Hope Announces Microspline Compatible Hubs and Wheels

Jan 2, 2020
by Ed Spratt  
photo

Hope has become the latest brand to offer Microspline hubs after Shimano originally limited the number of companies that it licensed the technology to.

As of 1 Jan 2020, the British brand is now offering the Shimano 12-speed compatible freehubs with their wheels and hubs, or as an upgrade to customers with their own hubs. In addition to this Hope has also announced that the new freehubs will be available for people running the older Hope Pro 2 Evo hubs to try and make sure that riders with older products are not left out on the new standard.

Hope originally questioned the move by Shimano to limit the rollout of the Microspline standard back in June 2019 to just DT Swiss, Industry Nine, Newman, and Mavic, but by September this decision had been reversed and Simano decided to open up the technology to other wheel and hub manufacturers.



PRESS RELEASE: Hope

At Hope we've always believed in making sure our components can be modified to suit every new standard where possible. With the announcement of Shimano's Microspline we lobbied to be granted the licence to produce compatible hubs. After negotiation we've been given the licence and as of yesterday, 1st Jan we are now able to sell wheels and hubs fitted with this new freehub design.

We currently have freehubs in stock and have begun shipping them to shops and distributors around the world.

You're also not left out if you have our older Pro 2 EVO hubs as we have Microspline freehubs in stock to update these older hubs to the new standard.



Author Info:
edspratt avatar

Member since Mar 16, 2017
3,052 articles

138 Comments
  • 155 5
 Hope hubs are really good and the prices are totally reasonable.
Also, what other company would make backward compatible parts for ten year old hubs? Incredible!
  • 19 28
flag WAKIdesigns (Jan 2, 2020 at 9:06) (Below Threshold)
 Agreed, but they need a warehouse in Netherlands... they will possibly reach the price of 240s now.
  • 21 1
 Dt swiss, chris king, industry 9, and a few other, oh yeah profile hubs, ect. But yeah i get what u mean.
  • 44 1
 Should have done an announcement in the last week of December that "Hope is off the 11 Speed Shimano Team as of the end of 2019" with a farewell statement.

Then on January 2nd they announce "Hope is joining the 12 Speed Shimano Team for 2020. A lot has changed but seems very similar to my previous team. We are excited to start this new adventure but will still see the 11 speed to at the races."
  • 6 6
 Not sure I’d want backwards compatibility with Pro 2 Evo hubs. The inner drive side bearing doesn’t like the added leverage of the wide range cassettes, from my experience.

With that said, it’s mice seeing this option available. Nothing but great success with my Pro 4 hub with Eagle.
  • 3 0
 @WAKIdesigns: haha can i do that in my shed? ;-)
  • 24 0
 @jason3559: real mice of them.
  • 10 0
 All the hope components on my bikes just work. Not the cheapest option, but so good value in my book!
  • 9 0
 @jason3559: I've been running 11 speed X01 on my Pro 2 Evo hubs for 5 years now without ever having to do anything with those hubs.
  • 8 18
flag WAKIdesigns (Jan 2, 2020 at 10:35) (Below Threshold)
 @jzPV: it’s an issue known to bike mechanics though. I heard of Hopes and DT350 failing on Eagle cassettes
  • 8 24
flag sanchofula (Jan 2, 2020 at 10:47) (Below Threshold)
 Hope hubs are no better than any other pawl hub. Hope's biggest draw is color choices. It's good on Shimano that they're getting their microspline on my hubs, it'd be a shame to limit availability. Backwards compatible is a win for Hope hub owners.
  • 11 8
 @WAKIdesigns: Never heard of DT Swiss hubs failing ....
  • 5 3
 @nurseben:
My DT Swiss wheel failed.
  • 2 1
 @vjunior21: Wheel or hub?
  • 2 1
 @jason3559: ahh that explains why my buddy was killing his bearings while I had zero issues .

I was on 10sp w granny at the time. He was on 11sp wide range.
  • 18 1
 @nurseben: In my own personal experience of buying hubs to make my own wheels, and more recently trying to find a rear hub to replace the POS Novatec that came stock on my Mega.
Hope hubs just work. Nothing flashy, just dependable performance. More importantly, when you research hubs there is really nothing except Hope in the price range between £80 and £300 a set. You can get some crappy Novatec hubs for £80 a pair. That or Shimano, but with Shimano you have to buy new centerlock discs and they’re not cheap.
Then you have Hope, for about £200 for the pair.
Then there is nothing else for under £300. I’m not saying Hope are the best or most desirable hubs, but in my opinion they can’t be beaten in value. They run forever and if anything breaks they will have a spare part available until you die.
Given that hubs are tubes with bearings in that hold your spoke nipples, there is really not a great deal of performance to be gained by spending two or three times as much. You can say 44POE is not very good these days but it’s never been a problem for me, and it’s a dependable 44POE.
The only way I can think of they could improve is by making a silent hub.
  • 4 0
 @WAKIdesigns: yep. Heavy riders with more torque tends to destroy the inner bearing in the Hope Pro 2 XD freewheel. I should know, I’m fat and I exploded 3 bearings already. Or is it 4?
  • 2 1
 @jaame: there are bitex and many other hubs available that are cheaper then hope and offer same quality;
On the side note I have OEM formula hub that is still running strong and smooth after 3 years of abuse;
  • 21 10
 @nurseben: don’t be ridiculous, everything fails, especially when not maintained. And the moment someone mentions that, the person in favor of a particular product will say: exactly, because it wasn’t well maintained. Oh well great excuse. I have never maintained my Superstar Switch evo rear hub on my Roadie/commuter and it is fine. Snow, salt, cold, standing in the rain, every single time I opened the freehub I slid it back because the grease looked fresh. Should we make a case for Superstar Hubs being amazing and DT Swiss being overpriced? I blught 3 DT Swiss rear hubs, each a version of 350, 2 of them as second hand, each time with screwed up bearings. The 18POE system is a joke on a 150$ hub and it is not hard to imagine that 50t hub being pulled hard by huge slack 20deg engagement “provides” is an excellent way to mess up the little ratchet. What 350 is great at is being a waste of time compared to 240s. Time, not money. That is because the first thing you want to do after purchasing 350 is to change the ratchet to 36 or 54t for 65$ and all the bearings a year later For 120-150$, which lands you at the asking pride of 240s.
  • 1 2
 @WAKIdesigns: cannot upvote 2 times, yes I would fully agree with this!
  • 6 1
 @WAKIdesigns: nah you can pretty much do nothing with Hope hubs and You’l still get three years out of them and there customer service is class and if someone brings out a new standard You’l get adapters for them. Need to sort those brakes out but everything else is pretty cheap and super reliable.
  • 9 1
 @WAKIdesigns: my 3 year old 350s are still on the original bearings and running just fine.
Just because you had issues doesn’t mean they’re all shite.
  • 4 0
 @jaame:
Bitex are a pretty great option, along with DT 350's.
  • 3 0
 @Chris97a: I am not familiar with Bitex. Will look into it.

@waki I’ve personally never had any problems with cup and cone Shimano bearings in my younger years. I know you hate them but for me they’re fine.
  • 4 1
 @nurseben: The bearings in my DT rear hub lasted four months.. I had a bike stolen prior to this bike and it had the Hope Pro Evo 2 hubs on it for 3 years and never had an issue. The bike shop i bought the bike from told me to stop pressure washing my bike, I've never pressure washed a mountain bike and did my cleaning the same as I have done forever. That being said, I've had the bike now for about a year and all is well with the rear hub. If they fail again though I'll be going back to Hope.
  • 1 0
 @jaame:
Modern cup and cone hubs have gotten terrible to get in adjustment though, with centerlock lock rings and through axles making it a pretty fiddly setup.

I never had a problem with cup and cone hubs in drier environments but some problems in wet ones, kind of a bummer when your bearings completely murder the hub shell that they ride on, new wheel day instead of bearing service day.
  • 4 0
 @thenotoriousmic: wut? sort the brakes out? I can only assume you mean the price, because their brakes are legendarily good. like, the best.
  • 3 0
 @WAKIdesigns: It‘s a known issue to pinkbike readers, though. I‘ve heard of WAKIdesigns failing in the comments section!
  • 1 0
 @conoat: I would have to agree with the Notorious MIC. I have looked at buying hope brakes a couple of times when I got pissed off with the float on my M8000s. They look sensational, there are tons of colours, you can get them for a reasonable price. The thing that’s held me back is that every time I’ve ridden a bike with hope brakes on it (e4 or v4) they didn’t work very well. Not enough bite, not enough power. Maybe I’ve been unlucky enough to find seven people’s bikes which all had a bad bleed or bike spray on the discs I don’t know. Some people swear by hope brakes. I would love to get some but my personal limited experience has put me off.
  • 2 2
 @conoat: They’re the best looking brakes definitely it’s just that they’ve got no power so you need to pull on them all the time to slow down. You can’t just bang them on late into a corner because they won’t stop you fast enough and the levers feel horrible without gloves and you need two hands to pull each lever which isn’t ideal obviously.
  • 2 1
 @thenotoriousmic: @jaame: V4 with braided hose are quite ok but E4 are meh when it comes power. I will stick my head out in front of Hope worshippers and say the unforgivable: E4 is pretty much as weak as Avid G2. Ducks...
  • 1 0
 @timbud: I just pulled the steel freehub from a four-year old with at least 400 hours on it. It was run in dry conditions, has been in shed for a year, and shows little sign of wear. Wish I could say the same for the carbon hoop on other end...he's right about ratchets though. Add $100 USD to your $250 hub, POE people. I hear newer units get 24t, but can't confirm. DT has made several small fortunes on star upgrades, but it's not exactly a ripoff.
  • 2 1
 @WAKIdesigns: yeah they’re alright but honestly they’re no better than the moto v2’s I’ve kept as spares.
  • 1 0
 @nurseben:
Hub. The aluminum hub body has a steel ring that threads into it. On the inner side of the steel ring are the teeth that the freehub ratchets off off.

The threads of the aluminum hub body stripped out. I basically was able to pedal on my ride but nothing happened. About six months later I got a call from a guy I do work with and he explained something that happened to his wheel. It was the same thing.

I will say it was within 2 years so they sent a warranty replacement wheel. Problem it the new wheel looked completely different and was a different width rim. I bought a different brand wheelset as I didn't want a circus bike with mismatching parts.
  • 1 0
 @Chris97a: I messed up each cup and cone I had despite doing my best. They are simply an unnecessary engineering pretentiousness/ thumbinarseness. I serviced my hubs once a year and always checked the play with a good mechanic. Each one failed either due to seizing or developing too much play, not to mention FH body breaking off.
  • 1 0
 @WAKIdesigns:
I've had some campy road hubs from the late 80's that are still kicking after many 10,000 of miles. But I would never consider them on a mountain bike. I grew up in a pretty dry place, and would take a trip to Washington state every spring and ride MTB for a week in the early to mid 90's. Dead loose ball BB every time. Modern axles and brakes have made them a total nightmare to adjust, I have a 12 mm through axle 105 hub on my commuter wheels for my gravel bike and I am so pissed at it right now.
  • 1 0
 @Chris97a: I messed up XT 20mm front, 2x 12mm XT rear and a couple of qr deores/ slx. To be honest I got the best results by letting them have a bit of excessive play even after tightening. It made them last more than two years without touching them.
  • 1 0
 @thenotoriousmic: lol. mine have more power than my saint. shit you not. does everyone just suck at bleeding?? these are literally the most bizarre comments I have read.....
  • 1 0
 @jaame: I have 4 sets of V4 tech 3's in my house. all are literally like dropping an anchor when you pull lightly with a single index finger. more power than my set of saints. no joke. these comments about lack of power are literally f*cking bizarre to me....
  • 1 0
 @WAKIdesigns:
Every 20 mm Shimano hub I've worked on was ruined by the time I saw it in a shop. So many, tiny bearings.

To my knowledge even thru axle cup and cone hubs have to have the last bit of play taken out by tightening into the frame. That was the only way to get them to work with QR axles. My 105 hub on my gravel bike is the first thru axle Shimano hub I've owned and that is how I set it up. It is good so far, but I barely have any miles on it.
  • 1 1
 @conoat: what’s bleeding got to do with anything? Hopes are super easy, to bleed, awesome to work on, never overheat, exceptional build quality, customer service is amazing. They’re made ten miles away from me. I want to like them I really want to run them and I’ll definitely be taking an interest in whatever comes next but there’s not a chance I’ll run their current brakes. No power, uncomfortable levers and they’re hard to pull compared to pretty much every other brake but if that’s not an issue to you, you’ve definitely got a quality product.
  • 1 0
 @WAKIdesigns: They spin faster at first but they’re a ball ache to service. Cartridge bearings are the way to go.
  • 62 2
 There is Hope for Shimano yet.
  • 15 2
 Now waiting for everybody to exspline why this is such great news.
  • 14 7
 So the official news finally arrived. The Scylence was unbearable!
  • 2 22
flag sanchofula (Jan 2, 2020 at 11:07) (Below Threshold)
 @number44: Because it works with Shimano 12sp, duh.
  • 13 0
 Gotta love the degree to which people engage these comments. It’s fun to see people really ratchet up the hub-ris when their understanding of sarcasm is incompatible with their own.
  • 11 0
 Totally agree, but the wait was a-pawling.
  • 2 1
 Well, technically, there's now Shimano for Hope
  • 23 1
 That’s wheeley good news
  • 5 1
 Good news like this makes the world go around.
  • 9 2
 I'd like to take a moment and pawls: Hope is a company that truly supports its customers through these times of planned obsolescence.
  • 5 4
 @PinkyScar: Shimano has had the same basic freehub design for close to 40 years. Their move isn't 'planned obsolescence' , it's a new design /improvement for updated functionality.
  • 3 0
 A new hope, one should say
  • 15 0
 Holy shit I can update my Pro 2 Evos? I don't know how big the market is for that but the fact that you service it at all plus your extensive small parts availability means you truly are the greatest. The bike industry needs more Hopes.
  • 3 0
 I'm just upgrading a Pro2 to Pro2 evo. They even make a steel free hub which will be great when I run single speed. Can also run them 135, 142 or boost. The bike industry def needs more like Hope. Not the best but great bang for buck and they work.
  • 6 0
 Love me some Hope hubs. Well made, dependable, look great, sound awesome, basically bullet proof, and when they do need to be serviced... absolutely easy to do with full on support from the company including tutorial vids. Simply the best bang for the buck. Oh yeah and they’re British too, which makes em cool.
  • 8 1
 License issued....let the whining cease.
  • 4 0
 I hope so.
  • 4 0
 I’ve got to say I am a bit of a hope fanboy, their stuff just works for me
  • 3 1
 Shimano Press release: Today we plugged in the machine that pulls heads out of asses and ran it through the board room.
We have now successfully seen the obvious error in our ways.
  • 1 0
 Their hubs are second to none, same as all their products. Go check what they did with BMW Supra, same as if sram made XTR, it wouldn't be built to last.
  • 6 2
 Went Hadley. Best decision ever !
  • 3 0
 Hadleys are awesome, my favorite hub ever. Best cost to performance.
  • 2 0
 @juanmenendez @topfuel564: I agree! Hadley hubs are great hubs. I have them on three bikes. They are made in California with a forged hub shell. They are some of the fastest rolling hubs. They are reasonably priced. Seems like most of the bike industry is not aware of Hadley Hubs.
  • 4 3
 At first glance of seeing an announcement from Hope, my 'hope' was that they were releasing a higher engagement hub. But is was just the addition of Shimano Spine freehubs (sigh).
  • 2 2
 I get that there's a bunch of folks having good luck with these, but I've personally trashed like 4-5 myself, usually with the inner drive side bearing failing spectacularly. I know of a handful of others in the same boat, always bigger guys that hammer hard on techie uphills. The pro 4 seems marginally better, but I've heard similar reports there too.

I also tend to kill Formula/Novatec too of course. I'm running over ten years in my Chris King though, good value if changing standards doesn't make it obsolete.

If this design has an improved bearing design, it might be worth a look.
  • 3 0
 These guys make what i consider hubporn.
  • 1 0
 Good for you.
Original post was asking who has the Hope pieces available, not who has alternative options. U posting answers to a question that wasn’t asked.
  • 1 0
 Breaking New: Shimano announces some new hubs featuring color options AND a Sram XD freewheel.
They just called me; it`s official.
Ask me for details.
  • 1 0
 I've just bought a Hope Hope Pro4 wheel with a microspline fitted. Can I swap over/use my Hope 11spd non spline Shimano hub from my non boost Hope Pro4 wheel?
  • 5 4
 Pinkbike needs to hire someone to proofread articles before posting. Typos everywhere.
  • 31 1
 I was thinking the same but about the comments.
  • 12 1
 I'll sell you some genuine Simano XTR stuff cheap.
  • 6 1
 @slovenian6474: that would be mice thank you
  • 6 5
 @slovenian6474: Social Media is a funny place. At first I was getting numerous offers of dating beautiful Russian and Mexican girls, then out of nowhere several Messages from drug dealers from US and Mexico, now some dude wants to sell me Shimano stuff cheap. I’d rather have a night with Svetlana fueled by blow from Roberto.
  • 2 0
 @WAKIdesigns: Woah woah woah! I no Shimano gear here. Only genuine Simano like the article mentions.
  • 3 1
 as a single speeder I do not get it
  • 19 1
 That's because your Singal-Minded......
  • 4 6
 @tomtom4044: ^^^ This wins comments today. Big Grin
  • 33 0
 How do you know if someone rides single speed?

Don't worry - they'll tell you.
  • 2 1
 @rmclarke: don't knock it till ya try it.
  • 2 0
 @fartymarty: I didn't knock single speed, did I?
  • 2 1
 This is great news, Hope hubs will always be the best priced hub on the market, while still offering the bling factor!!!
  • 3 1
 An answer to all my Hope's dreams!
  • 2 0
 2021 new mucho grande spline for 13 speed down country racing Smile
  • 1 0
 What is wrong with Shimano hubs? (the only products I used but couldn't brake in pieces, so far)
  • 1 0
 Now we just need Stan‘s to join the party
  • 2 5
 I do not take up a Stan's to that statement.
  • 6 0
 Stan's hubs are just cheap Asian sourced units, and the drivers are notorious for failing. If Shimano wants to avoid subpar aftermarket hubs for 12sp, they should not license their design to Stan's.
  • 1 0
 @peleton7: Any way to get built Flow EX3s with a different hub then? I've only heard good thing about the rims and would like them for my next wheelset together with XT 12spd, but I can't build a wheel myself and the bikeshops around me have ridiculous prices.
  • 2 0
 @Upduro: you can always ask a bike shop to build a custom set.
but i would buy dt swiss ex 511, been running them for a couple of years without issues, even with a full and a half season of racing.
  • 1 0
 You got your wish.....papier mache drivers from Stan's are now available.
  • 2 0
 @peleton7: well considering your feedback and that the EX511s with 240 hubs are similar in price to a full EX3 set I might go with DT. I'll wait and see how the current rims hold up during the season.
  • 2 1
 why was shimano being such a lil bitch?
  • 1 0
 Because they make their hubs the same way their grandfathers flu planes into your shi... sorry, my bad, don't nuke me; they make their hubs the same way as katana swords, real forging. A failure is not an option. Who has better quallity then them? DT? They got the licence. Hope has the performance but not good longetivity. And most hubs sound really bad.
  • 1 0
 finally i can upgrade to XT 12 speed....thank you shimano!
  • 1 0
 Shimano has those hubs since the new XTR.
  • 1 0
 @8088yl0n: right, but I don't want to buy a new shimano hub and re-lace my wheels when my hope pro 4 is perfectly fine. This way, I can buy a spline freehub body from hope, and throw it on my hub in a fraction of the time.
  • 1 0
 Does this mean I can run Microspline in non-boost hub? That'd be great!
  • 5 5
 ONYX VESPER Microspline is available in 142 and 148
  • 1 2
 What are the benefits of microspline hubs compared to normal spline? I just can’t get my head around this...
  • 3 3
 None over an XD driver. But that’s srams standard.
  • 1 0
 But you cant run anything smaller than a 11T cog on a standard 10 speed spline.
  • 3 0
 @Richt2000: Well for one the cassettes don't get stuck on microspline like they did on HG drivers and XD drivers.
  • 1 0
 The benefit is you can run 12 speed Shimano cassettes. Microspline is Shimano's answer to be able to run 12 cogs with one being a 10t.
  • 1 0
 @salami: Gotcha. Thanks for enlightening me.
  • 1 1
 @Richt2000: I agree. XD is a much better option. But ya unfortunately you cant run shimano with it
  • 3 0
 @Richt2000: XD's shortened splines basically require that cassettes be machined out of one piece of metal or otherwise fixed into a single assembly, which makes them expensive. SRAM's cheapest XD(R) cassette is the Force AXS cassette which is nearly $200.

Microspline with its more traditional (almost) full length splines allow for more traditional stacked assembly, and in fact the last few cogs on microspline cassettes are stacked. That makes them cheaper - the M7100 cassette is $100, and we'll probably see trickled down Microspline cassettes for less still.

But I do think most of it was just Shimano refusing to use SRAM's standard.
  • 2 0
 @rideonjon:

Thats user error.
Not a problem if you follow instructions and use grease
  • 1 0
 @Richt2000: If a design makes user error less likely then that's a good thing. And some HG drivers are a bit soft, so even well-greased cogs dig in and are then a PITA to remove.
But perhaps you've been lucky enough not to have that issue.
  • 2 1
 @Richt2000: bullshit.
  • 5 1
 @rideonjon:
Thats where you’re going wrong, using bullshit instead of good quality grease lol
  • 1 0
 @kz314:
Not correct. GX and lower cassettes are pinned together. Or take a look at the e13 cassette - thats in two clusters on an XD
  • 1 0
 ..
  • 1 2
 Hunt also now have their MTB wheels available with Microspline and a kit available to convert most old wheels.
  • 1 1
 I can buy the 30$ microspline adapter from China
  • 1 1
 All made in Taiwan, and over priced for what you get.
  • 1 0
 What?
  • 1 0
 In stock anywhere?
  • 1 0
 You can order directly from the Hope US distributor.  Give them a call at 832-663-9708
They were super helpful and got my freehub out quickly but said they were running low as of Jan. 13
  • 1 2
 But who’s got em?
  • 5 2
 @rideonjon: those aren’t Hope pieces. Try again
  • 3 3
 @Mattntp: They fit a Hope hub and are for a Shimano Microspline cassette.What more do you want.

By the way i am running one and it works fine.
  • 4 8
flag Mattntp (Jan 2, 2020 at 12:12) (Below Threshold)
 @rideonjon:
Those been around, on amazon too. I’m waiting for a genuine hope piece. If I wanted knockoff junk I’d just put a sun race cassette on.
  • 2 0
 @rideonjon: they look great in photos. It's like it's the same factory the multinationals use, but without the logos. Why shouldn't we offshore as well?--fear of a warranty issue.
  • 2 1
 @Mattntp: Funny i'm running it with a 12spd Shimano cassette,chain,shifter and derailleur and it works great.
  • 2 2
 @rideonjon:
Good for you.
Original post was asking who has the Hope pieces available, not who has alternative options. U posting answers to a question that wasn’t asked.
  • 5 1
 @Mattntp: Ok so the answer to your original question is Hope....

Hope has them.

That better!
  • 1 0
 @rideonjon: How long you had it on now? Was the fitment bang on?
  • 2 0
 @jtsimaras: I've had it 3 months now,and yes it fit perfect.I checked it with a caliper to the original and bang on.
  • 1 0
 @rideonjon: Awesome and sorry what Hope Hub is it running on, I have the Pro 4 evo hubs?
  • 1 0
 @rideonjon: Hope has them: 832-663-9708
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