More Hope(less) crap

I’ve gradually been getting rid of all our Hope stuff as it needs replacing and here’s the latest casualty. I’ve had nothing but problems with every single Pro 2 hub we’ve had (that’s 5 hubs, 2 pairs and a front) with Mrs PPs being the worst. These were Hope Hoops bought brand new for her Kona which I gave to her Christmas 2008. It’s never had much use, maybe one ride a month on average, tops, and she’s a steady rider. I once remarked that this bike used more wheel bearings than brake pads (true at the time) and I had to return the front wheel to Hope when the hub flange cracked off. On our last ride, she lost all drive. So I wasn’t surprised to open the hub and find this:

[/url]
Hope Pro 2 broken pawl springs.[/url] by PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr

All 4 freehub pawl springs broken. I serviced this bike, including the freehub, last Jan/Feb time and it’s probably done the one ride a month since then……
Her last bike had Deore hubs. They were treated exactly the same. I serviced them about 3 times in the 4 years she had them including an XT freehub body when the OE one got noisy (it didn’t fail and leave her walking like this did). When we sold the bike I serviced the hubs for the new owner and the cups and cones were literally perfect. Glassy smooth.
I’ll get some new springs and flog these bloody awful things on. I’ll probably get her XT.

I’ll get the hobnobs out. Hope V shimano incoming……

That’s ap-pawl-ing

You probably installed the pawls incorrectly 🙂
Must admit hope bearings do not last long need to be bigger
Chris King Fanboi here they just last

Rich

boxfish wins the thread 😀

Could it be incorrect fitting if all 4 broke just 1 ride after service??

Where as my Pro 2 hubs on the hybrid are 6 years old, covered about 3000 miles of commuting in all weathers, never been serviced. I’m a big fat clumsy oaf and ride like an animal.

Of course YMMV.

Single speed is on Pro 2 as well. And that is treated even worse.

Is it even possible for the springs to fit in ‘upside down’?

I serviced this bike, including the freehub, last Jan/Feb time and it’s probably done the one ride a month since then……

You don’t work in a bike shop do you?

Have got hope pro 2’s on all my mountain bikes and on one that I sold to a mate.
The oldest ones are about 7 years old and have had no servicing done on them at all. That included a whole load of riding in mud, thetford grinding paste, woburn grinding paste and all sorts of nasty crap from the peak.
No issues on any of them. Maybe you just got unlucky

Could it be incorrect fitting if all 4 broke just 1 ride after service??

Re-read my OP please. You have the wrong end of the stick.

Is it even possible for the springs to fit in ‘upside down’?

No.
They simply won’t work the wrong way up.

hopeless mechanic more like

Maybe you just got unlucky

The OP, or the hub?

If you think its duff engineering send it back to hope, their backup is legendary and then you won’t have to buy new springs before you flog them.

Dying to hear how fitting could cause this, theories please gentlemen.

Are they the new (thinner) springs? I used to go through them like nobody’s business in mine, but the last replacements I got were the revised ones and I’ve not broken one since. Could just be luck mind but I’m hopeful they’ve fixed the issue.

FWIW, little bits of cable tie worked just as well and seemed no less durable.

Personally I have no issues with Hope hubs. The parts are easy to get and cheap enough and really they don’t fail that much. The ones on my bike have done 4 – 5 thousand miles think I have replaced the bearings once.

Wash them and leave them for a month and something (pawl springs or bearings) will fail. Use it and it will be fine.

Have hope hubs on 4 bikes, 2 of them 5 years old, ridden them all iver in terrible conditions, and ive never touched any of them, and im a heavy rider.
So im very pleased with hope hubs

Never mind, Hope’s AMAZING service makes up for it 😛

Mrs PP pictured earlier:

😉

Nahhh the products are also amazing in my experience.

Faults do happen though, shit times eh.

I have a very confused boner right now….

Just one more thing that zip ties can fix:

Somethings not right admittedly but I’m sure hope would happily have sent you some free springs if you’d asked before rubbishing them…

No issues on any of them. Maybe you just got unlucky

Err no. I don’t think so. I’m gonna try and list all the Hope failures I’ve had, from memory

Only one Pro 2 set of OE bearings lasting more than a year, front bearings worst.
Broken pawl spring on mine
4 Broken pawl springs on this set
Cracked hub flange
My front hub has had the lip that retains the adaptor circlip crack off, so the circlip can’t be used and the adaptor falls off when I take the wheel off

2-3 broken XC axles, the last one resulting in all sorts of mayhem inside the hub, writing it off. (And rendering me fixed wheel for a few miles) That said, XC hubs are good, easily better than Pro 2s. I think that one was a particularly bad ‘Friday afternoon’ hub

Mono minis that boiled after 2 hard stops in Wales (and one hard stop in Bristol) chucking me in a ditch. They needed constant fettling all the time I had them and never matched the cheap cable disc on Mrs PPs Trek. The turned me into a Magura man, so they served their purpose.

A snapped seat QR on my Inbred (My brother had the same happen) which Brant kindly replaced for free with an On One CNC QR which is still going strong over 5 years later.

Bad Luck? Really?

Somethings not right admittedly but I’m sure hope would happily have sent you some free springs if you’d asked before rubbishing them…

I’ve already got some spares after mine failed.

Anybody want to buy these wheels? I’ll flog em when I’ve got the chance to build her some new ones. If you love Hope stuff, put yet money where her mouth is!

acer2012 – loving those Hope Team Green cable ties.

I have a some old Hope XC hubs and some Hope Bulb hubs and all have been running for years with no new freehubs and no new bearings. I do hear more woes for Pro II’s but dont see any rush to replace mine.

How much? Seeing as theyre crap 😉

I’m more than happy with all my Hope gear and the service from Hope.
All four of my MTBs are running Minis, years and years old and infinitely serviceable (yes I know there are better brakes out there – they fill my needs).
Likewise all running Hope hubs, not indestructible but so easy to put right if needed.

Each to their own and OPs experience is clearly different but I don’t see Hope as a company built on hype, just consistently decent product and backup.

IMHO 🙂

Looking forward to flogging off my Hope SS wheelset. Dire trouble. Never ending wheel bearings needing replacing and water ingress. Got 3 Hope bottom brackets. I haven’t learnt my lesson. The one I ride regulary, I have to flush the bearings of contaminated grease. New bearings recently. Just refreshed for the second time in a month , today. I ride it to work through the park FFS. It doesn’t get washed. Just got to pick up my new singlespeed wheels this week. Cant wait. 2 more Hope items off my bikes….
Hope XC’s are great. Pro 2’s are just useless. When I first got the Pro 2’s, I had problems. Spoke to Hope.
‘Front wheel hub has play’
answer……..’ No it doesnt’ .
‘Rear seal wont keep water and muck out’
answer ‘ yes it will’

Hope ‘legendary’ service, I don’t think so………

I’ve never had any Hope stuff fail on me.

Maybe because I don’t have any Hope stuff as it’s not the 90’s and there are many, many, very good alternatives.

I might have them off you Pete if they’re not Evos!

Clearly it is bad luck as it seems a lot of people have not had issues to the extent that you have.
I think amongst the people I ride with I have heard of 1 hope hub going kaput, and that was an ancient hope bulb that had been abused.

And the brakes and QR are clearly a different issue, no experience of those.

Bad Luck? Really?

Just a polite way of saying you’re a useless mechanic and a “heavy” rider. 😀

I’ve seen 5 pro 2’s rear hubs crack open like walnut shells. All bad luck ?

A snapped seat QR on my Inbred (My brother had the same happen)

I snapped my Hope QR yesterday too – it’d had only been on the bike for 5 years (and one before that for 1 year). Pathetic I tell you 🙂

Replaced with another Hope QR at the nearby LBS.

…sorry I’m late, so what did I miss. Pass over those Hob Nobs would you nobeerinthefridge

This does seem to be a bit of a phenomena. Person X uses brand Z and has no issues. Person Y uses the same products and has a nightmare.

So there are three main possibilities

Rider X rides differently to rider Y

Brand Z has variable QC

Rider Y isn’t fitting the parts the same as rider X

The pawl springs are a well known issue and yet not one that I’ve had despite generally breaking anything that can break.

Similarly broken XC axles. Again no problem for me. Never broken one .

Snapped flanges I’ve experienced twice though both times on hubs used heavily for 5+ years

Boiling brakes. Again not something I’ve experienced despite using hope almost exclusively since 1996 on many bikes.

So in conclusion.. PP die whatever reason, Hope clearly don’t get on with you so I think you’re doing the right thing switching to Shimano.

sounds like a run of bad luck

My count is….
2 sets of hope minis, one from 2002 still going strong! done various alps trips all over uk etc still do 100 miles a week on my commuter

hope mono m4s been my dh brake for years(5 or 6) megavalanche, alps , races, uplifts etc

m4 evo races only had em a year but they are sublime stoppers

2 sets of Pro 2s that ive ragged through all of the above

hope QR seat lever

in all of that

I think Ive bent 2 brake levers (hope fixed 1 FOC at the megavalanche), boiled a set of minis in the alps (b4 I got better at bleeding them)
ripped a hose out comingcrashing down champery.
Got the old set rebuilt by hope couple of years back-feel like a new brake!
Couple of bearing changes on the hubs and been through a few pawl springs but overall they have done 1000s of miles with maybe 4 hrs servicing between them. Ill take that ratio!
wheel Qrs will last for ever I reckon.
I snapped the seat lever though- probably wouldnt buy anther one of those!

Been using Pro2’s for 7 years (2 pairs) and apart from one set of bearings the only problem I had was a snapped axel that Hope replaced foc and replaced the pawls and springs while they were at it. I’m heavy and do next to no serviceing.

The answer is, stop buggering about with them. 😉

Had Hope Mono Mini’s and Tech M4’s, neither gave me a moments problem.

I’m going to jump to your defence here mate, lot’s of people blaming you… but I know of a number of people who have had various issues with the pro11’s. Bulb’s and biguns used to be mega reliable but pro11’s are made a lot more shoddily in my opinion. Not a patch on dt-swiss hubs, try a pair, you won’t go back!

I also despise Hope brakes with a passion, unreliable and not nearly powerful enough.

Had multiple Hope hubs on different bikes, never once have I gone through a bearing, maybe I’m just lucky but then again, none of my cycling buddies have gone through bearings or pawls ether, maybe riding twice a week in all types of Scottish conditions is just to easy on them.