Hope HB916 MTB First Look Review

A quick introduction to my new Hope HB916. I take a quick look around the bike and its setup.

About me: lifelong MTB rider and racer. Bad World Cup downhiller and a slightly better EWS racer. Qualified MTB coach and guide. 5 years as the European Technical Editor for Pinkbike, followed by some years of testing and prototyping for brands within the industry.

Now I've thrown everything into this project to create the best independent bike reviews in the world.

These products are bought at full retail price, and the reviews are funded 100% by competition ticket sales and donations. Buying a ticket not only gives you a chance to win cool bike stuff but also to support more and more independent reviews. This is a community effort, you can support these reviews, or get your information elsewhere which is always funded directly by the brands or through their advertising budgets...

Thanks to everyone for the support so far!

[christiaanvanderlaan]

So what was the story on the history of the bike? This didn’t get discussed in the video further?

[cunning-stunt]

It will be alloy to fibre glass and then carbon to avoid electrolytic reaction.
All aluminium inserts on carbon frames and forks are done this way apparently.

[sryforpartiing]

I don't own a hope bike but I've been on hope brakes for the longest time. still I'm weirdly invested in this bike doing well. I like hope as a company and I want their bike to do be as good as it looks ... And I'll definitely be buying a ticket for that raffle that's for sure !

[FritzPhoto]

thanks for the introduction and your thoughts about this bike. I think it is awesome!

[brandonb]

Brilliant video and bike. Looking forward to seeing more on this.

[kyleapolczer]

Stoked you got one of these in for test Paul, can’t wait to hear your thoughts once you get some ride time on it. I’ve gotten one ride on mine so far and initial impressions are really good. When building it up I was truly shocked at how well made it is and how well designed all the little details are. Agreed that although it’s still an expensive bike, it’s definitely a value proposition when compared to other brands that are made in Asia.

[hangnrashr]

And I was just about to go out and cut the lawn. I'll do it

[steffgofpv]

Hello Paul,

You mentioned the fact of proportional chainstays and seatstays. Only changing the length of the bonded CF tubes would not work. By changing the length of the tubes you would also need to change the angles of the CNC milled alloy parts, since the tubes are not parallel with rim or the wheel. By increasing the length of the tubes, the hub spacing would also increase as a consequence.
I can make a CAD sketch tomorrow to visualize it, if it helps.

Great video as always!

[MrSupermugen]

Im still up in the air about chainstay lengths/rear center as when i Ran custom Rear drop outs on a bike the suspension curve changed quite a bit and took alot of faff to get it right again but it still never felt as good.

[MarcusNesbitt]

I know you've just got this bike but at some point you will need another! Alutech have released the Armageddon which is super SUPER progressive on the geometry (57 HA I think?!), only thing is is that its frame only, theyve also got the Fanes pinion which is complete so they are making some epic stuff. More mainstream the Devinci Chainsaw gx dh looks very interesting.

[kaseykohler]

What do you think of Magura brakes? Also what do you think would be a good rear hub width solution? Love your content and competition Paul! Thank you!

[hayden]

Rear center by size can easily be achieved without manufacturing multiple rear end specifications. You just need to move the BB forward relative to the pivot points on your front triangle. This is what Norco, Forbidden etc do

[jamblek]

isn't that their brand new model? how did it end up on ebay so cheaply... mystery

[plokmko]

how much time is saved by knowing the trail better ?

[PeakTorque]

Paul, do you think with these bikes with really long rear centers or CS, its easier to get bucked? Particularly if the leverage ratio has been increased too much because the designers hadn't tuned the kinematic in the larger CS sized versions? To me this is what it feels like

[fud]

HOPE..British and the Best....Ha ! Nice Bike And I agree with the Brake mount issues...Nobodies gonna put a 160mm rotor on thier agressive mtb

[craigw]

The main reason you bought this bike is because it came with hope brakes? Good job…

[meteormedia]

Once again, this should be taken with a huge grain of salt...