First Look: Hope Technology Crank 24

It's been a long time in the making, but now it's finally here: Hope has released their much-anticipated crank. In typical Hope fashion, the product was conceived to solve a specific set of problems and to address what Hope felt is a shortcoming of some other crank designs. The process took quite a long time, but Hope are never ones to be rushed, and our initial impressions are of a well-rounded and competitive product.

Hope Technology Crank Highlights

• Forged and CNC machined 7000 series aluminium alloy crank arms
• Length: 165, 170 and 175-mm
• Q-Factor: 167-mm
• Axle Diameter: 30-mm
• 3-piece construction with expanding spline crank arm/axle interface (pat pending)
• Versatile Spline mount compatible with 26T to 36T spiderless chainrings, 104BCD, and double 64/104BCD
• Colours: Initially black, with red, blue, silver, gunsmoke and purple following in March
• Weight: 641g (arms, axle and 34t spiderless ring)

What was Hope working on all this time? Aside from optimizing the forging, profile, and machining to deliver a light yet strong crank (rated from XC to DH use), Hope also focused on the crank arm to axle interface. Hope claims that traditional splined axles are prone to wear over time and tend to develop slop at the interface (something we have indeed experienced ourselves), especially after removing and reinstalling the cranks a few times. To overcome this issue, Hope designed a splined axle that expands from the inside to ensure a snug and secure fit with the crank arm.

The final product is a departure from the near-final prototypes we saw at Eurobike, which sported a polygon type arm-axle interface. Clearly Hope felt that the expanding spline offered up the best solution in light of the required characteristics and settled on this design for the production version. We are currently putting a pair through a little winter sludge and will report back shortly with the results.

Hope Technology Crank Pricing

• Arms, Axle and Spider: £245/€300/$429.50
• Arms and Axle: £215/€265/$375
• Spider: £40/€50/$70
• Spiderless Retainer Chainring: £55/€68/$95

Availability

Black crank arms with a black spider are available immediately. Red, blue, silver, gunsmoke and purple options (both for crank arms and spiders) will follow in March. Chainrings are only offered in black, gold, and silver (the hard anodizing used for chainrings is more consistent in these colors).

More information atwww.hopetech.com.

Stay tuned for a more in-depth feature dropping here on Vital soon!