Hope Union, a trio of new SPD pedals to suit gravity, race and trail riders

Hope Technology has announced a trio of SPD pedals suited to gravity, race and trail riding. The new Hope Union pedal range has been announced with an …

By singletrackandi

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Hope Union, a trio of new SPD pedals to suit gravity, race and trail riders

ouch £150 union Raceclip for what looks like an M520/m540
the Trail and Gravity look good.

Humm, looks like they use their own cleat which means, if they stop making the cleat, you’re scuppered.

See recent thread on the Hope cassette. They don’t support legacy products as well as they used to.

Onzadog
Humm, looks like they use their own cleat which means, if they stop making the cleat, you’re scuppered.

If I could look past the cost, which I can’t, that rules them out as I’d need 2 sets. And then there’s the obsolescence thing!

I’ll stick with my Horizon CS which I really like and you can use Shimano cleats.

That cleat design looks very, very close to a Shimano. Is it the case that the pedals are are spd cleat compatible but that the hope cleats offer different float options to Shimano?

Could be the case, but have to wait until September to find out!

Not hugely fair comparing the Race Clip to the M520. It’s weight is closer to the M9100 XTR than anything else, which also happens to be the same shape as a £20 M520.

If they’re Shimano compatible I don’t think they look too bad.

Unless I am missing something, its just a blingier (bloody lovely looking bit of kit I’ll admit) version of the Shimano PD-ME700.

And seeing as it is under my feet and covered in grit, I’ll take the £35 shimano option any day…

Probably a great quality and rebuildable offering – but I can’t see any real innovation. The different float options – been done before and more simply by Crank Bros. It’s a lot of money for something that doesn’t offer anything new…

I think the machined body and Hope design and manufacturing quality probably go a long way towards the price. Plus, those suckers who love colour coded anodised bits will love them.

Blimey, the prices are in line with others – didn’t realise Shimamo XTs were £110 now! Last I looked they were less than half that. Hopes are a nice bit of bling, if that’s what you want under your feet.

The different float options – been done before and more simply by Crank Bros

And Time. And Shimano.

Coming out with a new cleat design seems nuts. But then, paying anything more than £35 for pedals seems nuts

I made the mistake of trying Tioga Clipmans back in the day and quickly regretted it. Unfortunately the major players are the major players for a reason and adding a new cleat (standard) with no guarantee of a long life is not a risk I would take again, especially with 4 pairs of shoes still in use all with spd cleats.

if you compare the Race versions with XTR xc then the weight is similar and you’re paying for a choice of colours I guess.

I’d imagine they’ll be pretty popular.

From PB

Update:

After a few people asked why Hope felt the need to make their own proprietary cleats – rather than using out-of-patent and common Shimano SPD cleats – I asked Hope to comment and got this response:

“We didn’t set out to develop a new system but it naturally developed this way. We have made flat pedals for a number of years but the majority of us at the factory ride clips so it seemed a shame we couldn’t use our own pedals, basically we wanted to stick a clip mechanism on an F20. When we looked at our options the only existing system available to us would be based on a Shimano SPD, however this system doesn’t work too well when used with a big platform, it needs clearance meaning most of the platform would be wasted [ Mike Kazimer noted this in his Saint pedal review ]. We made some prototypes of our own mechanism which solved some of the issues and it worked pretty well first time so that gave us confidence to develop it further and see where it took us”

.—Sam Gibbs, Hope Union pedal designer

I’ll stick to my XT trails thanks

lovely and again if hope offer every wearable part as service item … tey are better than shimano
truth be told though the M520 rules… although i like my xtr reaces for the gravel/road bike so could be persuaded down the hope route and superstar offer the axles in ti for quite a discount last time i looked

Humm, looks like they use their own cleat which means, if they stop making the cleat, you’re scuppered.

I don’t think that’s really too much of a concern with Hope, I mean, they still do spares for hubs which they stopped making years ago.

They don’t support hubs too far back any more, and as noted above don’t support their unique cassettes any more.
Not for me.

Can you add the Gravity pic to the article rather than just hidden behind the header section @singletrackandi ?

@danposs86 done 👍

don’t support their unique cassettes any more.

What’s to support on a cassette?

jaseisace71
Full Member

lovely and again if hope offer every wearable part as service item … tey are better than shimano

OTOH generally Shimano pedals last forever anyway. Any failures tend to be exactly that rather than gradually wearing out.

I think these might be a tough sell for them. Easier to sell F20s (which last well but are very ‘meh’ to use) to folk as they are of interest to a wider market

Race is 324g vs 310g for Shimano M9100 XTR, so not lighter…..

What’s to support on a cassette?

The alu cassette halves to fit their unique freehub pattern.

What’s to support on a cassette?

needs a unique freehub (instead of one of the 3 other possible “standards”)

not sure what they are supposed to be stopping supporting – the freehub or making cassettes, but still leaves people with a useless half-a-system

I like Hope and like the look of these so would buy some if in the market. Unfortunately I have plenty of other bits of kit that need replacing before my pedals.

It’s the cassettes that are discontinued. Don’t know about the freehub but sure people will have those knocking around.

So next time the cassette wears out, it’s the price of an already expensive cassette plus £75 for a freehub body.

I would be interested in the gravity version, they are right about the clip/platform problem, I never got on with the crank brother mallets if the pins were adgusted so you could engage the platform it caused problem clipping out, and if you adjusted the pins to clip out there was no point having the platform. I thought the shimano saints were better, but still the platform was mainly there to stand on when you couldn’t clip in quick enough rather than supporting the foot when clipped in.

If these have solved the problem then I would buy them, the problem is spending 160 to find out isn’t on my todo list at the moment.

And Time. And Shimano.

I use Time pedals myself, when I’m going clipless.

I like Hope and buying British + the ability to service and repair their stuff.
BUT… the long tupport has undoubtedly reduced in recent years – you really cannot get some parts for as long as they used to be available – which actually reduces Hope’s USP and appeal. No benefits of being serviceable and made to last if I can’t get a freehub body or set of pawls – making an otherwise good wheelset scrap.

E.g. they now won’t even entertain opening up tje back of a 5 year old R4 light or a 2 year old battery pack (when what has broken is the wire connector).
Good job I can solder. (USE will however for their equivalent).

Yep, I’ll definitely be getting a set of these once my old M520’s finally die…

Ah, hmm, don’t hold your breath Hope…!

Nice looking pedals and as always the colours are great but the price is too pricey for me.

Also, I went away from Shimano’s because the SPD system is no good. They clog up in mud, snow and pine needles and there’s little or no float, so any movement in your foot on either a techy decent or a jump and you find yourself unclipped. The Hope cleat system looks almost the same as the SPD design so can’t imagine it would fair any better.

Time Atac MX4’s at around £50 (£40 for MX3’s) and you don’t have any of those issues or, if you want more bling then the Time Speciale 8 at just over £100.

We made some prototypes of our own mechanism which solved some of the issues and it worked pretty well first time so that gave us confidence to develop it further and see where it took us

Instead, they could have taken the findings from the prototype and worked out how to weave in an existing, ubiquitous cleat design. But that’s cool – just make your own standard.

I’m out. Still running some 1997 Shimano M535s that might just outlive me. Sore on the knees compared to egg beaters though.

Just what the world UK needs, another cleat standard.

Chances of finding a Hope cleat when abroad somewhere on holiday will be practically zero.

Boardman MTB pedals, £24 before the BC 10% discount if you have one, 331g and lighter than XT Race, shimano fitting and have lasted 2 years on my play bike. No one will ever see the name.

Or £150 for some Hopes. Hmmm.

Heavier than Xtr !
More expensive than Xtr !
Unproven long term reliability/durability !
Lovely coloured anodising that won’t last 3 months in British slop before looking Tatty !

Take my money !!!!

They look great, but I’d have to wait until someone gets to try them with Shimano cleats and we know whether they work or not – as observed above, they do look fairly close.

8 bikes, 5 of which have Shimano SPD (or compatible) pedals. 5 pairs of shoes, 3 of which have Shimano SPD cleats. I ain’t hopping across to any other standards anytime soon (or ever).

That said, my old XT trail pedals are getting very worn out now, and I do need to replace them. Was going to go for Horizon CS, but if these do turn out to be compatible I’d certainly consider the Trail pedal.

I went away from Shimano’s because the SPD system is no good. They clog up in mud, snow and pine needles and there’s little or no float

I went the other way, from time and eggbeaters to Shimano. I actually find the Shimano float nicer as it’s zero friction/resistance so your foot and knees can find a natural position. Whereas the sprung time/eggbeater pedals push on the cleat almost from the center and it’s just progressive untill it releases. Shimano has less float on paper, but it feels like more in the real world (and I much prefer the definite click).

Boardman MTB pedals, £24 before the BC 10% discount if you have one, 331g

I tried Boardman cleats once when desperate for some new ones. But found the subtle difference to Shimano meant they wouldn’t release consistently From Shimano pedals.

Haven’t tried them the other way arround (or as far as I can recall as a proper set).

Yep, I’ll definitely be getting a set of these once my old M520’s finally die…

Ah, hmm, don’t hold your breath Hope…!

Came here to make the same joke 🤣

However reliable any other system is, it’s still measured as how many times you have to rebuild them Vs a set of 540s.

Despite all the naysayers, I will readily acknowledge that being made in the UK they might well be eminently more available off the shelf than anything Shimano…

😉