Hope Tech Enduro wheelset review

The Lancashire metal chisellers are branching out with rims to match their hubs

Our rating

4.0

380.00

Press Shot

Published: October 15, 2014 at 11:00 am

Our review
Tough, reliable and adaptable wheels for harder riders with excellent backup to keep them running smooth and true

Hope has always been known for its hubs, but in recent years the company’s been branching out into complete wheelsets, though always built onto other people’s rims. With its new Tech Enduro wheelset, it now has rims to its own design ready to lace up.

While the name may contain the vital Enduro ingredient, these wheels are actually spot on for anyone who needs a tough but reasonably light wheelset. At 2,024g (954g front, 1,070g rear) for our 650b sized test set, they aren’t going to be winning cross-country races at any point, but it’s still reasonably respectable for the money and their intended use. There’s a straight-pull spoke version that shaves off a few grams should you wish.

The rim isn’t actually made by Hope itself, but it’s still a good one; using three compartments inside instead of one for extra strength. Talking of that, we’ve bounced them down some rugged and rocky tracks for the past few months and they’re still running true, with even spoke tensions. The 32 spokes themselves are high quality double-butted Sapim items matched to durable brass nipples. It’s a well thought through setup, designed to be cheap and easy to replace in the event of a breakage, perfect for privateer enduro racers or indeed anyone that prefers their wallet to have cash left in it.

xxxxx: - Joby Sessions

The Enduro wheelset is Hope's first complete wheelset that uses their own rims as well as hubs

The hubs themselves are spot on. The Pro 2 Evo’s design allows you to switch end caps quickly and easily for compatibility with pretty much any setup needed. You only get a QR front and rear plus 15mm front adaptors included however, others (including the popular 142x12mm) are available separately.

Unless you opt for straight-pull hubs, you can pick from six anodised colours too. You can also fit a SRAM 11-speed-ready XD driver body and the traditionally noisy four-pawl freehub is present and correct. As ever, it offers a rapid and secure pick up, but make sure you use more expensive cassettes with alloy carriers for the higher cogs otherwise you’ll score the relatively soft body.

We managed to get them running tubeless with a tape kit without any issues, and tyres are tight but not impossible to get on and off. The 23mm width is plenty enough to give bigger tyres a decent shape without making them over square too. They don’t give the likes of Mavic’s much more expensive (and narrower) Crossmax Enduro a run for their money in the stiffness stakes, but there’s no noticeable flex in them either. All in all, they’re the epitome of workmanlike performance.

Tester says: They’re tough, stiff and have common spares that specialist setups lack. Width is spot on and they’re simple to convert to tubeless. Hub adaptors are extra but you should be able to easily find the ones you need.

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