Episode IV - A New Hope
Sat, 30 Nov 2019
If you were to ask most mountain bikers in the Isle of Man or the UK who is the go-to supplier of bike products designed for our winters , there is a pretty fair chance that the guys at Hope would be amongst the first names mentioned. Most of us have lusted over the shiny geegaws, the colours, the reliability of Hope hubs and brakesets, the legendary backup and service and bemoaned the unfairness of "Pro team only mate" green.
30 years of attention to detail have led to this rare beastie the HB130- you may have seen the press release and reviews, and the link below will let Hope Tech explain better than i can why they've felt the need to make this bike - all we can add to this is wow!!
i have no idea how it rides, that honour will go to its new owner - I dont think i would have gone orange personally ( thats what choice is all about, i like the silver , or the black, or maybe the red, wish we could get the green- " sorry thats Pro team only mate and Guy Martin can have some"), but this bike is stunning .
I have been over it taking photos, stood back and just looked at the detailing , the finishing- the HB130 is quite frankly astonishing. Its the little stuff that stands out, the HB logoed hubs and master cylinder covers, Hope cable clips fer f***s sake - you can spend twice as much and more from some of the big names and not get as much detailing. And it doesnt make sense, there are bikes for a lot more money, there may be bikes that ride better uphill/downhill/wherever if there was a better rider than I to compare them but if you were to sit down and draw up a dream build there is a fair bet it would be looking a lot like this.
This may end up being the only one on the Isle of Man , we hope (sic) not, but there's a definite enjoyment amongst us in the shop for building and prepping bikes like these, how can it be work when this is what we get to work with - exclusive, UK built to order and a stand out example of what a company like Hope can do with expertise, attitude and no small amount of bottle, but if you're going to take the fight to the big boys, why not do it with style!
#properbikeshop
