Earlier this 12 months, Hope Expertise introduced the all-new Hope HB916 Enduro Bike. It’s unashamedly a thorough-bred race machine, as demonstrated by Joe Barnes on the World Enduro circuit. A “semi” high-pivot four-bar suspension platform delivers 160mm of rear wheel journey, with a majority rearward axle path on a slacked-out carbon body with beneficiant attain and wheelbase numbers. And it will get a butty-box, the place one can safely stow one’s butties (sandwiches, not tiny buddies) throughout one’s weekend of shredding.
Hope HB.916 body particulars. Credit score: Finlay Anderson
It’s simple to see the enchantment, proper? The HB916 is bang-on-trend, and it seems to be like an absolute weapon. And it’s made fully within the UK on the Hope Tech HQ in Barnoldswick. I used to be excited to strive it out on Scotland’s best.
All pictures courtesy of Finlay Anderson, except in any other case said
Hope HB916: An Overview
We first bought an excellent have a look at the Hope HB916 at CORE Bike the place it was unveiled for the primary time with three jaw-droppingly beautiful framesets on show. You may decide up the Carbon End frameset with both a Ohlins TTX22M Coil, Ohlins TTX2 Air, Fox DHX2 Coil, or Fox Float X2 Air Shock for £3,595 / €4,500. That features a Hope Headset and T47 Backside Bracket.
The HB916 Frameset within the Chameleon End with an Ohlins TTX22M Coil Shock
The Impartial End (Black and White) will value you somewhat extra at £3,845 / €4,800, with the Chameleon End the costliest possibility at £4,095 / €5,100. Like a chameleon, it modifications colour relying on how the sunshine hits it, and you’ll nonetheless see the carbon end beneath. It’s sort of fabulous.
We coated the full particulars of the Hope HB916 beforehand. Earlier than I dive into my impression of its efficiency on the path, it’s pertinent to provide a reminder of the need-to-knows.
- Intentions: Enduro Racing
- Fork Journey: 170mm
- Rear Wheel Journey: 160mm
- Wheel Measurement: 29″ or 29″/27.5″
- Measurement Choices: H1-H4
- Body Materials: Carbon, bonded to aluminum yokes with an aluminum rocker
- Shock: 205mm x 65mm
- Precise Weight: 15.14 kg (H1 in 29″/27.5″ with out pedals)
- Frameset Value: From £3,595
- Full Bike Value: £6,745
With a 170mm journey fork and a 29″ wheelset, the HB.916 has a 64° head angle and a attain of 470mm in H2. However, due to adjustable headset cups and a flip-chip on the rocker-seat keep interface, this enduro bike has no fewer than 4 setup configurations. The previous permits the top angle to be slackened off to 63.2°, whereas the latter corrects the bike’s geometry when the 29″ rear wheel is switched out for a 27.5″ wheel. Thus, you will have 4 geometry charts to pore over.
Carbon seat and chainstays are bonded to aluminum yokes. Hope selected to assemble the bike on this approach in order that a lot of the body bearings might be housed throughout the CNC’d aluminum slightly than throughout the carbon which is extra liable to put on after a number of bearing replacements.
The one location the place body bearings are pressed into carbon is on the rear pivot that sits concentric to the rear axle; this is because of packaging constraints. Right here, Hope machine the bearing dimension slightly than mould it to make sure an excellent match and cut back the danger of any harm and put on by means of use.
A pivot concentric to the rear axle helps to isolate rear braking forces from suspension motion. As such, anti-rise numbers stay simply shy of 80% all through the 160mm journey.
Due to the flip-chip, the one noteworthy geometry change arising from the swap to a mullet configuration is the 4mm shorter wheelbase. After all, the BB drop is diminished as effectively, on condition that the rear axle is now a lot nearer to the bottom.
The bike has a neat CNC machined seat put up collar, the form of which properly matches the form of the seat tube for a extra built-in look
The bike’s seat tube size is brief throughout the H1-H4 dimension vary, permitting for the fitment of long-travel dropper seat posts. For instance, the H1 that we examined will get a 395mm seat tube however has adequate insertion depth to run a 180mm dropper from OneUp Parts. Spoiled or what?
All sizes characteristic 440mm chainstays. The rear-center size truly will increase because the bike is pushed by means of its journey. That’s due to the primary pivot location being a good bit increased than what is often seen on a four-bar linkage enduro bike.
When arrange as an entire 29er, the rear-center grows by 9.5mm throughout the first two-thirds of the journey, then begins to shorten once more because the arc sends the rear axle ahead by round 4mm to bottom-out. Thus, at bottom-out, the rear-center size is 5.5mm longer than it’s within the unloaded state.
In its mullet configuration the rearward axle path is exaggerated, with the rear-center rising by 13mm earlier than the arc tracks a ahead thereafter.
It must be identified, although, that the Hope HB916 isn’t probably the most aggressive of high-pivot bikes, in that its important pivot isn’t truly all that top. Bikes just like the Deviate Claymore and Actofive P-Prepare 165 have rather more dramatic rearward axle paths. Engineer, Sam Gibbs, tells us that Hope’s “semi” high-pivot bike makes for a extra balanced journey really feel once you’re actually hammering on, serving to to maintain the rider’s weight centered on the bike.
The HB916 was designed primarily to run a coil shock, although I suppose it makes lots of sense to have an air shock on a demo bike to permit potential prospects (and us journalists) to fantastic tune the setup.
I digress. On the drive aspect, you’ll see the addition of an loafer pulley that routes the chain nearer to the primary pivot to scale back undesirable pedal kickback led to by the chain development that may in any other case be a disadvantage of this linkage design.
Sam additionally tells us that the bike was primarily designed to run a coil shock slightly than an air shock. The general development is available in at 26% within the 29er configuration, and 27% when arrange as a mullet; he says they took that so far as they may whereas conserving the suspension platform appropriate with an air shock. The leverage curve, anti-rise and anti-squat graphs might be discovered on the foot of this text.
The Hope HB916 within the mullet configuration with a 27.5″ x 2.4″ WT Maxxis Minion DHRII on the rear. Hope state a most rear tire dimension of 29″ x 2.5″.
By now, you should be questioning how the factor truly rides…
Evaluation
At 5ft 4″ tall (163cm), I used to be handed the Hope HB916 within the H1 Measurement. It is without doubt one of the longer bikes I’ve ever ridden, and I used to be somewhat involved its 447mm attain could be a stretch too far. Hope say the H1 is nice for people from 162cm tall, so I threw warning to the wind and accepted the provide of a check bike. And that i’m ever so glad I did. I needn’t have been fearful; the bike’s 78.2° efficient seat tube angle positioned me in a commanding place over the BB, inside a snug attain of the bars which I minimize all the way down to 740mm to swimsuit the slim tree-lined trails the Tweed Valley is understood for.
The HB916 is without doubt one of the higher high-pivot mountain bikes when it comes to its pedalling effectivity. In that division, it compares favorably to the GT Drive and the Cannondale Jekyll, two bikes with excessive(ish) important pivot suspension platforms that additionally necessitate using an loafer pulley. It’s quieter, too. The loafer itself has 18 enamel, which is kind of giant, doubtless serving to to attenuate any effectivity losses.
On lengthy uphill hearth highway slogs, the HB916 definitely feels environment friendly sufficient, and I by no means felt as if I used to be having to work any more durable than ordinary. Weight will after all play an element, and it compares favorably right here, too. With out pedals, the H1 I examined weighed in at 15.14 kg within the 29″/27.5″ configuration – not dangerous for a prolonged 160mm journey enduro bike.
The HB916 will get a sturdy CNC machined chain information over the loafer pulley; the pulley itself may be very quiet and gave me nothing to complain about.
Beneath energy, the bike exhibits no indicators of squat. In actual fact, making use of torque to the pedals in any gear truly pulls the bike out of its rear wheel journey, extending the rear shock. Somewhat than being impartial whereas climbing, the bike appears to bob ever so barely, however solely between sag and top-out.
That’s in distinction to the squat that’s pretty widespread on bikes of this class, whereby the appliance of torque and the ensuing acceleration of the bike would drive the bike into its journey somewhat, making it really feel wallowy and inefficient. That’s not the case right here. I felt the HB.916 was a extra environment friendly climber than the Vitus Sommet 297, however much less environment friendly than the SCOR 4060 LT which has an impressively agency pedaling platform. I select to say these bikes as I’ve examined them very just lately.
The brand new Hope Tech 4 Brakes with V4 calipers didn’t go away me wanting. Most rear rotor dimension on the HB916 is 200mm.
My first few rides on the HB916 have been with an entire 29″ wheelset, with the headset cups oriented within the slack setting. For technical climbing, the 63.2° head angle was removed from best. Nonetheless, a lot of the climbing across the Tweed Valley consists of lengthy drags up easy hearth roads, so I by no means felt the necessity to re-orient the cups to the steeper setting. Additionally, this bike may be very a lot about going downhill, not up, and I used to be very happy to spend the final month or so aboard one thing tremendous slack.
I ran compression and rebound damping totally open on the fork and shock.
I set the bike up with round 31% sag within the Ohlins TTX2 Air shock, and went with the producer’s suggestion for the Ohlins RFX38 Air fork. The stack top was far too tall for me so I dropped the stem to nearly the underside of the stack. The fork was somewhat over-damped for me, regardless of working compression and rebound totally open, so I dropped the stress in the primary chamber and the ramp chamber in a bid to make use of extra of its 170mm journey. That labored effectively for my native tracks.
I used to be actually pleased with the rear suspension’s small bump sensitivity and its seemingly magical potential to patter by means of nearly any rock backyard with little to no drama. Nonetheless, at 31% sag, I felt the bike was a bit lazy, unresponsive, very a lot wanting to remain firmly on the bottom.
In a bid to make some enhancements, I elevated stress within the rear shock to convey the sag to round 27%. Right here, the bike was a lot livelier, and far more gratifying to journey. It was impressively light-footed, now easy to select up for the small pure gaps that litter our plantation forest trails. I wouldn’t say it has baggage of playfulness, nevertheless it was nonetheless an absolute pleasure to journey on a few of Aberdeenshire’s new movement trails the place the bike is slightly overkill.
Driving movement trails in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. This one known as Relish, constructed by CRC Trails however maintained by the nice people of the Aberdeenshire Trails Affiliation. Credit score: Pete Scullion / Creating Mountain Biking in Scotland
You’ll have learn elsewhere that high-pivot bikes is usually a bit unpredictable on jumps, as a result of rearward axle path; that’s not according to my expertise of the HB916. To me, it feels the identical as some other enduro bike to leap. That mentioned, i’m not precisely Sendy McSenderson, and my jumps not often transcend the essential path heart double.
Driving a few of the Tweed Valley’s steeper enduro trails, it quickly grew to become evident that the entire 29″ setup wasn’t best for me. Tire buzz grew to become an issue, so I switched out the 29″ rear wheel for the 27.5″, switching the orientation of the flip-chip on the seat stay-rocker interface; that was an excellent simple, easy course of that took mere minutes with the bike in a stand.
The Hope HB916 body is made fully within the UK; the carbon body is hand-laid on the Hope HQ in Barnoldswick, the place the aluminum components are additionally CNC machined
With the brand new reduced-sag mullet setup, tire-buzz grew to become a factor of the previous and I felt actually at dwelling on the bike. On a few of the quicker, chunky rock-strewn trails, the Hope HB916 merely seems like dishonest. It patters by means of at velocity, with the rear wheel monitoring tremendous easily over the tough stuff. I used to be as much as race tempo very early on. The bike is quiet and cozy when pushing on, with no nervousness to talk of. It simply feels secure; that will sound a bit boring, nevertheless it’s fairly the other once you understand you’re at race tempo however nonetheless however nonetheless effectively inside your consolation zone.
In tightly-spaced bermed up corners, the size of the bike did require me to be somewhat extra dynamic than i’m used to. It was cool, although; I felt there was heaps of house accessible throughout the cockpit for bike-body separation, thanks largely to the beneficiant attain and the 180mm journey dropper put up from OneUp. I felt critically spoiled by the latter, having develop into used to the 125mm and 150mm dropper posts which are extra widespread on small bikes.
The rear-end was loads supportive, providing up loads to push in opposition to on the apex of turns when demanding grip from the tires.
A visit to Aberdeenshire for the Scottish Mountain Bike Convention highlighted some inadequacies with the setup I had dialed in for the Tweed Valley’s enduro race tracks. Most of the tracks in that area of Scotland are composed primarily of granite rock slabs; they’re quicker, and usually require a firmer setup, as demonstrated by the a number of bottom-out occasions I used to be experiencing on every descent.
Making full use of the 63.2° head angle and the 180mm dropper from OneUp. Credit score: Pete Scullion / Creating Mountain Biking in Scotland
To treatment that, I merely elevated the stress of the fork an the shock. I used to be now working solely 23% sag within the rear shock, which left the bike feeling somewhat nervous and harsh on a few of the rougher, rockier trails. An extra quantity spacer would have been a greater repair, however I didn’t have entry to at least one while on the highway.
What in regards to the butty-box?
All body sizes can accomodate a 750ml bottle, together with the H1 we examined – once more, spoiled!
Not a lot to say on that, sadly. The bike I examined was incomplete in that the hatch was merely a portal into the depths of the downtube. The manufacturing bikes can have a discrete compartment with some sort of bag that ought to assist stop any contents from rattling.
Credit score: Bikerumor
A peek beneath the hatch did reveal the cable routing, nevertheless. It’s not a completely guided tube-in-tube job, however there are foam guides that run the size of the downtube, interrupted solely by the CNC machined grommets that safe the cables in place and additional stop rattle. It appeared to do the job, as did the drive-side chainstay safety, because the bike was impressively quiet on the path.
Professionals
- Properly-balanced
- Quiet
- Feels secure to journey quick
- Steady however with good responsiveness
- Meaningfully adjustable
Cons
Credit score: Finlay Anderson
HB916 Take a look at Bike Spec Checklist
- Body: Hope HB916 H1, One-Piece Carbon Entrance Triangle, Carbon Seat Stays and Chainstays with CNC Machined Aluminum Yokes and Rocker; Increase Spacing, SRAM UDH, T47 Backside Bracket
- Fork: Ohlins RXF38 Air
- Shock: Ohlins TTX2 Air
- Wheels: Hope Fortus 30SC Aluminum Rims on a Hope Professional 4 hubset
- Tires: Maxxis Assegai EXO+ MaxxTerra 29″ x 2.5″, Maxxis Minion DHRII EXO MaxxTerra 27.5″ x 2.4″
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Eagle Cassette, Derailleur and Shifter with Hope Evo Crankset (175mm)
- Brakes: Hope Tech 4 Levers with V4 Calipers
- Seat Put up: OneUp Parts V2 Dropper (180mm)
- Stem: Hope Gravity 35mm Clamp, 50mm Attain
- Handlebar: Hope Carbon Bars 740mm x 35mm
- Grips: DMR Deathgrips
- Pedals: Hope F20 Flat Pedals
- Saddle: WTB Volt (swapped out for an Ergon SMC Womens Saddle)
- Precise Weight: 15.14 kg with out pedals
- Value: £6,745
Suspension Kinematic Graphs
