Hope Tech wheels – available for pretty much any combo

The beauty of our Mondraker Crafty r+ #frankenbike is that it’ll accept a set of 29er wheels in place of the mid-fats.

With the recent launch of Hope Technology‘s new Pro 4 hubs, we got on the blower to the good guys at Hope Tech to talk through some options for this somewhat odd bike… 
Hope Tech wheels have been around a while now.  Alongside Stans’ EX Flow rims, Hope’s Enduro offering have become a go-to wheel set for those wanting a good value upgrade.

The rims are eyeleted for more consistent spoke tensions, ease of building and subsequently truing when required. They are tubeless compatible and come in at a reasonable weight too.

The real beauty of Hope is the wide range of options that become available to you; different coloured hubs (the important bit, right?) and the myriad of hub width options. They often using interchangeable end caps, which means purchasing the right wheels for your bike couldn’t be easier. And they won’t be out of date every time a new ‘standard’ comes in…
Specialist spinners

Our #frankenbike has a rather rare rear hub spacing requirement of 12x157mm, designed by Mondraker to remedy the less than ideal chain line found on some plus bikes. For some companies, this would’ve been an issue – not for Hope Tech however, they built us up a set of their Enduro rims onto the new Pro4’s with a bling 150mm rear hub with the required end caps to make it 157. Voila! 
They weigh in at approximately 2100g for the wheel set with tubeless valves and tape (no tyres) which is more than acceptable but not the lightest for the money. There are plenty of lighter options out there, but this Hope set are built to last. Enduro by name, Endurance by nature.

The Hope Tech Pro4 hubs engage almost instantly and with Hope’s world renowned bearing seals and top quality stainless bearings, reliability is the standard Hope affair of once a year, if you’re unlucky.
With some gorilla tape wrapped around them and tubeless valves poked through, they were rubbered up and rolling in no time, both Maxxis tyres seating tubeless as easy as wink. 

The 23mm internal width Enduro rim is slightly narrow when compared to the myriad of wider options available these days, whilst it’s not an issue for many (and similar to the ultra popular Mavic wheelsets), it does create a more conventional rounded off profile to some tyres. It does also mean there’s some flex – especially in our 29er guise – unfortunately we’ve managed to dent our set quite easily. However, we have been running low pressures which makes that inevitable at times.

On the plus side, even with sub 25psi in the rear, we’ve not managed to burp them yet so the bead grip is superb, even with the narrow internal width.

We Say

Our initial impressions are of a very well finished, no frills wheel set with typical Hope reliability. When you realise you can get your hands on a set, made and built in Barnoldswick, for a relatively accessible sum of circa £380, they’re actually quite the bargain!

And add to that, that all the parts are replaceable and rims can be re-laced easily thanks to the classic spokes/nipples design and you are on to a winner with the Hope Tech wheels.

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