HOPE HB916 V2 ENDURO BIKE REVIEW

HIGH HOPES WERE REWARDED

Words by Robert Johnston  |  Photos by Finlay Anderson

Hope Technology is well known for their anodized aluminum bicycle components, which they’ve been producing since 1989 in their facility in Barnoldswick, England. These days their lineup can supply components for almost the entirety of the bike, so a few years ago they set about building their own bikes in house, too. Rather than sticking to metals, they figured that their CNC machines would be perfect to make molds for the manufacture of carbon fiber products, so they instead relied on carbon to obtain higher performing mountain bikes.

The HB916 V2 is their second take on an enduro mountain bike, and is designed to be the ultimate enduro race machine. We’d been begging Hope to let us borrow one for a test since the day it was announced, so we were stoked to finally get one in for a month of thrashing in the UK. It wasn’t the smoothest of sailing, but in the end it lived up to the expectations.

ABOUT THE HOPE HB916 V2

The Hope HB916 V2 is a significant departure from their original enduro mountain bike offering – the HB160. That bike featured a number of proprietary parts, and had geometry that quickly looked outdated. The HB916 on the other hand is bang up-to-date, with a high pivot suspension system featuring a split pivot at the rear axle, and geometry that’s very much up to the task. The V2 of the HB916 features some minor refinements, including the use of a second idler pulley between the derailleur and the bottom of the front chainring, minimizing lower chain growth and so making it SRAM T-Type compatible.

FRAME AND FEATURES | The 160mm travel HB916 features a full monocoque carbon fiber front triangle and a hybrid carbon fiber and machined aluminum rear end, all manufactured in their facility in Barnoldswick, England. The decision to manufacture the rear end with aluminum sections bonded into carbon tubes was done in a bid to prevent frame pivot bearings from being pressed directly into carbon fiber. Hope also claims that it allows the bearings to be spaced as wide as possible, maximizing structural efficiency.

The HB916 can be equipped with either a pair of 29” wheels as tested, or with a MX wheel setup with smaller rear wheel thanks to its geometry-correcting flip chip. Regardless of wheel choice, you get the same 160mm rear end that’s designed to be mated to a 170mm fork. The other adjustability comes in the form of an angle-adjustable headset, which allows you to choose between a 64° and 63.2° head tube angle.

For the HB916 V2, Hope has added T-Type compatibility thanks to the inclusion of a lower idler pulley. This lower pulley reduces chain growth, and keeps the bottom end of the chain better controlled. The upper idler is in place to tailor the kinematics of the high pivot suspension design to the liking of the Hope engineers.

All of the features you’d expect to find on a modern premium enduro bike are in place. There’s internal cable routing; generous protection for the chainstays and downtube; and room inside the front triangle for a large water bottle. New for the V2 is an updated frame storage system, which Hope calls the “Butty Box” (a butty is their local term for a sandwich). This Butty Box uses a Fidlock mechanism for easy fastening and release, which is great to see.

Hope offers the frame in a choice of Raw carbon, or “racing green”, and the customer can select the color of the frame hardware from the full Hope anodizing range to give it a personal touch.

SUSPENSION | The suspension design on the Hope HB916 is a high single pivot, which is equipped with a concentric rear axle pivot that enabled Hope to tweak the braking characteristics of the system. An idler pulley on the high chainstay tailors the suspension behavior when pedaling.

The result is around 26% of linear progression through the 160mm suspension travel. This means it’ll happily accept a coil or high volume air shock, though we’d strongly suggest the former, as we’ll talk about in the ride impressions. Anti Rise is fairly low, consistently hovering around the 78% mark. Anti Squat is fairly consistent across the gear range, sitting at just over 100% at sag and falling slightly through the travel.

GEOMETRY | The HB916 has purposeful geometry, targeted to excel in enduro racing scenarios. For the V2, the H3 (Large) and H4 (XL) have their chainstay length increased by 10mm (from 440mm to 450mm), offering improved weight balance for taller riders.

Consult the geometry table below for the full geometry spec. Points of note are the head angle, which is adjustable between 64° and a slack 63.2°. On the size H3 tested, the effective seat tube angle is fairly steep at 77.7°; and there’s a fairly typical Reach and Stack at 490mm and 646mm respectively. The wheelbase totals 1289mm in the standard headset position.

BUILD SPECS | Hope offers the HB916 V2 as either a frameset with a choice of Air or Coil Ohlins shock, headset and BB for £3,795 / €4,800; or as a single full build for £7,795 / €9,800. These prices are for the Raw carbon finish only, with the Racing Green colorway retailing for an additional £650 / €800.

The full build we tested featured a healthy dose of Hope’s in-house components. But unlike most brand’s in-house componentry, the Hope kit is all truly worthy of aftermarket purchase. The Hope kit includes their cockpit, with their Carbon bars and TR35 stem; Headset; BB; Seatclamp; Tech4 V4 brakes with 200mm Floating Rotors; Evo Alloy crankset; and Fortus 30 rims with Pro 5 hubs. We only tested the dual-29” wheel setup.

Suspension duties were provided by Ohlins, with a TTX22 Air shock and RXF38 M.2 Fork. After struggling to get suitable performance out of the air shock, we replaced it with a TTX2 coil, and enjoyed much improved riding characteristics. Similarly, a pair of EXO+ Maxxis tires felt unsuitable for a bike with such hard charging potential, and were swapped for a more aggressive Vittoria Mostro combo, which boosted performance considerably. Rounding out the specs was a SRAM XO T-Type drivetrain, which was a solid performer.

As stock, the size H3 Hope HB916 V2 full build tipped the scales at 34.2lbs / 15.5kg.

THE DIRT

I only had a few weeks to figure out the Hope HB916 V2 for this review, so I set about getting plenty of rides in varied terrain across the UK to get to the bottom of its performance. Having had my eyes on testing this machine for years, my expectations were high. Initial performance didn’t quite deliver the performance I’d been hoping for, but after some perseverance and part swaps, the result was a thoroughly enjoyable enduro machine.

SETUP | I’m well versed in the Ohlins RXF38 M.2 fork, having conducted a long-term review on it previously. So, getting to a reasonable setup was fairly straightforward.

The Ohlins TTX2 Air Shock fitted to the rear of this bike was another story, however. Hope mentioned that this shock had required a service prior to the test, so I’m not certain if there were issues that were still prevailing. But try as I might, I just couldn’t obtain anything near the level of terrain-ironing comfort that I’d expected from this high pivot machine. Everywhere from 25% to 35% sag and fully open to fully closed compression was tested in case there was a magical combination, but it always felt much harsher than I’d like or expected. Thankfully I had a correctly sprung Ohlins TTX22m.2 Coil shock at my disposal in the correct size, and fitting this instantly changed the performance of the whole bike for the better.

As mentioned, I also replaced the standard EXO+ tire spec with the Vittoria Mostro in Enduro Race front and Enduro rear casings. This notably improved the traction, comfort and feeling of security on this enduro machine, letting me ride it as hard as I believe Hope intended.

I’m going to focus on my time on the HB916 V2 once I’d modified the setup. We always do our best to eliminate small elements like this from restricting our enjoyment in a review, since a customer is likely to make these changes to suit their personal preferences.

CLIMBING | As enduro bikes go, the Hope HB916 is solidly mid-pack in the climbing scale. The idler pulleys create a small amount of extra “rumble” as you pedal, which can suggest there’s some extra drag. This is barely perceptible when you’ve got a clean and lubricated chain, but will increase in magnitude by the end of a muddy ride. Given that there are two extra cogs, Hope’s system doesn’t feel to impact the pedaling efficiency as much as some others.

Aside from the idler pulley drawbacks, the HB916 V2 is a comfortable and effective climber. The seating position is sensibly upright and well-centered between the wheels, even at my high saddle height. The climbing platform strikes a good balance between opposing rider input forces to mitigate bob, while still delivering reasonable saddle comfort and rear wheel traction. While you’re unlikely to enjoy racing XC on Hope’s enduro rig, it’s not a machine that would put off the typical enduro rider from tackling a big day out in the saddle.

DESCENDING | Hope’s enduro machine is very good when gravity is on its side. Although it is undoubtedly long and slack, it’s not a one trick pony. Through its well-balanced geometry; a reassuring and direct chassis; and a supportive suspension platform, it doesn’t take a world cup level downhill track to come alive. Hope have managed to retain enough trail feedback and pep to work the descents hard for speed, and prevent the mellower sections of trail from being overly dull and muted. Make no mistake though, if a proper downhill track is at the top of your favorite climb, the HB916 V2 is unlikely to have you thinking twice about whether you should drop in.

Where some high pivot platforms can have highly pointed characteristics that make them excellent for certain trail scenarios and hard to manage in others, Hope’s mid-pivot setup faded into the background. The growing rear center as the rear end moved through the travel was notable, but not excessive. The HB916 V2 was devoid of any strange hang-up sensations on slow drops, or issues distributing weight when cornering.

Combining the relatively long rear end with the mid-high pivot, the slack 63.2° head angle was offset and there was plentiful weight on it to maintain traction in flatter turns. With less demand to aggressively get over the front wheel, you can attack the trail with a more relaxed body position. And a relaxed rider is a fast rider, right?

I often think the beauty of a high pivot design can be from how a dual-idler setup manages chain rattle so well, keeping vibration and noise to a minimum. Much like a thick chainstay protector or O-Chain can calm the chain forces down, a high pivot keeps the chain controlled better, especially with the additional lower pulley. All of this means that when you’re charging through the rough, there’s less vibration transmitted through the bike, making the terrain below feel a little less gnarly.

I would say that the rear end on the HB916 V2 is on the stiffer end of the spectrum. It makes off-camber g-outs and corner slapping a riot, but there were a couple of times in chunky and slippery conditions where I felt that the rear wheel had a slight tendency to deflect rather than stick fast.

Ultimately, the result is a well-blended character that makes the HB916 V2 a solid choice as an all-rounder enduro rig. We only tested in the dual-29” configuration, which provided pleasant handling characteristics. The generous flip chip allowing for minimal geometry changes with a smaller rear wheel is good to see though, allowing riders to tweak the handling of the bike – and rear tire clearance – to their preferences.

FINISH AND VALUE | Hope has absolutely nailed the finish on the HB916 V2. In the flesh it’s absolutely stunning, with a refined finish throughout and well-covered details. The raw carbon finish reveals well-aligned fibers; the bonded joints in the rear end are extremely neat, and everything was simple and intuitive to work on. The chainstay length isn’t exactly size-specific, but the additional 10mm for the larger two sizes is better than nothing when it comes to maintaining the balance of the bike.

Elements like the Fidlock-equipped Butty Box storage and the integrated sag guide are well executed. The Butty Box produced no hint of a rattle even with a full water bottle in rough terrain, and the lid is easy to remove and even easier to replace. A guide on the upper pulley ensured the chain never shifted off, and the depth of the lower pulley means it’s unlikely to ever hop off there either. The internal cable routing was well managed, never rattling. As far as I could tell, Hope has done an excellent job with managing the details and making the HB916 V2 every bit as premium as the best of them.

When it comes to value, I’d happily put myself out there and say that I don’t think the HB916 V2 full build is bad. When compared with similarly priced premium bikes, the spec stacks up well, and the overall quality feel and appearance is exceptional. It’s undoubtedly a large chunk of cash at £7795 / €9800, but it’s the kind of price that the product commands.

COMPONENT REPORT

Hope Tech 4 V4 | These are some of my favorite brakes on the market. Light lever feel, excellent power and intuitive modulation, the Tech 4 V4’s are stellar. While it’s no surprise to see Hope spec’ing their own brakes, it’s still a pleasure to receive them on a complete bike.

Ohlins TTX2 Air and TTX22 Coil | I’m convinced there were issues with the Ohlins TTX2 air shock that came as standard, as I’ve previously enjoyed the performance of this shock. Switching out the potentially faulty unit for their TTX22 coil shock transformed the performance of the bike, and made the rear end feel excellent.

Maxxis EXO+ Tires | I don’t dislike Maxxis’ EXO+ casing – it’s a solid trail bike choice, and perhaps suitable as a front tire on a more aggressive machine – but it detracted from the performance of the HB916, reducing confidence in rough terrain. I’d suggest Double Down or equivalent tires for a high-pivot enduro machine.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

Hope HB916 V2 vs RAAW Madonna V2.2

Compared to my benchmark enduro bike – the RAAW Madonna V2.2 – the Hope HB916 comes close to matching the predictability that makes the RAAW so good.

On the way up, the Hope has a considerably firmer pedaling platform, which negates the need for a shock lockout, whereas the RAAW is more free feeling and can sap energy on sustained heavy pedaling efforts if the climb switch isn’t used. The RAAW’s more simple drivetrain is more resilient to long and muddy days, and will reduce maintenance needs in the longer term.

The lighter weight of the Hope and slightly more supportive platform can make it feel a little more agile in certain scenarios, but the Madonna’s shorter rear end that doesn’t grow as much does take the win for more playful riding. Both bikes will attack a rowdy descent with similar composure, with the Hope delivering increased stability at high speed, but both bikes offering similar reserves when pushed hard.

Both bikes are similarly stiff and direct, and similarly well finished. Of course, the Hope’s carbon finish and downtube storage are positives, and it does command a more premium overall impression. But, you’ve got to pay for it.

The Wolf’s Last Word

The Hope HB916 V2 exists within the hyperbike realm, both in terms of the quality and finish, and the performance on the trail.

Price: £7795 / €9800
Website: Hopetechhb.com

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