Review: Hope HB.916 - Better Late Than Never

Now, the HB.916 is not in any way based on the HB 160, but it is also designed with enduro riding/racing in mind and sports 160 mm of rear suspension travel, teamed with a 170 mm fork.

Hope scrapped most of the proprietary standards seen on their first bike and adopted a very voguish mid-high-pivot suspension system with an idler pulley. They also went all-in with long, low and slack geometry teamed with a steep seat tube. It can accommodate either full 29" or mullet wheels thanks to a flip chip that preserves the geometry in either case.

The fact that it's made in-house by Hope - and looks pretty striking too - is sure to have many Hope fans lusting after it. But happily, it's a bloody good bike in its own right.

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Contents

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Frame Details


The whole frame is made at Hope's factory in Barnoldswick, Lancashire. The carbon front triangle is made in one piece, while the chainstay and seatstay feature carbon tubes bonded into machined aluminum lugs. Cables run through the downtube (and not the headset) and are kept quiet by simple rubber sleeves. A door under the bottle cage allows access to a "butty box" for snack storage, and a full-size water bottle fits easily in all frame sizes.


While Hope moved away from the proprietary axle and brake mounts seen on their first bike in favor of conventional 148 mm rear axle spacing and post brake mount, they do use a slightly unusual T-47 bottom bracket. And while it uses SRAM's Universal Derailleur Hanger standard, the frame isn't compatible with SRAM's T-type Transmission drivetrains.

You can have it in three colors: a carbon clearcoat (as shown), or if you're as mad as a box of frogs you can have it painted "Neutral" for £250 extra or "Chameleon" for £500.

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Geometry & Sizing


At 6'3" or 191 cm tall, I'm on the border between the H3 and H4 sizes according to Hope's geometry chart. My contact at Hope suggested going for the H3 as one of their team riders, Fergus Lamb, seemed to prefer the H3 and is about my height. But I tend to feel most comfortable on bikes with around 500-510 mm reach and 1,300-1,320 mm wheelbase, so opted for the H4. I later spoke to Fergus in person, and he suggested the H4 worked well for him on certain types of track (e.g. Laggan Black) but opted for the H3 for the tighter tracks he prefers, and seems to gel with it. It certainly didn't sound like he found the H4 unrideable, as I'm sure a few Jack Moir fans would have you believe.

The head angle is adjustable via an angled headset from 64 to 63.3-degrees while lengthening the wheelbase by about 8 mm. For the record, I measured the head angle of my test bike at 62.7 degrees in the slack setting (0.5 degrees slacker than advertised) and the wheelbase at 1,320 mm (9 mm longer). I measured the effective seat tube angle at my pedalling height at 77.4-degrees and the bottom bracket height at a pretty low 335 mm.

Because the axle path moves rearwards by around 7 mm at sag (about 5 mm more than a typical non-idler bike), the chainstay length at sag is similar to a non-idler bike with around a 445 mm static chainstay length. It's not a huge difference but that makes the "effective chainstay" on the longer side of average, which helps to put a little more weight on the front wheel.

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Suspension Design

The main pivot sits about 90 mm above the rear axle, which means the axle path arcs back over the first 90 mm of travel, peaking at 9 mm behind the start point, then it starts to curve forward, ending up 4 mm behind the start point at full travel.



The split rear pivot means the brake calliper is mounted on the seatstay, whose motion is determined by the chainstay and rocker link. This reduces the anti-rise levels when compared to a high single pivot design (e.g. Forbidden Dreadnought), which means the suspension will sit slightly higher under braking, where arguably it can remain more active. But with anti-rise levels that sit around 80%, the HB.916's suspension won't rise up and pitch the bike forward as much as most non-high-pivot bikes do. That's a good thing in my book as the bike remains more stable under heavy braking.


The leverage ratio drops from 2.9 to 2.15 over the whole travel, with a consistent rate of change. That makes the linkage 26% progressive, which should be plenty to help it resist bottom-out with coil or air shocks, without being extreme.

According to Hope, anti-squat sits at around 100% at sag, without too much change depending on the choice of the rear sprocket or the sag percentage. That should keep the pedalling behaviour fairly neutral and efficient in a wide range of riding situations.

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Testing took place in Scotland's Tweed Valley, Comrie Croft, Aberfoyle and Dollar.

Climbing


You're probably not considering the Hope if climbing is your top priority, but a modern enduro bike is expected to get to the top of the hill without much fuss, and the HB.916 achieves that comfortably. The long reach and (fairly) steep seat tube angle put me in a relaxed position over the pedals. The suspension does a great job of ironing out the bumps under power, so it's a particularly comfortable and traction-rich ride over bumpy climbs.

The suspension doesn't bob much, but it's not the most stable and efficient when putting a lot of power down. I'd prefer an even steeper seat angle when attacking punchy climbs too, as it's not the most spritely when compared to the most efficient enduro bikes (such as the Canyon Strive or Merida One-Sixty). The idler is pretty quiet (as long as the chain is kept well-lubricated) but it certainly doesn't help with efficiency. It probably only robs a handful of watts, but on the steep climb that kicks off most of my rides it definitely feels like a little harder work than on some of the most efficient enduro bikes.

Descending


This is a particularly easy bike to ride fast on rough terrain. The rear suspension transmits that little bit less feedback when riding over very bumpy ground than most bikes. The H4 size in the slacker setting is super stable and surefooted when tackling steep and rough sections too. The combined effect is a bike that's forgiving of mistakes and easy on your (lower) body even when riding uplifted downhill runs all day. The long front center occasionally takes some effort to keep on top of - in a flat, loose corner I had to consciously put weight on the handlebar - but this could be mitigated by running the steeper headset and/or swapping the 35 mm stem for a 40 mm one (it's surprising how much difference 5 mm makes). I never felt like I should have gone for a smaller size, but for me, the H4 with the slacker headset requires focus to keep on top of the front wheel when negotiating tight, flat corners. Get a bit lazy and the front can run away from you.

The flip side is that when pointed down steep, nasty chutes there is no fear of going over the front or the front wheel tucking under. And of course, the ability to steepen the head angle and reign in the front-centre for flatter courses is a huge plus.


But while the HB.916 can be easy to ride fast, it's a little finicky to set up the Öhlins air shock for all-around riding. I soon realized I needed to run less than 30% sag to provide enough mid-travel support to match the fork through berms and when climbing, but too much less than 30% sag and it sometimes felt harsh on big landings and steps without using all the travel. It still soaks up brick-sized bumps nicely, but that hint of end-stroke harshness meant I was regularly adjusting air pressure/sag depending on whether the day's riding involved more bermed corners or steep steps and holes. I never found a setting that was a good all-round setup for everywhere.

Fundamentally, the Öhlins air shock doesn't offer much mid-stroke support, whereas the fork is very supportive in the first two-thirds of the travel. This creates some suspension imbalance, which could be part of the reason I occasionally struggled with front wheel grip in flat corners. Simply running less sag (as little as 26%) helped, but this compromised the smooth ride in other areas. Fitting a smaller volume spacer while running around 28% sag and plenty of compression damping offered a better compromise, but I strongly suspect a coil shock would suit the bike best.

The rebound damping tune was a little odd too. If set more than two or three clicks from fully closed, the shock felt too unsettled. It never topped out, but it came too fast towards full extension creating a pitching sensation. Anything more than halfway open was far too springy near the start of the stroke, but fully closed was perfectly useable, especially for long descents with big features. I was able to find a good setting in the 0-2 clicks range, but it's odd for me to be painted into a corner with the rebound almost as slow as it goes - I generally prefer the rebound fast. I think part of the problem is the shock's spring curve, which seems to generate more spring force near the start of the travel than some more linear air shocks, and this makes the rear suspension feel less settled into its travel. Again, a coil shock would solve this problem.

While I'm complaining, the Maxxis EXO+ casing tires wouldn't be my first choice. I never punctured, but the flexible casing still wobbles and pings when pushed hard on the rough terrain where the bike should excel.


I also tested the HB.916 with the Fox 38 and RockShox Zeb, and preferred how it rode with either. The stock Öhlins fork is pretty firm right from the start of the travel and offers lots of mid-stroke support with a fairly firm damping tune. As the shock lacks support in the middle of the stroke, I found the suspension felt more balanced with the Zeb up front. Its spring curve matched the shock better, so the bike stayed more level and didn't squat as much during hard cornering. On the subject of forks, I've seen Hope's 35 mm carbon handlebar blamed for hand buzz, and while I didn't find this too problematic in either case, I think the Öhlins fork is more likely to cause hand fatigue than the bar.

But while setup isn't straightforward with the Öhlins air suspension, once you get it in a good place (around 28% sag in my case) and pointed down a rough and rooty race stage, this bike starts to make a lot of sense. I'm not sure how much the mid-high pivot takes the sting out of square edge bumps, but it certainly doesn't seem to hurt, especially when you're riding through repeated rock impacts. The drivetrain remains quiet, with minimal chain slap, which feeds into the bike's overall calm and reassuring quality when the trail gets hectic. At the same time, it's easy and intuitive to loft the front wheel or hop trail obstacles and to maintain a balanced weight distribution between the wheels - unlike some (very) high-pivot bikes. It's no jibber's bike, but neither the agility nor the climbing performance are overly compromised for pure descending speed.

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Technical Report

Hope Tech V4 brakes: I was no fan of Hope's previous brakes - they had lackluster power and often suffered with sticky pistons - but the new Tech 4 V4 stoppers have plenty of power combined with a lot of modulation. Usually, I prefer a more positive feel, but the modulation makes it easier to feather the brake when holding the balance point of a manual or negotiating a slippy descent. Getting the brakes to run rub-free is trickier than with Shimano or SRAM, though, and I did have to bleed mine during the test period. This is no big deal given the bleeding procedure is simple and requires no special tools, but it was slightly disappointing given these are Hope's flagship brakes fitted to their own bike.

Downtube door: I had to tighten the nut on the underside of mine to stop it ratting from new, and even then it rattled audibly over rough terrain with a full water bottle installed. I like the extra storage space but this isn't the most refined execution of the concept.

Hope seat clamp: For some reason my seat clamp snapped opposite the securing bolt during a ride. Hope sent a new one that has been fine since.

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How Does It Compare?

Given both bikes have an idler pulley, a carbon frame and fit squarely in the enduro category, you might think the HB.916 rides a lot like the Forbidden Dreadnought. In fact, the Forbidden's very high pivot suspension, combined with a super long chainstay in the larger sizes, makes for quirky handling. The sprawling rear center requires some recalibration of manual timing, while the high single-pivot suspension hunkers down at the rear while braking. The Hope is much more neutral; the chainstay length is moderate and the axle path is closer to vertical than rearward, so the geometry of the bike doesn't change so much as the suspension cycles. The Hope's split pivot means the brake caliper doesn't pull the swingarm deeper into its travel when braking, so it pitches forwards slightly like most other bikes. As a result, you could almost forget you're riding a high-pivot bike and there's no learning curve if it's your first one. The benefit of the rearward axle path is arguably subtler too when smashing through rocks, but I think there's still a slight advantage in certain situations compared to idler-free bikes.

Speaking of which, I've been riding the Hope back-to-back with the Canyon Strive - one of my favourite enduro bikes. The Hope is ever so slightly quieter and smoother through the feet over the chunkiest terrain, making it perhaps more confidence-inspiring on the roughest downhill tracks. But the benefit is negligible most of the time. And while the front-centre length and head angle are nearly identical, I find the Strive easier to handle in tight, flat corners, which I put down to the more supportive and balanced suspension. I found the Canyon's suspension easier to get into a good place too - though I've twiddled with damping adjusters, sag and volume spacers to try and optimise it, there seems to be a broader range of combinations that work well. If you engage the Strive's "pedal mode", it feels more eager on the climbs too. So if my bike store was on fire, it's the Strive that I'd save.

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Pinkbike's Take

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Enduro Bikes Hope Hope Hb916