Hope Pro 5 or DT Swiss 350?

I cna't speak for the pro 5 but ime Hope have never made a hub with especially good sealing- it's really the bearing seal itself that's doing all the work. Which is fine really, quality bearings have good seals, but it's the difference between "lasts OK" and "lasts well" and also "the ratchet is kind of full of mud". Their bearing kits are good value and good quality though which balances it out a lot, especially if you do your servicing

The DT350's outermost bearings are similiar to that though a little bit better shielded, the rest are much better protected. And of course they have the DT pain-in-the-arse special tool mid bearing, which puts people off but it lasts a very long time- these aren't "replace all the bearings at the same time" hubs, they're "replace as needed", generally the brakeside one needs done relatively often, teh rest about half as often and the one in the middle once in a blue moon. Whereas Hope pro 2 3 and 4 generally need the whole lot done just about as often as the most frequent DT350 one. 5 may or may not be better, I don't think anyone knows yet and I think Hope know that their past performance has been good enough to satisfy most people. Um, I think on recent showings I'd probably choose a Pro 4 and let someone else be the beta tester too!

TL;DR Hope generally are relatively frequent but easy, DT less frequent but more faff when it happens.

Oh yeah remember that you can upgrade the engagement in 350 hubs. Mine have 36T in, you can go to 54 or 60 but for me 36 is absolutely fine. Expensive, though. The cheap copy star ratchets are generally crap, it's a high stressed component.

I don't think you can go wrong with either option to be honest, both are solid reliable workhorse hubs. Well the pro 5 will be if they are anything like the pro 4. DT Swiss uses the ratchet mechanism and hopes uses pawls. Hope's probably slightly easier to service and the hope customer service is phenomenal in my experiences.

Got some pro 5 laced to some DT Swiss FR541 on the way to me shortly.

And the Hope hubs come in shiny colours if that's your thing.

These days I try to follow this simple Q:
Do you value quality things being made in Britain still? Or happy to see the ever expanding trade deficit expand further ?

My pecking order when I reasonably can for things is
- Britain
- another European (EU) Country
- non-EU European Country (eg Switzerland)
- Oz or Canada
- American (US)
- other Asian
- China

And absolutely not if I'm aware of thr source - Russia.

Not always possible without going to the China option, I accept. But where its reasonably possible I do.

I can't see past DT350 for anything these days, if only based on the 'workstand spin-down' test I've never known a hub to spin so smoothly for so long.

Same couldn't be said for my last set of Hopes but perhaps (as detailed in excellent post above) I just hadn't been replacing bearings often enough.

I was a long term owner of Hope hubs but bought a secondhand set of wheels for a cheap build and they had DT hubs. They spun so smoothly for so long and now I am a long term owner of DT hubs.

I've always liked hope kit and pretty much never looked past their hubs. However as above I got one wheelset with some 350s and liked them so much I've built two more sets since. I'd happily have either but at the moment when buying the DTs are edging it.

New sealing on the pro 5s seems good although only time will tell. They run super-duper-omg free spinning though, so if zero watts drag is your thing then definitely the Hope, otherwise as above both are good options. I think if Hope have got the seals right on the Pro5 though its definitely a step up over what was a rather agricultural seal before (if mostly effective).

My 2p, I've got a few pairs of 350 and pr4s in the house hold.
In short there's not much between them.
I've had excellent customer service from hope, p1ss poor service from Dts agent in the UK.
Hope come in pretty colours which is nice,
I've had the anno finish lift on Dt making them look scabby.

So, today I'd buy Hope.

TLDR: DT Swiss 350

I’ve had the anno finish lift on Dt making them look scabby.

It's paint isn't it on the DTs rather than anodising. Have seen that on some hubs and yeah looks crap when it happens.

Any long (ish) term updates on Pro 5s?

All good, pro5 front and rear on the Session. No issues with them.

I'm voting Pro 5 - just based on the Pro 4 being super reliable anyway and the new ones having some nifty looking changes.

I do also like being able to just ring Hope up and someone will talk me through an issue, if needed.

We've sold hundreds of pro-5 hubs, as well as run a bunch on our bikes.

Number of failures so far = 0
Number of bearings replaced so far = 0

Seems good to me.

Greaet feedback, thanks.

(Shame I ordered spokes for a different set of hubs already, d'oh...)

@benpinnick any views on CL vs 6-bolt from a build perspective? Flange spacing looks slightly better on the front CL Boost hub.

Yeah the spacing is nice, but the spoke lengths need 2 or maybe 3 sizes, whereas you can run 1 size on the 6 bolt, and for that reason, and also that I just prefer 6 bolt for the rotor options, Im oot.

Also FWIW no one really tacos wheels much anymore and a well build wheel won't drift across often if at all, you're far more likely to trash the rim outer edge so it wont hold air etc. before you really need to worry about 1/2mm wider flanges.

Conversely if buying the 350 classic hub I could be tempted by the CL version as that can be built using 1 or 2 sizes, whereas the 6 bolt needs three ideally.

Cheers Ben, food for thought (I prefer CL rotors but I also prefer one spoke length!).

Do you want a quiet hub or a loud hub ? DT350 is much much quieter than the Hope.

Have quite a few sets of wheels with Hope's on and with high mileage too, 5000 miles+ on both sets. They've had bearings every few thousand miles. Microspline freehub used to be a bit shit, but all sorted with the 3rd bearing that they have added.

I had the same predicament as the OP for a set of wheels for my personal bike.
I opted for Hope hubs due to the ease and long term support for spares, finish and colour options, and also the fact that I could have them built up with proper brass nipples that will actually last and be trouble free rather than the aluminium nipples found on the pre-built Reserve wheels. The pair of 28h Hope hubs were 60 grams heavier than the 350's. A penalty well worth while

My pro 4s have 9mm end caps so this might be a factor.

I’d query the quality of sealing. Certainly on the front. I popped the end caps off for the first time. They are held in by o ring seals. Bearings behind looked brand new. No damp or dirt. Those wheels Have many winters use

I've just gone for a set of DT EX1700 so thats 350 C/L. I've been running 240's for 5 years or so and only just done a bearing swap, not had to touch the wheels (XM 1501) apart from a rim swap and a few spokes. Pro 4's bearings / Pawls lasted me 18 months tops. Was tempted by Pro 5's & Fortus SC but my DTs have been faultless so gone with some more.

I recently went the Pro 5 route (with XM481 rims). So far I love them... free spinning and very fast engagement... but it hasn't been long enough to judge the bearing lifespan. My logic was mix of seals being upgraded for the P5 over the previous gens and that Hope offer good support and spares, etc.

These days I try to follow this simple Q:
Do you value quality things being made in Britain still? Or happy to see the ever expanding trade deficit expand further ?

My pecking order when I reasonably can for things is
– Britain
– another European (EU) Country
– non-EU European Country (eg Switzerland)
– Oz or Canada
– American (US)
– other Asian
– China

And absolutely not if I’m aware of thr source – Russia.

same, except with cars and then it's based on the specialisation of the independant garage I use.

If the hubs are so closely equal then why not buy Hope - or else there might be a thread on here later similar to the Orange thread...

plus the support from Hope always seems to be excellent

Im still running Pro 2 Evo's from forever ago and they are probably only just ready for a bearing change. PLus i like the noise!

Im going to go for the Pro 5 Fortus 30 wheelset on my new build