Hubs, do we just buy Hope ones or should I be looking elsewhere?

Have you got that argument the other way arround, if I had an hourly rate for spannering the Hope would be even more expensive as it would need the new freehub now, not some hypothetical future service.

A freehub is 70 quid and an XT is presumably 50. How long does it take you to rebuild the wheel? How much does it cost for spokes? Conversely how long does it take to swap a freehub? That’s what I’m talking about.

Buying new, sure that works if you know you’re going to get the milage out of it but can you easily convert an XT with a 2 minute end cap swap? Can you fit an XD driver to an XT? I’m currently going through those compatibility issues and I have one useful set of hubs, it’s not going to be cheap to remedy.

If you have all the parts and tools handy a freehub swap on a hope hub is 5 mins tops. that’s remove cassette, pull off freehub, push on new one (and seat the seal which is really important), refit cassette. Even if you where reusing the pawls and springs that’s only another couple of mins. It’s a no brainier for me. But then I’m quite a hope fan.

I like hope hubs because here in the UK spares availability is ubiquitous. They’re also not too expensive compared to say parts for DT Swiss. My pro4s seems a break pawl springs like they’re going out of fashion for some reason, so actually it’s good that I can get spares

I’d still like a hub that has faster engagement, but 40t isn’t too far off. I do notice it ratcheting in technical terrain where the delay before drivetrain engagement could be better.

A freehub is 70 quid and an XT is presumably 50. How long does it take you to rebuild the wheel? How much does it cost for spokes? Conversely how long does it take to swap a freehub? That’s what I’m talking about.

Buying new, sure that works if you know you’re going to get the milage out of it but can you easily convert an XT with a 2 minute end cap swap? Can you fit an XD driver to an XT? I’m currently going through those compatibility issues and I have one useful set of hubs, it’s not going to be cheap to remedy.

Hubs already stripped from an old wheel and ready-ish to go. Currently HG with 135mm end caps.

Hope Freehub is £75, boost kit* is £40, so £115 in all. XT M8110 hub is £90.

Think I’ve talked myself into waiting another payday and getting a new set of pro4 hubs (purple obviously) and saving the pro2 for something gravel/roadie in the future (hopeing shimano don’t abandon HG entirely).

*i don’t like the idea of the hope one affecting chain line

Hub buzz for me is essential.

Ever since watching The Collective. There was a bit in that where the rider spins back his hub to get the cranks set up before dropping in and the noise was sublime and the effect on me quite profound.

Never got on with silent hubs after that.

I’ve only sold on Hope hubs when I’ve needed a different axle size for the next bike they’re going on. They’re that good, and while I tend to go budget on pretty much everything else, I won’t go halves when building wheels. Hope is the perfect balance of longevity, affordability and reliability for me. I hate waste, and the attraction of Hope is that I can probably keep the hubs I have going for a very, very long time and still get spares and support.
Pro II rear hubs used to have an issue where the shell cracked; I saw a couple of examples. Hope replaced them (in both cases the whole wheel with much nicer rim/ spokes) within a week, no questions asked. I like it that you can call up the factory and speak to someone who has probably had a hand in making the hub / brake etc that I’m calling about, and I’ve always ended up speaking to someone who has had the patience to explain how to fix whatever problem it is I had with a part. This was back in the days of the c2 and mono mini brakes, by the way – I’ve not needed to call lately.
The main faff from my perspective over the last few years has been changing axle standards; it’s meant I’ve had to sell on hubs and wheels that had a ton of life left in them and were perfectly serviceable for what I wanted to do with them. The last lot I sold were some Hope XCs, and as far as I know they’re still going strong. I’ve a pair of 28h Pro 4 Evos and a pair fo 32h Pro II Evos; the IIs are going on eight or nine years with a single bearing change, which is pretty good in my book – I’d expect at least one change a year, but I’m spreading wear across two mountain bikes now, so stuff lasts longer.

I’ve got a bunch of Hope hubs, the front ones are brilliant – nothing much to go wrong – the rear ones less so. I prefer the star ratchet DT Swiss freehub system, which has been more reliable for me, plus the bearings seem better sealed based on how often I’ve had to swap them out.

Pro 2 freehub failures due to disintegrating bearings is a common issue. You may get lucky and have Hope replace the freehub and axle for free or you may not. It’d be better if it didn’t happen in the first place. They do make a nice noise though.

My preferred set-up is a Hope front and a DT Swiss 240S rear with one of the fast engagement upgraded star ratchets. I’m not saying Hope are utter crap or owt, just that given the choice, I’d pick DT Swiss.

Hubs already stripped from an old wheel and ready-ish to go. Currently HG with 135mm end caps.

Hope Freehub is £75, boost kit* is £40, so £115 in all. XT M8110 hub is £90.

Think I’ve talked myself into waiting another payday and getting a new set of pro4 hubs (purple obviously) and saving the pro2 for something gravel/roadie in the future (hopeing shimano don’t abandon HG entirely).

*i don’t like the idea of the hope one affecting chain line

Ah, that makes more sense if you’re starting from the same place. Could be worse, you could be stuck with XC’s on everything (barring a Pro2 which is, usefully, a rear). Not that there is anything wrong with XC, it’s just long past its sell by date for multi-bike wheels.

Ah, that makes more sense if you’re starting from the same place. Could be worse, you could be stuck with XC’s on everything (barring a Pro2 which is, usefully, a rear). Not that there is anything wrong with XC, it’s just long past its sell by date for multi-bike wheels.

I’ve a pair of gunmetal XC’s, and a bulb front can’t quite figure out what to do with them!

In theory I think the bulb should fit in a torque cap boost front fork with 15-20mm sleeve on the axle and a ‘boost converter’ disk spacer.

The XC’s will probably find their way onto a winter road bike or singlespeed at some point, just looking for a frame that takes my fancy.

DT350 is imo just plain better than the Hopes, and it kind of says a lot that it’s a design that’s been around forever and it’s still better than however many generations of Hope have come and gone in the same time… (I always think it’s funny that people recommend Hope because of good service when they go wrong… But nobody recommends DT because of good service when they go wrong, because they don’t really go wrong)

But neither is bad, you’re never going to curse yourself for buying either.

240 is a bit better still but much more expensive and bloody boost has taken away the helpful supply of dirt cheap used wheels with 240s in- you can still fit adaptors but that gets a bit daft. Just As Planned of course

I don’t have much experience of more recent hubs but adding my vote for CK. I have some original ISO disk mtb hubs which are 15 years old or perhaps more. The rear is tired now but the front… Not a single service and 10k’s of miles off road and on. Smooth as silk still, simply astounding longevity. Never been jet washed though.

I’d be using the front again if it wasn’t qr.

Have a set of Hope Pro 2 Evos on my Tallboy. At 3.5 years old and 3000-ish miles, they’ve now had all of their bearings replaced, front and rear, but I’d expect the hubs to just keep soldiering on. Recently swapped the groupset to 1×12 XT, thanks to Hope releasing a Micro Spline freehub for my hubs last month. Went on a treat and works perfectly. Others probably get more miles out of bearings, but when I do ride it always seems to be in grim conditions, so they take a bit of a hammering. Don’t mind as a set of bearings is cheap enough and only takes a few minutes to swap. Always had decent support from Hope (not that I’ve had to use it too often) and I like the serviceability of their kit.

Also like DT hubs, especially their ratchet freehub which always seemed to be a really nice, robust design. Again, plenty of spares available, including replacement freehubs for when standards change. Converted a few sets from hyperglide to XD to support Eagle groupsets, and while the parts aren’t especially cheap, on a nice set of wheels, it’s good to know you can give them another life.

Shimano hubs are my curse. Yes, they do run well (I’ve got a few sets on various road wheelsets) and, generally, seem to have longer windows between services than cartridge bearings, but when they do go, they are much more of a faff to sort and, unless you’re pretty diligent over your greasing, you may find that the races have become pitted which means they are destined for the skip. I understand their reasoning for wanting to keep the angular contact element of cup and cone, but for me, life is too short for pissing about with them.

If shimano were a bit more convertible I’d stick with them because centrelock & serviceability but dt 350 have won me over more recently I must admit. Just keeping my fingers crossed that the Hope tandem hub doesn’t live up to its reputation 🙄

Have DT Swiss got a 148 boost conversion kit? I am currently running a 350 rear hub converted to 142 with their end caps. If I change frame how easy is it to go to 148? I cannot see it in their conversation tables.