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Do I need to buy the official hope ones or has anyone got some alternative suggestions for where to buy from?
Stainless or ceramic?
This is for my rigid bike.
You don’t need to buy Hope. As long as they are the same size and have 2x rubber seals and SS, you’ll not go far wrong
Ideally go branded like SKF, Enduro, ING etc..
What normally kills your bearing? The Hope ones are stainless INA and for the quality, you'd probably struggle to get the same from a local bearing supplier.
Order mine from either mkbearings or airvelo. Steel not ceramic.
Just go to your local industrial bearing stockists, they will normally have SKF. I used one in Leeds and it cost me £10 for the 2 large SKF bearings I needed for a rear hub (not Hope but similar size). Looking at the prices of a Hope bearing kit online it seems they are expensive compared to a local bearing stockists. Place I went to in Leeds was very helpful too - there will be a place in every decent sized town.
Airevelo don’t state (well I can’t find it) which manufacturers bearings they use. At £3.50 each they won’t be that good for the standard ones. There’s no technical info about why their “enduro” bearings are better either.
Just cut out the middleman and go straight to a proper bearing stockists.
Wow, those Hope kits have gone up in price. Used to be that 5 bearings in a pro 2 cost £25. At roughly £5 per bearing, it wasn't worth shopping around. Mid thirties for four suddenly got expensive though.
Maybe it's the need for two non standard 17287 bearings that does it.
Onzadog. Pro 4 is stainless steel, pro 2 wasnt. The stainless came in with the pro 2 Evo at which point the price went up. If you compare the front bearings which are the same other the SS Vs non SS you can see the effect this has in cost.
Clearly worth it for me then. I have Pro 4, Pro 2 evo and Pro 2 hubs but I don't remember having to buy replacement stainless bearings yet (i did have to replace the inner (non stainless) freehub bearing in a Pro 4.
It's normally contamination that kills mine rather than wearing out.