The XC Hubs have one piece aluminum hub shells with sealed cartridge bearings throughout. The cassette body is available in either a steel or titanium and it uses a three pawl ratchet mechanism. The front and rear are available to accept quick release. Available in the International Standard 6 bolt disc fitting.
Submitted by
apjrees
a Cross Country Rider
from UK
Date Reviewed: September 30, 2008
Strengths: It rolls and it's pretty light.
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
I bought these 2nd hand already built to some wheels. They were lighter on the scales than XT, they seemed to have less takeup than XT too. Can't fault them really, they do the things a hub should do.
Bike Setup: Airborne ti with SID, XTR, Hope etc...
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Submitted by
efriberg
a Weekend Warrior
from Vancouver, Wa
Date Reviewed: August 4, 2008
Strengths: Loud clicking scares pedestrians out of the way.
Weaknesses: None other then what I am going to say below.
Bottom Line:
Second season on the hub, maybe put a total of 300 miles on it and the freewheel bearing has vaporized. I heard it going.... going.....gone, I didn't realize that noise was coming from inside the wheel, sounded like a stick rubbing on the rubber. We'll see how easy it is to fix. I cant identify the bearing parts, so matching up the right one may be tricky if I cant find the proper drawings from Hope. Other than this little problem, I really liked it. Now I'll have steal my pregnant wife's rim to go riding until it's fixed, I hope she doesn't get possessive. I'd give it five chillies if it wasn't for this premature problem.
Similar Products Used: The usual shimano xt stuff.
Bike Setup: Specialized Enduro Pro with Sun DSC-1 rims.
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Submitted by
Beau
a Cross Country Rider
from Kaysville, UT
Date Reviewed: April 20, 2008
Strengths: Simple and dependable in all weather conditions.
Weaknesses: Slightly slower engagement than top of the line hubs and makes little noise when coasting.
Bottom Line:
I switched all three of my bikes from using XT disc hubs to the Hope XC a few years ago. Haven't had a single problem with them in all that time riding in various conditions - from the rainy summers in South Korea and dry summers in Utah. Works great with the wide-base Surly singlespeed cog and spacers on the Explosif. Noticed some scarring from the more narrow Shimano BMX cog. Great performance and reliability without breaking the bank!
Strengths: looks, strong, light, well built... it just lasts
Weaknesses: slightly slower engagement than some other hubs
Bottom Line:
amazing... i have been using this hub for 4 years now, they have crossed the andes in peru, tackled downhill courses in france alps, commuted to work every day for 4 years... these hubs have outlived bikes, been on at least 10 rims, must have done close to 10000 miles in all types of conditions. from super rock gardens in spain, the dust of the australian dessert and hub deep in mud in denmark, the snow from commuting to work in london
... all this and they still keep running. the engagement is a touch slower than chris kings, but if its a real problem you have bad spin technique and so dont blame the hubs. in my opinion i think these hubs are better than chris kings, cheaper and require far less maintanence.
plus hope customer service is second to none, the only hub i would consider now is the industry nine but its not time testd like the hopes... nothing else compares
Similar Products Used: c. knigs, hadleys, dt swiss, bontrager, industry nine
Bike Setup: evil soverign, pikes, hope m4s, hope xc hubs on mavic xc717 rims
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Submitted by
tony vazquez
a Weekend Warrior
from warwickshire, england
Date Reviewed: December 3, 2007
Strengths: well built, requires little maintance, had rear hub fitted over 4 years ago and still keeps going after doing over 2,500 miles. been out in all conditions from dry and dusty to up the axles in mud and still running smooth.
Weaknesses: none that i have found
Bottom Line:
used mostly for general cross country, have done some rough stuff but nothing i would class as extreme.not the cheapest option in the first place but worth it in the long run. dont get to ride as often as i'd like so when i get the chance, i just want to get the bike and go. just upgrade my other bike, (giant nrs) to hope pro2's front and back, cant really say more than that.
Similar Products Used: different shimano hubs mostly
Bike Setup: was on gt i drive which i slowly upgraded, now fitted to trek 6500 hard tail. (gt retired due to constant maintance to i drive system)
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Submitted by
Yogiwolfman
a Cross Country Rider
from Denver, CO, USA
Date Reviewed: November 25, 2007
Strengths: Light, decent engagement, easy to take apart and service/clean everything.
Weaknesses: Freehub body is a piece of @&$^. Titanium freehub body will give you warning before a catastrophic failure. I would at least design some sort of mechanism to lock all parts of the hub together, rather than press them together and rely on QR tension to keep things gelling
Bottom Line:
I really wanted to love this hub, I really did! I got a deal on a brand new hub and laced it up. I rode fine for about 500 miles until I was grinding up a steep extended climb and had to put a foot down (early season) to take a breather. I got back on and realized quickly that the freehub body was jammed to the hub body, resulting in a cassette that would not freewheel anymore. I had myself a fixie! I took the chain off and coasted back to the car.
I got home and took off the cassette and had to pry the freehub body from the rest of the hub. One of the hubs had dislodged and wedged itself sideways in between the freehub and the ratchet mechanism, scratching up the freehub. Wiping away the grease further showed that the notched where the pawls seated were bent. The hub body and ratchet mechanism were fine.
I took it to the LBS and they all high-fived me because they thought I put out so much power that I bent things up in the freehub. They ordered me a titanium freehub body for $100 and said the harder metal would prevent any more of this silly bending.
250 miles later, I was enjoying the day when I stopped pedalling and my chain kept moving forward, throwing the chain off my front chainring. I kicked the cassette out of frustration, and I guess it temporarily fixed the problem because I was able to make it home.
I pulled it apart and saw the pawl seats were bending again. I filed down the area which was bending which worked for 50 miles, and began saving for a King hub.
I got another 100 miles out of it and noticed that the hub wanted to try to throw the chain forward, fixable by a quick pedal stroke and then it would freewheel fine again.
My King wheel showed up, and all was fixed.
3 Chilis for making a decent hub that works well when it works. Most seem to have no problems. 1 Chili for the headaches and making me take a file to a titanium part. *shudder*
Similar Products Used: XT front and rears, Mavic Crossmax, Bontrager hubs in a Race X Lite Wheelset.
Bike Setup: Blur LT with bling. This hub was laced with DT Swiss 14/15g spokes to a Mavic XC717 disc hub.
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Submitted by
Steve
a Weekend Warrior
from Boulder,Co,USA
Date Reviewed: July 30, 2007
Strengths: Reliable, smooth rolling, great value
Bottom Line:
I'm now transferring these to my new Yeti 575. After 3 years of hard, rocky trail riding, these hubs are still fresh. Put them on and forget about them (at least in the dry coniditions I ride in). Very happy with this purchase.
Submitted by
John
a Weekend Warrior
from Portland, Or
Date Reviewed: March 15, 2007
Strengths: Smooth, sealed bearings
Weaknesses: None yet
Bottom Line:
My hubs are built up with Mavic XM321 rims. They have seen dust, mud and DH conditions. After a year with the hubs I have no complaints. They were very cost affective for the level of quality. I was looking at Hadley/King pricing when Mike at Universal recomended the Hope XC. For the money they are hard to beat. Sure, not as bling as the big dollar hubs but they keep on doing the job and I was able to get the bike on the road faster. I will build up another set of wheels with the Pro II for my Stinky, when the time comes.
Strengths: They simply do their job and work as expected, price
Weaknesses: None so far
Bottom Line:
After more than three years of use I think it is time to review this great product, a Hope rear XC hub with Ti axle. It's been built up on a Mavic 819 rim (36 spokes) and this combination has been flawless for my all mountain use. Never had any issues what so ever, engagement has worked perfectly. Riding in water, snow, ice or mud has never presented problems using this rear hub.
Submitted by
Jeremy
a Weekend Warrior
from Hong Kong
Date Reviewed: December 12, 2006
Strengths: Looks good and reasonable weight
Weaknesses: Engagement!!!!!!!
Bottom Line:
Absolute pants, the engagement was sooooo slow. I have changed this to a hadley and i feel as if I am actually pedalling the bike not air while this pc of junk waited to engage, its now off the bike and good ridence, Hopless is the only word i can use to describe it. It does not deserve 1 flame in my opinion.
Bike Setup: SC Chameleon, Mavic EX3.1, X9, EA 50 Bar, Thompson Post, Marz Z1 Light
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Submitted by
Eric Feldmeier
a Weekend Warrior
from Miami, FL, USA
Date Reviewed: November 27, 2006
Strengths: Smooth rolling and flawless freewheel engagement (Review for Rear Hub Only)
Weaknesses: none so far
Bottom Line:
So far so good, much more economical than the DT swiss, I'm 200lbs and break components like I stole it and the XT shimano hubs actually bent and wobbled after a temper tantrum where I threw my bike into the woods. This Hub set up with a rhinolyte rim seems to be a winner, I notice that I glide a little further and the freewheel engages much faster.
I dont plan on throwing the bike anymore, but, sometimes that powdercoated slut deserves it!
Bike Setup: Santa Cruz Heckler '05 with XTR derailers and Raceface LP Next Crank/zucci fork 5th Element Rear Coil
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Submitted by
Elvis
a Cross Country Rider
from Raleigh, NC
Date Reviewed: September 4, 2006
Strengths: solid machining, phenominal customer service... try to get king to match that.
Weaknesses: been very happy with these hubs, very easy to rebuild.
Bottom Line:
so they arent kings, and they dont hook up in .2 micro seconds, they hook up in .5 microseconds... the customer service you get from hope is way way better than with most other manufacturers... if you are thinking about getting some of these hub go ahead and get them you wont be sorry.
This is for the front hub. When I received the hub one of the bearings was not fully seated within the hub as it stuck out about 1/32". I put it in a fork and clamped down the qr but it didn't budge. I emailed Hope tech support both in US and UK and both didn't believe me but they said send it back I only had $40 into it anddecided to build it up. A year later it it still running smooth and the bearing still sticks out 1/32"
I think Hope makes good stuff, in this case I got a weird one.
Submitted by
Jon Dex
a Weekend Warrior
from Wellington NZ
Date Reviewed: June 11, 2006
Strengths: Simple, Well Constructed, Engineered for function not Bling,
Weaknesses: Don't get to practice fiddly maintenance tasks regularly
Bottom Line:
I weigh 120 Kgs (280 lbs)and had accepted that an XT hub would last 6 months between freehub rebuilds, and about a year before I broke the housing or some other catastrophic failure. After 2 years of riding probably 30 ks a week of serious single track, drops jumps etc and over 100 ks a week of less stressful riding, They are still running perfectly. The freehub barely has any scoring on the ratchet pawls and the bearings are probably barely run in. One every 3 or 4 months, I ease the freehub body off wipe clean and regrease the ratchet ring and pawls. Most times they havent needed it as the grease was as clean as when it went in. I am an engineer who works with military systems and this is one of the very few bike products that is engineered in an "aerospace" manner. I just wish they still made a bottom bracket.
Bike Setup: Santa Cruz Hecker, Hope hubs both ends, Hope Mono Ti 6 205mm front and Mono M4 180mm rear, Z1 and 5th element shocks, 521 rims, Holzfeller cranks and stem, Thomson Seatpost etc. XT transmission.
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Submitted by
Andy
a Cross Country Rider
from Saint Paul, MN USA
Date Reviewed: April 28, 2006
Strengths: Gotta start with the GREAT looks, precise machining, smooooothe rolling, rebuidable, and bullet-proof ratchet design.
Weaknesses: none found.
Bottom Line:
I couldnt be happier with my purchase of these hubs. I had alot of previous experience with Shimano, and was ready to step up to disc brakes and wanted something to handle the abuse with my latest bike build. I did alot of research prior to buying these and really couldnt justify anything else unless you want to spend the kind of money to get yourself some of "that Chris King stuff" and well I am not made of that kind of money so Hope was the obvious choice for me and my application. I consider myself a agressive cross country rider and have always had problems with stuff breaking or wearing out prematurely. I like the fact that the hope hubs come with sealed cartidge bearings, and replacements are readily available, I am not concerned with the fact that they may not roll quite as easily as a cone set up, but then again I have seen what happens to the cone bearing setup after a nice muddy trailride. In fact I notice a huge difference when hopping off my new ride with the hope hubs vs. my beater GT avalance with shimano XTR's...sorry shimano, you have let me down for the last time!
Hi, the free hub on my hope hub is running REALLLY slow, and i want to remove it to give it a quick clean and regrease. I was able to do this easily when the hubs were new but now Read More »
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I recently bought a set of Easton XC One wheels and as I was excitedly moving my rotors over to them, I failed to notice that the bolts from my old wheels were too long for the fro Read More »
Does anyone have any tips on keeping my rear hub from loosening? I have the 2011 Evolve with the 29" XC Wheelset. Right now I am using two 17mm? wrenches to tighten the outside b Read More »
So I'm getting ready to plunk down the cashola and the Easton EC90 is a strong consideration (the alternative is Enve w/DT240). I've heard some not so good things about Easton hubs Read More »
