Instagram is tricky. Most of the time it’s filled with incredible photos of things you wish you could be doing, filters, and hashtags. Sometimes though, a company might try to sneak in an Easter egg or two, and slip in something new right before your eyes. We’re not quite sure, but it seems that may be what Hope Tech is up to after a tip from a reader led us to this photo of their factory pop up shop.
While the focus is clearly on the bays of impressive machinery and beautiful parts laid out on the work bench, we’re more interested in that cassette up front. At Interbike 2010, Hope showed off a one piece cassette/freehub that had promise. After that, they introduced their 40 T-Rex single ring cassette adapter. Looking at the photo though, it appears to be a 3 gear cassette adapter similar to parts we’ve seen from Leonardi, and Absolute Black. If our assumptions are correct, the cluster of 3 green cogs would replace the outer cluster on a Shimano cassette making a smooth transition into the lower gears. More when we have it…
Update after the jump…
According to Hope, as commenters have pointed out it is indeed their new 10-40t rear 10 speed cassette that was shown at Corebike. Combining the seven lower sprockets made from a single piece of stainless steel with the upper 3 sprockets individually machined from aluminum, the cassette will be a true wide range option without an adapter. Compared to modifying a standard cassette, all the gear jumps are less than 20% , and the lower 7 speeds can be used as a DH cassette with the addition of a spacer.
Thanks for the tip Rasmus!
