As seems to be the tradition with Hope these new pedals of theirs have been a long time coming, but it looks like they were worth the wait.

It comes as no surprise that these pedals feature some serious machining, after all that’s Hope’s speciality. Each pedal is machined on a 5-axis CNC machine from a solid lump of high strength 2014 T6 aluminium, and it takes 28 minutes to produce a single pedal body! Despite all the machining there still appears to be plenty of material left in the areas that are likely to receive a pasting, and the slanted leading edges should also help ward off any impacts.

The ridged platform doesn’t just look pretty either, it also aids grip. Even without any of the pins fitted these pedals still offered a reasonable amount of grip, which will mean that you won’t be left high and dry should you snap some pins off. To be honest though the steel pins (aluminium and titanium versions will be available aftermarket) look like they’ll survive far more than most. They’re pretty chunky for starters and then get even fatter towards the base, where they are then further protected from being ripped out by a large flange. We are always fans of pins that screw in from the back too. With ten pins per side there’s also good coverage, with the two in the middle in particular really helping to put the level of grip up there with the best of them.

We reckon Hope have got the overall shape pretty much spot on too. At 11cm long and 10cm wide the platform definitely isn’t the largest that we’ve seen but then as much as we thought we’d never say it we almost think that some designs are now verging on being too big. These Hope’s just seem bang on though. It might have been nice if they had a tiny bit more of a concave shape, but that’s nit picking. Oh, and crucially they haven’t got an annoying bearing lump on the inside.

Of course it doesn’t really matter how good a platform is if the axle and bearings aren’t also up to scratch, but this is an area that Hope have paid particular attention to. The Cr-Mo axle might not compete against titanium in the weight stakes but instead it is all about strength. The same can be said for the bearing arrangement which includes no fewer than one Norglide bushing and three cartridge bearings in each pedal! The whole setup is also well sealed so these should keep spinning smoothly for ages.

401g seems like a pretty good weight to us too. Again, not the lightest, but then we’ve got a feeling that there are very few other pedals in that kind of ball park which will be able to survive the kind of beating that these can. Reassuring is definitely a word that comes to mind with these pedals.

You should start to see these in shops any day now, and as usual with Hope products you’ll be able to get them in Black, Silver, Red, Blue, Gold and Gunsmoke. Oh, and of course they’ll also be backed up by the legendary after sales service that Hope have always offered.

Price: £120.00
www.hopetech.com

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