Hope Technology, the CNC-machined components wizards from Barnoldswick, have unveiled a handful of tasty new goodies at the Eurobike show, including a brand new flat pedal.
The £120 pedal, which bears the designation F20 for its 20 stainless steel pins, is machined from 2014 T6 aluminium alloy and then anodised in one of the six standard Hope colours (silver, black, red, blue, gold and gunsmoke).
The body turns on a Norglide bushing and three cartridge bearings, and according to Hope’s Alan Weatherill, it’s as thin as practicable within the constraints of getting quality, durable bearings in there. The axle is made from heat-treated, plated chromoly steel so should also be plenty durable.
A more everyday bit of bling, Hope’s new jockey wheels have stainless steel roller bearings, protected by labyrinth seals. The upper is compatible with any rear derailleur that uses an 11-tooth top pulley and a pair costs £23.
SRAM isn’t yet even shipping its new 11-sprocket cassette, but Hope is about to release a rear hub that will take the uber-wide, 10-42 XX1 cluster. In fact, it’s not just a rear hub, the freehub body will retro fit Pro2 Evo and Pro 3 wheels – essentially most Hope wheels of the last 18 months or so – so owners of Hope wheels can move to XX1 without having to buy new wheels.
Speaking of single ring systems, Hope also announced a combined chainring and bashguard, the Integrated Bash Ring. Available in 32 to 36-tooth versions, it’s machined from a single piece of 7075 T6 aluminium and hard anodised in gold, black or silver. It can be used for a range of applications, from cross-country to downhill enduro and works with Hope’s new chain guides.
We can’t talk about Hope without mentioning the latest disc brake, though there’s not been much development there in what is a pretty mature sector for Hope. The main new part is the V4 brake, a new downhill unit that replaces the V2. It boasts increased caliper stiffness and bigger pads (the small piston is the size of the V2’s large piston) for better braking and pad life, but the complete nit with rotor is lighter than the V2.
Bubbling under from Hope, the company is still working on a crank, but describes this as “very much a work in progress” and isn’t giving any launch dates as yet, while the rear cassettes are “starting to look like an ‘eternity’ product. One day but not just yet.”
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