Hope Pro 4: Behind the Hubs - Video

 Well, I just did. Call me a housewife.

 Great video, appreciated how the focus was design & tech information and not sales. Well done HOPE.

 they still reached their goal, indirectly made us all willing a pair of these

 Up until just now, I assumed Hope hubs were over-expensive because they were manufactured in a way that is unnecessarily labour intensive.

Now I realise they are vastly underpriced for the level of quality. If I paid a engineer to make me a one-off set of hubs, ensuring none of the usual comprimises to the design and manufaturing process that (usually) come with mass production, using the best materials and processes, then the result would be the same as a Hope hub.

My next hubs will be Hope. I Hope. Hubba Hubba.

 I was going to buy some pro 2 evo's this spring guess not anymore

 Hopes does a really good job on their product release videos. The video of their new cranks was amazing. As a mechanical-manufacturing engineer it's good to see they do all the processes in house from machining to laser marking. I like the automation robots and bar feeders. Bravo. I'm going to buy a set of Pro 4s

 "Dear, ALL COMPANIES... This is how you convince me to spend my money on your stuff. Show me your passion for building and concern for a quality product, and I will support it."
- Me

 I just wish the background music was a little lower so I could hear what they were saying. It's hard to understand British English for us Valley Girl talking Cali people, but the background music made it even harder.

 Hope - the DMM of cycling.

 The info video and then this one youtu.be/89V3uCgfuco just make me want these hubs. I don't think I'll ever be going fast enough to make them sound like that though...

 Is Hauck actually a real word...?? @norcal77
Can't find it in the Oxford English...

 Y u not no webz-speak?

 Something about the loud buzz of my hopes following me through the woods Is just awesome

 You think Hope's are loud? You should try the e13 TRSr hub. I switched to Hope and breathed a sigh of relief!

 If you really want quiet, just get DT Swiss 240 or 350.

 Seriously guys what's the lobby about the freewheel noise?? Why are @littermac and @novyparts neg propped ? it's just personal !
IMO, a loud noise is ANTI RAW ! and I'm not in the case but more than one friend of mine told me that yeah, they were becoming fool with the constant noise, and that the couldn't stand it anymore !!! just riding behind someone with Hope is "weird" .. your hear the noise more than you're tires on the soil.

 The LOUDER the better, lets wildlife and others know you are around, also the noise when you are really hauling A$$ is cool

 Start getting into trials freewheels with 108 engagement points and then it gets loud. If you don't want it to be loud, put more grease in the pawls. May not work like you want it too but it will get quieter.

 Something just doesnt click with people like that

 @RollinFoSho, depends what ratchet you have, my 240's had their lowest engagement in them at first, 18T I believe now I have the 54T from bontrager and they are noticeably louder and I like it like that, they almost sound like my kings did...Almost but also lighter haha.

 @novyparts I used regular motor oil 0w40. dropped the noise by about 30 percent. Its now almost tolerable. I had chris kings before and they are about the same now.

 When I switched to hope hubs I wasn't sure whether id like the noise or not after having heard them on other peoples bikes, but with a full face helmet and wind noise you don't even notice the hub once you get moving. The hubs dont spin as freely as Shimano though, but seem much better! An added bonus is in pedestrian areas as you just stop pedalling and everyone runs scared haha, no bell required!

 I love this sound! I test the same wheel (hope pro 2,sapim 1.8,WTB i23) in different bikes and it makes a little different noises...I think it´s sound the best on an alloy Jekyll, really stiff&big hydro formed tubes,it´s like a speaker. It really sounds 3 or 4 times more louder than other combos of hope&bikes. If you have a noob rider in front of you,no need to say anything,just wait the hub do it´s second job as a horn. Really useful in the city too.

 I love the sound from my Hope Pro EVO 2 because on bicycle path bell is not needed .. but bearings wear.

 I only have Stan's 3.30 which probably aren't loud by Hope standards but they are definitely audible... and I much rather prefer a loud hub over a quiet one just because it makes me feel cool...that and I like using it to let people know I'm there.

 someone slow on the trail? just freewheel behind them and let the hope tick do the talking.

 I discovered a great way to quiet my hubs down:
Keep pedaling.

 Years back my shop/sponsor regreased a brand new Bulb hub I had built up into a wheel. Certainly more quiet.
As far as others hearing me I installed a bell. I randomly ring it while riding so the local bears can hear me as well as the occasional hiker or fellow rider.

 @EastCoastDHer - It's called using too much grease. :-)

 Because we have Hope, Boost shall not prevail!

 If you go to Hopes website, they have a Boost version of the Pro 4. Just sayin.

 www.hopetech.com/product/pro-4-boost-148mm-rear-hub

 Srjacobs - Uffff... I meant that Hope makes conversion kits thanks to which you don't need to change the wheelset regardless of what industry pushes at the moment...

 True, but there's no kit to go from standard 135 or 142 up to the boost 148 spacing or the other way around. It requires a different hub shell. Primarily because boost requires that the rotor mounting surface moves outboard compared to a standard disc hub. Sorry if I'm missing your point here.

 @WAKIdesigns Sadly not. Ordered hope hoops and a New lyrik. The lyrik sadly arrived with boost spacing and I had to order a boost Hope wheel instead. You can't convert 100mm bodied hubs to 110mm due to the brake mount.

 @thestigmk1 fyi, Hope is producing a conversion kit for the Pro 4. 100 - 110. Comes with end caps and disc spacer!

 Hope is the antidote for all new standards. If only some micro company found a way to make silent freehub to their hubs... I had 3 of their rear hubs and hated the rattle in the forest. Sweet in town, terrible in the woods. Hence I went for DT now.

 @WAKIdesigns hates the sound of Hope... Sir I will struggle to take any of your tom-foolery or valid opinions seriously anymore. It's like hearing Ryan Reynolds enjoys clubbing baby seals.

 I like silent hubs, like i always turn pornhub to mute unless I listen to one of their Audiobooks. Queefing in Morgan Freemans voice is special... Where were we? Ah did I sht on someone's hope?

 "Ever since I was a little boy, people have loved the sound of my 'hubs' "- Morgan Freeman (Hope tech employee 1989 til present) True story... look it up.

 amen. and brakes. CK and DT hubs are good when they're fresh, but finnicky and annoying when they're not, Hopes just work all the time and never need to be touched at all. got em' on all my bikes.

 So Hope is King?

 Agree with above, Hadley are awesome hubs. Have Hope, Hadley and King, best bang for buck is hadley. Better engagement than hope, cheaper than king. Love Hope as a company, but there are better hubs out there. I usually run their front hub with either a king or hadley rear.

 Yep.....Hope is really good hub when it comes down to pure performance (engagement / drag / durability) Hadley is hard to beat.

 yea i mean... there are nice hubs out there for sure with 120,000 points of engagement or a 2% greater efficiency in friction or their bearing choices, but i'm not on a damn world cup team tearing down my bike every weekend to grease shit and service this or that...

i wanna ride the damn thing, wash it once or twice a year, service the suspension once or twice a year, put Stans in the tires and put new brake pads in when they're toasted. i don't wanna be repacking bearings and re-greasing everything under the sun and re-pressing bearings all over the bike... that shit is for the birds. here's the key to success:

1) over-build wheelsets
2) use Hope stuff and never service any of your shit
3) go ride all the time then come home and take naps
4) eat/sleep/sex/tattoos/whiskey/motorbikes in some various amounts throughout the month
5) profit

 That is the beauty of hope hubs. And even when you do need to service them, they are a piece of cake. My old Mavic ITS-4 hubs were noticeably quicker but they were a pain to live with. No chance could you treat them like hopes.
I have a set or pro 2 evos and some DT 240S. Different price point but again, the difference in performance on the trail is obvious even to a hacker like me. I'll need a £100 kit to service them though.
Downvote away boys, the truth is hope hubs are draggy.

 @Dobbs59

I've had stacks of Hope hubs for mountain bikes and road bikes, and they make a good product with legendary customer service.

they do have drag compared to other hubs, which is much more noticeable on the road bike wheel than the mountain bike wheel.

I found the Pro 2 and Pro 2 Evo tended to eat bearings quite quickly, I've had issues in the past with the pawl springs snapping, and the soft aluminium alloy freehub became easily gouged by even high end Shimano cassettes, leading to creaking under power and noisy gears (as the cog shifting pattern becomes out of synch)

ep1.pinkbike.org/p6pb10360053/p5pb10360053.jpg

Hope were great though and replaced my alloy body twice, free of charge. On the third time they gave me a steel body, free of charge. This made the rear hub super heavy, but certainly addressed the issue. They also sent me free pawl springs.

Its a shame they no longer make their titanium body as this would be the best option for weight/toughness

The new Pro 4 looks like it addresses the bearing issue with larger bearings and everything beefed up internally, I'm currently riding on DT Swiss 240s and 350s which are fantastic but would try Hope again in the future as I know they stand behind their products like no other brand.

 @hampsteadbandit All very good points. I have a few Hope bits on my bikes, just because I love the brand and feel they deserve to be supported. I hope the new owner(s) keep the CS standards up!

 While liking Hadley rear hubs over hope including Hadley's use of titanium freehub, I love Hope products. Run their brakes on all my bikes, wife's included. Bottom Brackets, Headsets, looking at their crank. I love their philosophies and the fact they produce in house, I'm just saying no one is best in class across the board. Hadley and king both USA made are also a good alternative on some things

 me too :-)

 I managed to blag a Hope Factory Tour back in the early '00's when I was studying engineering and it was massively impressive back then. Was up there in terms of accuracy and quality with top F1 teams (got a tour of the Willams F1 facility at Grove too!!). The new factory videos are even more impressive! It's no surprise my Hope hubs from 2001 are still going strong on my hack bike.

 Man, that's so lucky! Planning on starting uni in two years, already applied to MechEng.. Actually can't wait Any tips?

 @Bennnnnnnybike - you've got to have a passion for it, any questions or projects that get chucked at you link into your hobbies. Eg any stuff on hydraulic leverage ratios use your brakes as an example. People buy into the person, not just the quals you have on paper.

 Cheers, yeah that sounds like a plan! Where did you study?

 At a now defunct uni in Newport, South Wales. Was sponsored by a local composites Co (also defunct, I must be cursed!!) who did stuff for Dallara and a few other racing teams. Was more into the composite, electronic and aero side of things than mechanical. Unfortunately life got in the way so had to put it on pause and I've never started it back up again.

 That and squeaky brakes

 stays little, stays expensive .. :/ but more 'friendly' and less "industrial".. avantage, the quality is there and works super nice

 Even though you are right, everyone would hate you for it. "Yet another standard..." Same thing with boost.

 From the Hope Website:

Downhill rear hub – Available Jan 2016
With many DH riders using short 7 speed cassettes, we saw a potentially missed opportunity to improve the strength of rear wheels. Our new DH rear hub moves the drive-side spoke flange out to the shortened cassettes, allowing a far wider flange spacing over a standard hub, leading to a stiffer wheel build.
The hub will accept either our 7 speed cassette, a custom 7 speed cassette built up from individual sprockets, or a Sram 7 speed DH cassette. It’s also supplied in either 150/157 or 135 (demo 8 ) widths.

You got your wish!

 Shorten a standard freehub like the do already with the trials hub, fit the 7speed bit of a normal 10speed cassette and job done.. No new standard required, parts on shelf in the cheep x5/zee versions already.. simples ^^ maybe that's it, just beat me too it..

 @feeblesmith Yeah, you should probably check out the hope site before commenting....

 That is awesome news. The short trials hub has been available for ages but it's 135mm only and the steel cassette body is heavy. This is a definite hole in the market that atomlab identified a couple of years ago but failed to exploit. Hope will do the business in this niche I'm sure. Sram could have but failed with their 7 speed downhill cassette that's the same width as 11 speed. How thick can you get?
My hope hubs are awesome. Four years old, never miss a beat. Definitely worth the money.

 mine are over 10 years and still work fine, just change bearings every couple of years..

 Atomlab did this a while ago

 This is how I solved this: 135 Trials hub from Hope. Super wide symmetric flanges w/ 7 speed steel cassette (durable). As it is for DH, weight is not the bigeest concern. www.pinkbike.com/photo/12461608

 Problem with Hopes 7spd hub is it still runs an 11spd width freehub body!!!!Atomlab are still the only company who seem to get it. I assume Hope designed it like this so that it is compatible with Sram but I gotta agree with @jaame, the xd driver is stupid.

Thing is, why dont they just let people put xd drivers on their standard 150hubs, like every other company out there, and then produce a proper 7spd specific hub for everyone else?

 that setup wont be particularly heavy jezso. You could shave like 20g with a lighter cassette maybe but it doesnt really matter. The setup you built there is basically exactly what hope should have done, but with a wider hub shell to make it 150.

 @Gabriel-mission here is the new dh 7 speed, freehub that will only take 7 cogs, the flange is extended out over the freehub so it will work with a xd too so they do get it...
www.hopetech.com/product/pro-4-dh-rear-hub

 They dont get that I'd much prefer the drive side hub bearing to be as close to the end of the axle as possible. It'd make a stiffer, stronger, lighter hub shell and the axle would be much better supported too which is a really good thing. It just makes much more sense as a design. I could probably come up with ten positives, and the only negative is you can't run xd drivers. But then you can run them on a standard 150mm hub so apart from for spoke triangulation it doesnt really matter...

 I think the do.. compatibility, by look of it its standard freehub body, standard bearings and maybe even the same axle as normal 150mm. My point being if you up in Alps or somewhere where its hard to get parts and something breaks theres a good chance you'll get a part to fix it rather than buying a new wheel.. Untill sram cuts down the xd cassette then this looks to me like a great option. Reverse componets makes a wide 7speed 150 hub atm but won't take the xd..

 @gabriel-mission9 has the point here. The cassette is still for 11sp. on these pro4s. What he is looking for is a Trials hub with 150mm width. Short shimano cassette, with maximized flange width.

 @bat-fastard you are also right that compatible is an important design constrain, which is not overlooked here. Too bad it impacts maximizing performance. I.e. Wider bearing spacing, and other aspects as listed by Gabriel above your post. I guess no product can be good for everyone.

 The main job is that the wheel spins and you are able to freewheel the bike.
The high-tech part are the tight tolerances for the components: axle, hub body, ratchet mechanism, cassette body

 Sounds awesome too

 The hub is the wheel's center bearing. It holds the wheel's axle through it, while also holding the wheel's spokes. Additionally, a rear hub has the ratchets inside of it, which allows you to pedal the bike forward, and freely spin the pedals in a backward direction. The hub plays a critical role in a bicycle's operation.

 You wouldn't need to ask that question if you've ridden a sub-par hub in UK conditions for any length of time. Hope hubs work, are easy to service, convenient with different standards and make a badass freewheel sound!

 Imagine a mtb without freewheel.. must be horrible.. except to learn the blenki mode on jumps (pedaling in the air)

 The hope pro 2 evos are 40 Poe not sure about the pro 4. Didn't here it mentioned in the video.

 Pro 4 hubs have 44 Poe

 Hope is the best

 DT is the best.

 There is only one king of the hub game. It is obviously Dt. By miles. Doesn't mean they haven't had a few overseas related quality issues over the years. But they are clearly the leader.

 Why no love for Chris King? I have never had issue with them. One set is over 20 years old still on original bearings. With that said Iv never had hope hubs. Please tell me why Hope is so much better.

 This is a Hope article. Why would anyone expect any other hub to be voted higher in this thread?

Hope makes a great hub, but Hadley, King, and of course DT are the top dogs.

 Right, even more effective than my bell.

 Great engagement, cool people working for the company, but unreliable. From my experience and my friends as well. Bearings need to be replaced often (once a month if riding often), drag issues like no other.

 I found removing the (weather seal ) will vastly improve the rolling resistance. its still a fully sealed bearing under that non drive side seal and helps the hubs spin really nice. The stock bearings are ok but yes aftermarket bearings will last much better. Also using 0-30 wt oil instead of grease helps too.

 I have their first generation hubs and they are running well. No problems. Thinner grease in the bearings made them run nicer.

 It's a road hub!

 Ah thanks