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SOC16: Hope Tech’s HB.211 carbon fiber full suspension bike redefines “full custom”

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike
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Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

Hope’s had drawings for a bike since 2005, but when they made the decision to start doing carbon a couple years ago, that made the dream seem possible.

The frame has a working title of HB.211, which refers to Hope and their hometown, and the date (February 2011) when they started on the journey to in house carbon fiber fabrication. The bike uses a Horst link design, but the type of suspension is secondary to what this project means. It’s a bicycle that’s built around their components, which is different than usual where the component company is working around someone else’s bike. That meant they could design it to optimize the parts, which led to some very interesting one-off components indeed…

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

Starting at the rear, they designed it with a radial brake mount, which required an entirely new caliper. Note how the HB.211’s brakes (left, green) have mounts that are pointed in a parallel line from center of axle to center of brake. Contrast that to current designs (right, orange), whose mounts move outward at an angle. The prototype design makes it easier to size a rotor up or down since it’s all moving directly outward from the axle’s center. Not that there’s any performance benefit, but it looks cool, and that’s how they do it in moto.

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

Note the difference in the caliper bodies to accommodate the different mounting angles. Click to enlarge.

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

The rear axle spacing is 130mm, with a 17mm diameter thru axle slotting into a 25mm frame interface. Why? They wanted a narrow rear end for better clearance for ankles, rocks, etc. They did this by moving the hub’s disc brake mount inboard (compare prototype green to standard orange), closer to the spoke flange. The spoke flange spacing is the same as normal, so that and the massively oversized axle system keep the wheel very stiff.

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

Even with the narrow 130mm design, they could give it Boost chainline spacing on the driveside by making the rear triangle asymmetric.

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

The rear triangle is machined in house then hard anodized locally. The front triangle is molded in house, and they machined all the molds themselves, too.

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

This prototype bike, and the project itself, isn’t about trying to reinvent the suspension design. They just wanted to make the bike and component interface better.

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

They created a chain guide interface that doesn’t rely on ISCG standards, but bolts in above the chainring. It’s just the way they envision things should be, not necessarily how everyone should do it. It was much an exercise in learning more about using carbon fiber as anything else.

Hope Tech HB211 custom full suspension carbon fiber mountain bike

2005-06-07-Hope-bike-design-history 2009-10-13-Hope-bike-design-history

They’re making ten of them for employees to ride and test, at which point they might tweak things as needed and design the molds to be production ready and make more. There’s absolutely no timeline, but ultimately they probably will look to sell a complete bike.

Hope-Tech-carbon-fiber-seatpost01

Speaking of carbon, they just started shipping their new carbon seatpost this month, which is their first production carbon part made in their UK factory.

Hope-Tech-downhill-mountain-bike-hub01

hope-tech-wide-range-mtb-cassette-10-tooth-cog01

Other parts, like their DH cassette and hub and the wide range 10-44 cassette that were shown at Eurobike are also now in full production. Check our coverage here for full details. The cassette’s 10-tooth small cog requires a special freehub body that they make for their hubs.

HopeTech.com

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18 Comments
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Antipodean_eleven
7 years ago

WOW! This is a true one stop solution. Can you imagine how well everything will work together?

craig
craig
7 years ago

Wow, Wow, and Double Wow

Theendinfrench
Theendinfrench
7 years ago

This looks rad but i’m not sure about the 130 rear end… good for heels, bad for mud

goroncy
goroncy
7 years ago

Great. Lots of lots of things that will make absolutely no difference during ride, but will keep you glued to the company till the end of life of the bicycle. Standards are great. Every means of interrupting standards is just pure capitalistic approach pointed only towards your wallet. SRAM “invents” BS standards, now Hope tries to jump similar wagon by reinventing the whole bicycle. Well done Sir!

goroncy
goroncy
7 years ago

And by the way. HOPE still uses machining for everything? Hmmm. I thought that forging was discovered many centuries ago and is used by serious companies for a reason.

Jason
Jason
7 years ago

So, not a Hope fanboy then, Goroncy? As far as I know Hope components tend to start life as a forging that then gets machined into a finished component.

For myself, I love this bike – it’s all about innovation and a spirit of seeing if it’s possible to do things better

goroncy
goroncy
7 years ago
Reply to  Jason

Most definitely not their fan. But also not a fan of any company that is CNCing their things so that they have unacceptable stress distribution that leads to failure – but LOOKS COOL. Google stems of companies that are CNCed for cracked examples. Thomson, Hope and many others. And then look if stems like not so expensive Bontrager rhythm pro which is 3D forged from best possible 7050 alu may be cracked so easily. But sure. No blink. Bike business is nothing about innovation these days. Its all about shoving new awkward staff directly to our throats. I am just glad that I have my eyes opened wide enough to see where the bullsh@$t is.

Cheese
Cheese
7 years ago
Reply to  goroncy

So you’ve never seen the pictures of cracked forged Ritchey stems, Goroncy? And since Hope’s hubs are forged then machined, how does that processs rate on your armchair engineer-o-meter scale?

Antipodean_eleven
7 years ago
Reply to  Jason

Tosh. Hope stuff you buy once and forget about it. It works and lasts. Period. And yes, they start as a forging and then CNC.

LP
LP
7 years ago

No RB211 reference? That was my first thought on seeing the name

Haromania
Haromania
7 years ago

Lots of really cool stuff there. I don’t need any of it, but I want it. Well done Hope.

G
G
7 years ago

This is an awesome design exercise. I’m a big fan of Hope components- their brakes are second to none. Trey- I believe you meant to say that the brake mounts are perpendicular, not parallel.

G
G
7 years ago

Those hub specs seem a little silly though- why bother making the overall width narrower for clearance if you’re just going to offset it to the drive side? I’ve never really felt that clearance at yet dropouts was an issue, but their only gaining clearance on the non-drive side anyway.

Tupac
Tupac
7 years ago

Wow Goroncy! You need to settle down man! This is not a bike pushing new standards – this is a prototype and a fun project which may or may not go to production. No one cares if you don’t like it, but keep your (deleted) opinion to yourself, (deleted)

goroncy
goroncy
7 years ago
Reply to  Tupac

(deleted)

bearCol
bearCol
7 years ago

Very cool. Love the compact 130mm rear spacing. How funny will it be to see in 10 years we go back to 135mm to save weight and gain clearance. It will be called “clearance booster 135.”

Eric
7 years ago

Now now, everyone remember this is just a DESIGN EXERCISE. They are just throwing ideas around and seeing how they work. Keep that mind. They are NOT cramming new “standards” down anyones throats.
I for one think that the radial brake mount is wonderful. Change rotor size? just add/subtract spacers. How simple is that!

K
K
7 years ago

I LOVE HOPE AND EVERYTHING THEY DO!!!

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