# Old Hope Rear Hub: Replace Freehub Body or Buy a New Hub



## abikerider (May 8, 2007)

I just noticed my old Hope Tech rear hub catching when coasting/backpedaling. I just bought the bike in January (a 2001 ECDM) with about 250 miles on it and we've only ridden it about 60 miles. After taking it apart I noticed cracks in the freehub body (see circled area in pics). This is a steel freehub body. The hub is threaded for a drum brake and has 145mm OLN spacing so I'm certain it was supposed to be tandem rated at the time it was made, maybe not mtb tandem rated. I used a DT Swiss drum to disk brake adapter to mount a disk rotor to it. I was told by Hope tech support that a Hope XC hub freehub body will fit on mine. I can order a steel one from a UK distributor for $64 with shipping but will have to wait until May 5th. I can also get a titanium one here in the US for about the same with no wait. The design of the pawl area of the newer freehub bodies seems to have a little more material so it might last longer.

Is this freehub really strong enough to handle an MTB tandem?. The original freehub body certainly wasn't. Does anyone have any experience with Hope hubs on a tandem? Is it worth repairing? Do I buy the titanium body, wait and buy the steel body, or just buy a new wheel or hub? 

Right now I'm using a spare wheel with an XT tandem hub so I can afford to wait if I need to. Any advise is appreciated.


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## zibell (Apr 13, 2007)

When we purchased our bike, it was also a used '01 ECDM, it came with Hope Big'Un hubs. After we started riding it we too had issues with the rear hub. Ours had damage to the ring so we replaced hubs. We are a large team and have 2 pair of wheels now so when 1 is being rebuilt we can ride the other. We have a set of Hadleys and a set of DT 540s. We tend to get about a year of riding between rebuilds. 
My advise would be to rebuild the hub and save for a high quality hub. Then you can have the Hope as a back up. 
Good luck


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

zibell said:


> When we purchased our bike, it was also a used '01 ECDM, it came with Hope Big'Un hubs. After we started riding it we too had issues with the rear hub. Ours had damage to the ring so we replaced hubs. We are a large team and have 2 pair of wheels now so when 1 is being rebuilt we can ride the other. We have a set of Hadleys and a set of DT 540s. We tend to get about a year of riding between rebuilds.
> My advise would be to rebuild the hub and save for a high quality hub. Then you can have the Hope as a back up.
> Good luck


A smart answer that makes good sense.

PK


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## abikerider (May 8, 2007)

zibell said:


> When we purchased our bike, it was also a used '01 ECDM, it came with Hope Big'Un hubs. After we started riding it we too had issues with the rear hub. Ours had damage to the ring so we replaced hubs. We are a large team and have 2 pair of wheels now so when 1 is being rebuilt we can ride the other. We have a set of Hadleys and a set of DT 540s. We tend to get about a year of riding between rebuilds.
> My advise would be to rebuild the hub and save for a high quality hub. Then you can have the Hope as a back up.
> Good luck


The problem with the Hope hub is that if the ratchet breaks you need to send it back to the UK to get it replaced. It doesn't seem worth it if it's going to be an ongoing problem. I decided to order a replacement freehub body and use it as a backup wheel or maybe try converting it to 135mm spacing for a single bike. I think I'll be ordering a new wheel from mtbr tandems soon.


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## abikerider (May 8, 2007)

I thought I'd give an update. It's been 2 years now using the replacement steel freehub body from Hope with no issues. The new one was redesigned with more material where the old one failed. I am very happy with it.


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