Hope Hoops are Hope’s range of complete wheelsets, and they come in myriad flavours and specs. We’ve gone for their own Pro 2 hubs on Mavic EX 721 rims, with DT Swiss’s double-butted spokes.
They’re Hope’s top-of-the-range downhill spec items, and they feature a veritable smorgasbord of high-quality parts. The wheels are hand assembled at Hope HQ and the build quality is superb – all you have to do is work out where to place the stickers.
The Pro II hubs are some of our favourites – they’re strong, light and really easy to service. In fact, stripping one down takes as little as 10 minutes and they’re easily convertible to other axle sizes, which is handy if you end up swapping frames.
The rims are made from Mavic’s Maxtal alloy and are SUP welded and eyeleted for extra strength. All in, the Hoops weighed a highly respectable 985g (front) and 1,110g (rear),making them both lighter and a hell of a lot cheaper than Mavic’s benchmark Deemax wheelset.
Once on the bike, the Hope Hoops' light weight made them extremely easy to get up to speed and there’s a reassuring stiffness to them as well. They’ll happily thump through the muckiest rock gardens all day and emerge straight as a die.