear cassette! What a daft idea! What are the benefits of using a 41t casstte?

Im already laughing at the price!

Cant we go backwards and just have a carrier and separate cogs so we can select our own set up

This,

Not all the sprockets on my cassettes are worn out at the same time…

Cant we go backwards and just have a carrier and separate cogs so we can select our own set up

When I made the giant leap from 5 to 6 speed at the back I was able to configure my gearing exactly as I wanted. Much better than stock cassettes at the time.