I love my Hopes – all of my three bikes have ProII hubs aside from the one bike that has a Bulb up front.

They’re clicky, shiny, blue and for the most part have required no maintenence beyond occasional greasing. The Bulb could do with new bearings, but that is probably because I installed the old ones and ronnied them by using an inverted socket and not the proper tool.

The rear Bulb kept breaking 12mm axles, so Hope offered me a Pro2 Evo at ridiculously cheap price. Ker-ching.

and i thought hex bolts and allen bolts were the same thing.

TJ, Can I do that myself with my digital calipers?

both were shimano deore hubs, both with seized axles

Seized axle? What seized?

I admit that THE BEST way to keep C&C hubs running a long time is to grease and adjust from new. I’ve posted a thread about that before now…. Shimano do skimp on grease. 🙂

the axels wouldnot spin in the hub, bearings were rusted probably through bad servicing.
i service my hopes just as badly (never) yet they just keep on spinning away. 😀

should be able to PP – at least get a decent idea.

I love my Pro2’s. Bought the hubs brand new for £90 off ebay. Built to 317 mavic with db dtswiss. I think ive trued the rear once and they just work faultlessly. Apart from having to hammer the old steel cassette off to fit a 990. I love the noise too.

Recently took my cassette (pg990) off & removed the freehub for a clean up.

No real gouging and everything looks in good nick.

Wheels are 2 years old.

I admit I like the whole Hope ethos. And they support us at Singletraction with a trailbuilders discount. Surely in these times of a lack of British manufacturing they are to be applauded an supported.

Oh, as guymk2 says, forgot about the most important bit, the noise. Oh and the opportunity to buy a shiny red cassette 🙂

Ti freehub Bulb FTW

Last year, I spent 10 months as a mechanic iN a spesh dealer. Spesh use DT swiss hubs in their higher end ranges and I’ve spent a fair bit of time working on them, my own hopes and shimano.

DT run very nicely but aren’t that well sealed and use a very small carrier bearing in the freehub body. They suffer for dirt/water ingress in good old blightys winter as much as any other hub (including hope), but the pawl system is less tolerant of gunk and binds and wears sooner. DT swiss only parts in the hub are really quite expensive, and whilst not overly fiddly are harder for the DIY mechanic to work on. I won’t use them on that basis.

I’d think twice before buying DT swiss to run all year round. They will take a big chunk out of your wallet further down the line.

Shimano is standard cup and cone – Peters comments apply.

Hope, IMO are somewhere in between cost and reliability wise, but are easier to work on and easier to source cheapish bits for. I grease the bearings in my hopes at the beginning and end of the winter and get 2-5 years from the bearings. Acceptable IMO.

Royce are surprisingly heavy, but utterly beautiful!

TandemJeremy – Member
PP – Have you still got the hubs the bearings failed early on? I would be very interested in measuring them up to see if its a manufacturing tolerance issue.

caused by hope…

PeterPoddy – Member
Sh[imano do skimp on grease

So do Hope’s suppliers…and pretty much everyone bar the master conspiracy theorist Kaesae.

@ ton

I quite like the sarcasm in your reply – amusing. However, when you say that Hope hubs are ‘Bafoon-proof’, I think you might mean ‘Buffoon-proof’.

If only this forum was Buffoon-Proof, you wouldn’t have made such an elementary spelling error. 😆

Still, never mind.

In keeping with the idea of Buffoonery (I am pretty certain that is a word), I admit my error when talking of hex bolts vs allen heads. I meant torx rather than hex.

And there was me pulling people up on spelling – foiled again.

Still, if we all keep correcting each other so assiduously we will all be perfect in no time!

danny, no sarcasm was meant. just saying i like em cos if a numpty like me can service them, anyone can.

DT swiss only parts in the hub are really quite expensive, and whilst not overly fiddly are harder for the DIY mechanic to work on. I won’t use them on that basis.

Well, I know you need a tool to get one of the centre bearings out, but apparently that’s rarely needed. Otherwise, being a competent DIY mechanic, I can see very little difference between Hope and DT in terms of ease of servicing

Interestingly, you are the first person I’ve seen saying that about DT hubs. And I did a fair amount of research before I bought mine (one free with fork, the other used for £70 admittedly)
The sealing is only as good as the seals on the bearings, surely? And all cartride hubs are the same in that respect.

So do Hope’s suppliers…and pretty much everyone bar the master conspiracy theorist Kaesae.

Who’s bearings now reside in Mrs PPs rear Pro 2…..

Hi ton,

Whoops, I think my prickly side got the better of me there……

If you read my original post you will see that this all started off as a tyre-swap that rapidly spiralled into a semi hub service. Only a numpty like me could have ridden last Saturday thinking “what’s that funny tinkling noise coming from the rear wheel every so often?”

I think I deserved all of this – but the simplicity of the hub rescued a situation that could have lead to meltdown.

It was one of those series of ‘discoveries’ that meant a whole evening degreasing, cleaning, swearing and generally getting the kitchen oily.

I’m glad to hear other people regard themselves as numpties when it comes to bike servicing – I always get a little bit of fear whenever I approach my beloved bike with any kind of spanner or implement.

Peter P I think The other person was on about DT Onyx and the 370 hubs which works in a totally different way to the 240 and 340 which use the star drive way of freehub engagement patented by Hugi back in the day. Which DT bought them out and use on there top end hub,

The lower end (Onyx 370) DT hubs have two cartridge bearings and a roller needle bearing in the freehub and two standard pawls.

The only problem I had with the DT 240 hubs was that you need a special tool to get the other part of star drive ratchet out of the hub body in order to remove and install the drive side hub bearing. That tool looks like a cassette lock ring tool but instead of costing a fiver cost 50 quid! Which is a total rip off.

I like Hope XC hubs they have never gave me any problems at all. The only thing I don’t like about them is there heavy and also have a lot of drag.

Pro2 are ok but if you run standard quick release like me, then you are having to compromise on having smaller bearings, in order for them to fit 20mm and 15mm front axles and bolt through rears etc.

I’m thinking about going over to some Shimano XT hubs the new M785 ones with the alloy axle. But the last set of those I had lasted a few road rides and the freehub seized up. I was loaded up with a light pannier bag aroud 15 KG though. I was hoping they had improved them as that was over two years ago when they first came out. Anyone else used them?

I might even try using the DMR revolvers on the new wheel build. I had those a few years back on a 29er and even single speeded them and they were good.

The lower end (Onyx 370) DT hubs have two cartridge bearings and a roller needle bearing in the freehub and two standard pawls

You are correct. I also have an Onyx (I got that cheap too….) and it’s a bit sparse on bearings inside. Makes a lovely commute/tour hub though and it’s a piece of cake to service.
Otherwise, yes, I see your point.

The only problem I had with the DT 240 hubs was that you need a special tool to get the other part of star drive ratchet out of the hub body in order to remove and install the drive side hub bearing. That tool looks like a cassette lock ring tool but instead of costing a fiver cost 50 quid! Which is a total rip off.

Agreed. That’s why I wouldn’t pay top whack for one, but apparently the bearing behind that ratchet ring lasts nearly forever. For £70 for the pair of hubs, I’ll give ’em a shot. Can’t be worse than Pro 2s.

I like Hope XC hubs they have never gave me any problems at all. The only thing I don’t like about them is there heavy and also have a lot of drag.

Drag? Never noticed that. Mine are lovely. I’ve snapped 2 axles on a 3rd XC I no longer own, the 2 I have now are perfect and have had a right thrashing. Odd, I can’t really explain that. The weight is the steel freehub body, which I prefer TBH.

Pro2 ……… compromise on having smaller bearings, in order for them to fit 20mm and 15mm front axles and bolt through rears etc.

That’s it. That’s the compromise. Nail. On. Head.
The compromise that nobody seems to understand, or just ignores when I make the point.
P2 has five bearings of 3 different sizes. XC has 4, all the same size.
The compromise is in the aid of adaptability (And cheapness/ease of manufacture) the pay off is longevity.

XC bearing on the left. Pro 2 on the right. Which is going to last longer, hmmm?

Untitled by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

I have also heard people say the XC Hope hub is not as stiff in the fork with standard dropouts. I have noticed that a bit to be honest. The Pro uses thicker axles even with the adapters for QR so I guess the axles will snap less on them. As for the drag I have had maybe 8 sets of Hope XC wheel builds over the years and I did notice they don’t roll/spin as good as some hubs I have had. There the best hubs I have owned though without a doubt. I also liked the Mavic crosride wheels. Found that model Mavic hubs pretty good.

I have a nice st of Hope XC hubs in blue on some 717 disc rims if anyone is interested email me.

I would be keeping these but I fancy something a little wider on the rim side. So time to go for a new set.

That’s it. That’s the compromise. Nail. On. Head.
The compromise that nobody seems to understand, or just ignores when I make the point.

No need to get smart-arsey about it. I bought Pro2 based on cost vs weight, and the bearings have lasted 5 years and are still going. I can’t see that as anything other than a successful purchase.

Re drag – as I understand it, all cartridge bearing hubs drag more than cup and cone, which is why Shimano use cup and cone, and they are apparently popular with XC racers for that reason. My XTR do spin for much longer than my Hope although I’m sceptical that this would make any difference on an XC race. My Saris Powertap road wheelset also spins extremely well and that’s cartridge bearing, so go figure 🙂

Just an adjunct to the thread.

Reassembled slightly crocked hub. Ride on Saturday saved. No further issues or mechanicals.

New freehub arrived Friday. Installed last night.

Yes, it’s cost me a few quid for a part failure, but I didn’t lose any riding time, and with my other commitments, that is a price worth paying.

I also managed to contrive a use for my £5.99 bench vice from Aldi that I bought at the weekend too as I disassembled the old freehub for spares. Sad, but true!

P.S. Aldi are also doing a knock-down hook and pick set – happy days!

I don’t agree that the 370/Onyx hubs are hard to maintain. I can turn a knackered, seized, rust filled mess of a 370 into a working one with £15 of parts and one hour of work.

DT Swiss freehubs are expensive but there’s no need to replace the freehub body unless it’s deeply scored by the cassette. The needle cage costs £3.76, the pawls are £4.99 and the bearings are whatever you want to pay for them from eBay shops.

The single bearing in a 370 freehub knocks out really easily (with a socket and an old cassette for support) after removing the circlip. This is so much simpler than trying to get those double bearings out of Hope freehubs. The Hope XC freehub has the inner one held by a circlip, making the outer one a pig to remove as you cant just shove one out against the other.

The pawls aren’t in the direct line of muck if the seal fails, as they are with Hopes, but are inside the freehub body. A mighty amount of grease in there and they don’t get rusty, seize or make any noise.