I've Got a Brand New Pair of Hope Race X2 Evo Brakes

Any British mountain biker lover will undoubtedly have heard of a cool company called Hope. They have forged a reputation as people who make mountain bike components that can handle British conditions - i.e. mud. And anyone who has brought a Hope component will probably still be running it on their bike - like Clive Dunn, Hope components simply don't die.

This week we took delivery of a set of Hope Race X2 Evo brakes (complete with XT shifter mounts), so we embarked on a night of serious bicycle fettling! Every single review we have seen of the brakes says they are the best thing since sliced cake. Excellent stopping power and extremely light weight. The ability to mount XT shifters directly on the levers also cuts off a significant chunk of weight from the bike.

Dean had been saying all week about how we have having trouble getting brand new Rocket Rons on his rims. Being the sort of person I am, I mocked him for this. We managed to get the first tyre on with out tooooooo much arhgy bargy. Then the second tyre took a good 30 minutes, lots of grunting, fairy liquid, and the assistance from my father. I am surprised the rim didn't bend with the amount of forced we placed on it (please remember, my dad and Dean both have super human strength as the result of bushy moustaches).

Having had my fresh Mavic freehub die on me after about 2 months, I decided I didn't want to put anymore money in Mr Mavic's pockets, so hunted down a new set of wheels. Mr Epic Daza of Team CCN sold me a super light weight set of ZTR/American Classics. These wheels are now ready and waiting. A hundred miles on road bikes on Saturday, and maybe a club run on Sunday, more tinkering Monday night then a little test ride over the local woods. I have a feeling the bike is going to be flying!