[Closed] Your favourite alternative to Hope hubs?

Shimano XT.

Halo supadrive MT

DT Swiss to suit budget

DT Swiss. Lighter. More reliable.

I’d have thought DT Swiss were generally a touch lighter (350) or a chunk lighter (240/180) and potentially more reliable. Not cheaper though.

Bitex are lighter and cheaper - I reckon they’re the most obvious alternative at a lower price and lighter. Meant to be pretty reliable and serviceable.

I've got Hopes, Tune and Chris King.
Tune lick the lighter box but that's about it. Seals nowhere near as good as Hope.
Chris King are like Hope in that they are easy to service and source spares for but seem to need doing more often and are just generally more faff for things like getting the little locking pieces spot one tight.
Both are more expensive than Hope.
Can't see why you would look beyond Hope TBH. If cost is the issue, get some second hand ones.

Can’t see why you would look beyond Hope TBH. If cost is the issue, get some second hand ones.

I wholeheartedly agree. I do like my CK hubs but I wouldn't say they are any 'better' than Hope to be honest. Given how serviceable the Hope's are, 2nd hand is a pretty safe bet too as there's not much that can be catastrophically wrong with them that can't be fixed.

Also, I'm going to say it, matchy matchy. Haven't seen purple anodised DT Swiss or Bitex hubs!

Dt Swiss 350 for me, not the new ratchet exp version. There's so little to go wrong and the ratchets can be replaced in seconds. Having had Hope and DT, I prefer DT.

DT or novatec.

The in between doesn't offer value imo

Novatecs aren't a patch on hopes, but cost a fraction and are often good enough.

DT 240's or 350's if budget doesn't allow.
My experience of Novatec is that they are made of very soft cheese and not worth the effort when they inevitably fail.

I dont really have any other experience of hubs other than hope, been so since 1996. Currently got some basic shimano on the ebike, so Im interested to see how long they last.

Whatever hubs Hunt use.
I’ve got about five sets of their wheels and they’ve been absolutely faultless.

Sure hunt use Bitex ? Which I would recommend!

Hope, Novatec and Bitex have all been fine for me.

Sure hunt use Bitex ?

they are novatec

DT swiss or bitex - wouldn't use hope at all if given a choice

I'm gonna try a Spank hex hub next if I can find a microspline one in blue, guessing I'm in for a long wait or getting stung with extra fees or both.

I'm a bit of a Hope fanboy, but I have one pair of hope wheels and four pairs of DT (3 sets of factory wheels, 2 240 based, one 350 and a pair of self builds on 350s)

Also, I’m going to say it, matchy matchy. Haven’t seen purple anodised DT Swiss or Bitex hubs!

Local bike mechanic to me is offering anodizing http://hgrworkshop.com/anodizing/

As a slightly left field option... What about a Chinese clone of the dt swiss 240s? (ZTTO M1)

It uses the older style star ratchet freehub, same sealing arrangement, same bearing sizes. All the dt swiss spares fit, spoke lengths are the same etc. Unsurprisingly they are the same weight as well.

£80 for both front and rear hubs.

I went through this recently and have reverted to hopes.

I was cheap for a couple of pairs of wheels recently and used some (of the better) Novatecs rather than Hopes. The Novatecs are easy to work on and I have managed to get spares for them but it was not easy finding them. I'm still using the front hubs but the ratchets on the rear were just not up to the job for my riding and have failed in 2 hubs. I also managed to strip a rotor bolt on one of the fronts. Both rears have been replaced with Hopes. I think the better Novatec models are probably fine if your not doing too much riding or not riding in harsh conditions. I've used a Novatecs on the road and for touring without issue though.

Also tried superstar hubs (on a gravel bike) and had a hub shell failure which puts me off buying again.

Limited experience of Dt Swiss but they have been a little harder to work on and always more expensive. Would consider the 240s if money was no object!

When you talk about hubs you have to ignore front hubs because they all pretty much do the job brilliantly (I'm happy with Hope here). It's the rear hub where you need to spend some cash.

I've had lots of Hope wheels over the years. The rear hubs are good agricultural grade work horses, but the engagment is poor. Its time Hope upped their game because there are a whole load of faster engaging modern hubs out there now, Spank, Bonty, Hunt, Nukeproof etc.

I have an I9 Hydra rear on one wheelset which is amazing but a little draggy, and I am building up another rear wheel with an Onyx Vesper this weekend to see if silence is the way to go.

but the engagment is poor. Its time Hope upped their game because there are a whole load of faster engaging modern hubs out there now,

and they have more failures because of smaller contact areas and they also have more drag.

I once purchased tune hubs (ten years ago) and entered an endurance race with them. The rear hub failed with a cracked shell and tune refused to warranty them for free. They replaced the body but wouldn’t supply the custom made bearings for free as they had signs of “wear”.
Cost me about £100 to get it repaired.

Tldr don’t buy tune.

DT all the way to the point I no longer want hope hubs. I’ve had them in the past but DT are just as reliable and much lighter.

I ended up rebuilding my rear Reserve wheel with a Bitex hub after giving up trying to remove the drive ring on the DT350 hub.

Great when they work, but two tools and impact wrench and a bent axle later and it still didn't come free!

Based on how long the wheels spin for in the stand, I honestly believe DT hubs are the smoothest spinning hubs I've had (well, except my summer only Fulcrum cup and cone which are basically Campag Record).

Same couldn't really be said for the Hope hubs I had years ago which also chewed the inside of the freehub body in a really weird way.

DTs also sound lovely in a sort of precision clockwork sort of way rather thsn obnoxious bumblebee sort of way 😂