Behind Hope's New HB.160 Bike
Hope Technology is well-known for designing and manufacturing a large number of quality bike components, the most popular being the clicking Pro 4 hubs and Tech 3 brakes. The product range has grown each year since Hope was founded in 1989 and until recently covered pretty much every part of a bike except the frame.
So why make a bike...?
This was the dream of Ian Weatherill and the late Simon Sharp, Hope’s co-founders. It was never about the idea of becoming a bike brand, but rather just to have the satisfaction of producing a complete bike. Initial ideas were for a welded steel frame, but as technology moved on over the years, so their ideas moved to carbon.
Image- Sam Needham
UK Carbon Production
There’s a wealth of knowledge around carbon fibre in the UK, with the majority of the current F1 teams being based here as well as a thriving aerospace industry. This gives us access to some of the world's most talented carbon fibre engineers, right on our doorstep. The challenge was taking their skill at producing one-off components, and scaling it up to production quantities. Since our existing products are manufactured using the processes most companies only use to produce their first prototypes ie CNC machined rather than cast or precision forged, it’s not been an unusual experience for us. Mould production has been one of the easiest processes since these are made on CNC machines and we already have a few of these!
Cutting and laying up the carbon sheet is quite a labour intensive process, but keeping production on site in Barnoldswick gives us total confidence in the quality of parts we can produce. In the past, there have been reservations internally about the safety of manufacturing in carbon fibre and although carbon fibre production is a new process to us, with the correct controls and working practices put in place, it can be made an extremely safe process. Also by manufacturing in our own factory in the UK to strict health and safety regulations, we can ensure a safe working environment for our staff, which is more than can be said for some companies who have parts produced in anonymous factories around the world.
Optimised Integration
Although we didn’t really want to create new standards on this project we felt it was important as we have seen compromises bike manufacturers have made when designing frames and also the restrictions on component manufacturers to conform to standards. Very few companies have previously been able to combine the needs of the frame and component designer into one project. With this unique opportunity, we set about creating our idea of the perfect bike - without compromise. Our bike designs have gone through a big evolution over the years, changing as our current bike requirements have changed as well as the evolution in wheel sizes and the disappearance of the front mech.
We started back in 2005 with a downhill bike, but this design progressed through many different disciplines and has finally settled on our current ride - 160mm travel All-Mountain/Trail style bike. This bike uses very few current standards since it was initially developed as a design concept rather than a product design exercise. Maybe not the best solution for compatibility, but when you make every part, it gives you the opportunity to manufacture a bike without compromise.
For more details and specifications on the bike see the website: www.hopetechhb.com
How to buy...
The intention has never been to mass produce the bike. Our focus is on attention to detail, quality control and good service. As such we intend to only make 500 bikes a year. Without the support of local bike shops since day one, Hope wouldn't be where it is today. To reciprocate that support we have chosen to sell the bike initially, through 11 UK dealers with which we have a strong relationship with. This same selling model will be rolled out across the European and North American markets in the new year.
For a full list of UK dealers see here: www.hopetechhb.com/dealer-locator
Photos: Roo Fowler
MENTIONS: @hopetech
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*watches the video of them making it*
...k How does this bike not cost more!?
I love that there is room in the bike world for truly boutique builds. I like my low-volume bikes (Yeti, Pivot, Niner) but this level of custom design is in another league altogether.
Unfortunately my budget doesn't allow for a $7K bike. But if it did, I'd find a way to get another $3K and get this bike in my garage.
£7.5K
The Pound used to be almost double the value of the Dollar, so thank brexit that it's not a $14K bicycle.
Boutique companies for bikes are Antidote (what I ride), Unno, ARBR and Hope (now).. all incredibly crafted. I see the value in those but not santa cruz (anymore), specialized, etc.. mass produced frames that should be a lot cheaper considering the output volumes.
I'm not quite sure the brake mount issue is as bad as they make out though after all you still need a spacer for different discs sizes on radial so unless you just pile a bunch of washers in its still going to have to be something you buy specifically for the job just like other brake adapters.
Having said that i appreciate the smart design of radial mounts.
1) It would be a whole new standard for people to adopt, which riders are always complaining about
2) It would lock you in to a specific brake rotor size and/or brand
3) The location of the caliper around the disc has absolutely no effect on braking performance. Look at cars, they're all over the place (primarily the facilitate systems integration with adequate clearances)
4) Adjusting for pad clearance would be a nightmare. You would need spacers and shims for lateral adjustment
5) The closer the caliper mount to the brake pads, the lower the braking forces and moments at the joint.
The current mounting method and location of calipers facilities a massive tolerance stackup between different wheels, hubs, discs, calipers, and pads. Simply loosen the screws, squeeze the brake, and tighten for a centered disc. There is absolutely no reason to change it.
On the first one with the forks, you can see that the caliper is mounted on two direct mount posts of equal length. This means that the caliper body (pistons) has to be moulded/milled at a different angle compared to its mounting brackets in order for the pistons to align with the disc.
On the second picture of the rear brake on the HB160, you can see that the caliper body and the mounting brackets are milled parallel with each other. The caliper is radially offset from the axle.
p.vitalmtb.com/photos/stories/2017/08/19/large_HB160_Details_2nd_set_6_457246.jpg?1503142630
p.vitalmtb.com/photos/stories/2017/08/19/large_Radial_Mount_962199.jpg?1503142983
↑this.
I really like what they have done to the rear end; I'd be more than willing to have those "standards" on any future frames.
'
I like the idea because I build wheels for myself and some of my friends and have been thinking about the constructions of the entire rear end for years as I have been building; it interests me.
I have been building with rear hubs for rear axles of the 135, 142, 150 and 157 widths both dished and non dished, on a variety of hubs, with a whole variety of flanges, for a variety of frames for years and can see (I think) why Hope have done what they have done to the rear end, and I like where they are coming from.
I for one would like to try out the rear end arrangement.
Bike is a neat design exercise. With some good design and thought. What I am more curious about is their 17mm axle and how the cassette interfaces with that. We go wider in our axles because we can't go bigger in our axles because we want a 10t cog and our current freehub interfaces don't allow for the bigger axle. Is this cassette their all one piece thing we have seen in various forms over the years?
As for the cassette interface, I may be wrong, but it looks just "why has nobody done this before" simple.
I am sitting here with a set of bearings from a Hope Pro 2 135mm hub (61903, 61902 and 61802), and all three are used across Hope rear hubs, including it appears the new Hope HB160 hubs, and they have all have the same internal diameter of 17mm. Any thru axel goes through an 'axel sleeve' inside the hub shell, allowing us to change 9mm to 10mm to 12mm by changing the axel sleeve.
All they have done this time is redesign the hub shell so that the 17mm thru axel sits directly on those bearings in the hub shell with no sleeve. I don't own any XD driver freehubs to check, but all I can assume is that they too run on bearings with a 17mm ID, which allows Hope to just run the Thru axel right on through there; if not, then Hope will have found a solution that works.
I'd like to see the cassette side close up, but there are no close up shots I can find (is that a coincidence??).
Anyways, I like that rear end arrangement.
www.hopetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hope-RB211-9856.jpg
Shimano combated this issue with their 15mm thru axle front ends by using an external tool interface.
Old school shimano freehubs used the final cog on the freehub as the lockring itself.
Now that, is a CEO worth working for.
Bravo Sir, Bravo!
Why taking with that amount of profit ?Its pure greedness.
Those tecnicians at this part of the world what are will they doing ?Popcorn ?
Had a larger vendor (Specialized, Trek, etc) released a proprietary platform with this justification this website would be grabbing pitchforks.
Best of luck.
What Hope have done is start on a clean sheet and make something completely fresh, simply because they can, then at the end of it said "hey, we've done this just to see how good it would be. We like it. It ain't gonna be cheap, but if you want one, we'll make you one too."
But if some of make so much sense that they do in fact become a proper standard then good, cos I'm sick of clipping my oversizd feet on needlessly wide Chainstays.
And that goes for all things with this type of naming convention!
Something this sexy needs a cool name 1. Hope: Panty Remover 2. Hope: Stimulator 3. Hope: Bank Note
Great if your right foot forward then your left tailing foot might not hit the frame anymore but if its not improving clearance on both sides then i don't think its that useful, kinda like raising your off road car for more ground clearance then only doing one side...
The bike was designed as en entire product : all the components are optimised each other to work perfectly.
For example, it's why the rear axle is specific... and there are a lot of other points.
We took the time to discuss with Hope team and when they explained how the bike was born (and how it whas designed) , you can easly understand it's not a bike similar as the other ones.
About the cost, if you compare with other complete bikes (who are not really home made and who are "only" a beautifull frame mounted with beautifull adaptable components) , you can see it's not really expensive,
Notice I work in bike world, but not in Hope manufactory ;-)
No, it's not.
To be precise, it's a non-standard.
The only people this will affect is owners of HB.160 who want to put non-Hope parts on, but if you want to do that, you've missed the point of the bike.