Quantcast

HOPE Technology: New Disc Mount Standards?

Wilhelm

Monkey
Aug 10, 2003
444
19
The Francophone website of HOPE Technology (http://www.hopefrance.com/) presents some new (?) ideas: Three (XC) as well as four (AM) bolt disc mount patterns to save weight. Is this new confusion really necessary?

The original HOPE release (en français):
"04/02/08 PRO3 SP-XC3 and SP-AM4: Ce sont les références des prototypes des nouvelles roues, présentés lors du Core Bike Show en Angleterre. La grande évolution vient de la fixation du disque!!!! A trois ou quatre branches selon le modèle, pour un gain de poids et une fiabilité accrue."

Hope PRO3 SP-XC3
http://mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2008/01/29/HopeXC3Full-480-90-480-70.jpg

Hope PRO3 SP-XC3: en détail
http://mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2008/01/29/HopeXC3-480-90-480-70.jpg

SP-AM4
http://mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2008/01/29/HopeAM4-480-90-480-70.jpg
 
Sep 12, 2004
261
0
in the 3 holed version, it doesnt look like you save that many grams to justify in a sense "redesigning the wheel"

just seems like pointless R&D that will never go into production as it really doesnt improve upon anything expect weight. a lot of disc rotor weight could also be shaved off using the composite centers (hope mono rotors). id refine that design before i go about redesigning industry standards. also it looks like although the rotor may be lighter since there is less steel rotor, the hub would weight more with the addtional arms used to mount the rotor...

besides...hopes been doing weird rotor crap for years now

...this failed
 

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
i reckon it wont be that bad, hope will make a rotor for you in any size. as long as the product is readily available. but i guess if you need a spare urgently it might be a pain in the butt. any idea on weight savings?
 

Wilhelm

Monkey
Aug 10, 2003
444
19
in the 3 holed version, it doesnt look like you save that many grams to justify in a sense "redesigning the wheel"

just seems like pointless R&D that will never go into production as it really doesnt improve upon anything expect weight. a lot of disc rotor weight could also be shaved off using the composite centers (hope mono rotors). id refine that design before i go about redesigning industry standards. also it looks like although the rotor may be lighter since there is less steel rotor, the hub would weight more with the addtional arms used to mount the rotor...

besides...hopes been doing weird rotor crap for years now

...this failed
Several three, four, five and six bolt disc mount patterns as well as some disc adapter solutions for regular hubs were around since disc brakes became more and more spread in the MTB scene. The six bolt pattern emerged as a common accepted standard since. The latest standards, so far as I know, were the SHIMANO "Center Lock" as well as the SHIMANO "Oversized Center Lock". Although the two four bolt patterns of ROHLOFF (e.g. adapted by the X-FUSION "Delta" USD fork 35 mm "PlusHub") as well as of FOES are still in use, the new HOPE AM four bolt pattern seems to use some more wide fixing points than these previous ones.
 

Wilhelm

Monkey
Aug 10, 2003
444
19
One practical benefit besides of a hypothetical weight saving of the new HOPE AM four bolt pattern is, like the ROHLOFF as well as the FOES four bolt patterns, the option for use of more big front axle diameters, especially in USD forks.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
^^ that actually looks good. I was thinking back to the old four bolt patterns from the mid-late 90s
 

4xBoy

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2006
7,014
2,847
Minneapolis
My rock shox amp disc brake only had three bolt hubs.


Cable activated hydraulic brakes.

Those were the days. :twitch:
 

w00dy

In heaven there is no beer
Jun 18, 2004
3,417
51
that's why we drink it here
I could see the 4 bolt thing flying if they collaborated with foes and rohloff, but the three bolt bit is pushing it. There are less invasive ways of saving weight.
 

W4S

Turbo Monkey
Mar 2, 2004
1,282
23
Back in Hell A, b1thces
I know a couple top level DH'ers who regularly run 3 bolts on a 8" rotor for weight savings (yeah i know, weight weenies :twitch:) on regular hubs with no problems. I 'accidently' ran 4 for a long time and never had any problems. My point is, are 3-4 rotor bolts really that big of a deal or have 6 become so regular that we've lost sight of what's really necessary?
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
I know a couple top level DH'ers who regularly run 3 bolts on a 8" rotor for weight savings (yeah i know, weight weenies :twitch:) on regular hubs with no problems. I 'accidently' ran 4 for a long time and never had any problems. My point is, are 3-4 rotor bolts really that big of a deal or have 6 become so regular that we've lost sight of what's really necessary?
I don't think it's the strength that's an issue, just the fact that we have ANOTHER f**king standard when we have any number of perfectly ok mounting methods as it is. Centrelock is a good design but 6 bolt was fine anyway - just slower to get on/off. Which I don't really care about since I'm not constantly trying to set new pitstop records for rotor changing.
 

Hougham

Monkey
Mar 28, 2007
375
3
...this failed
Its hard to say they failed really. It works fine and many of us have raced on the old hope 5 bolt system for well over 10 years now. For many years it was the most successful system in racing. Hope even still sell the rotors to back this standard. You can still even get any of there new brakes to fit this as well. They have only just stopped selling that hub in your photo, though they still have lots of parts for them.