Look At This Cracked Hope Mono Trial Body

[† CETFLY †]

If anyone has had problems with their hope mono trial suddenly failing I'd like to know because this is probably the reason why.

Here are some pics of where its cracked.

Its cracked, from the inside where it loads-up under braking (on the casing), all the way through to the inside of the outer piston seal (bore cap piston seal).

Ive just had a specialist in crack repairs for carbon bike frames etc help me rebuild it and he saw it and took some pics of it with his mega macro camera.

The other crack he noticed was the bleed screw. Its been overtightened and cracked the casing.

Its meant to be 7075 alloy, but dont go over tightening them like this has been!!

This is very heart breaking as its completely useless to me now after buying it, and then the full rebuild kit, plus red anodized bore cap, resevoir cap, dot fluid etc. Its all come up to a LOT of money and also when Ive purchased all the parts from tarys too.

I need to know if James Quigley (who sold me the brake, but wouldnt have known about the crack) was the first owner and if he's able to contact hope to see if they have had this happen before and if they'll give you a replacement body under some form of warranty.

This whole build has been much the same with things going wrong with getting the bike with heaps of extra costs that werent allowed for, hub problems requiring swapping, new rim and spokes needed, the list goes on. This is another financial kick in the balls

The crack goes from the outside mounting bolt to the inside of the piston seal, thus rendering it useless to me.

Im wondering if this is a total design flaw and if anyone else has had this problem

Wes

Edited October 28, 2009 by † CETFLY †

[ben_travis]

Just send it to hope with the pictures and say its cracked here. can you fix it please.

or re-build it, pretend you never have known about the crack and send it to hope and say i have tried everything to sort my brake and it doesnt work. can you fix it please.

they are usually very good price wise and have a very quick response time.

[James Quigley]

Who is James Quigley?

I've sent you an email buddy, hopefully get Hope to Sort it, like Ben said Hope are pretty good at customer service.

just like to point out I couldn't have know about the crack and am not a dodgey seller. I am going to help get this sorted, please dont hate me.

[Simpson]

Probs cheaper for you to get another 2nd hand brake, no matter how heart breaking it may sound, the cost of posting it to the UK, maybe / maybe not paying for it to be fixed, and getting it sent back is going to be expensive than buying a new caliper on a more local MTB forum.

edit: based on the fact that i think your living in Oz

Edited October 28, 2009 by Simpson

[Scott Gibbs]

Dude your really not havin a good time with this bike! Prehaps you should just stick to the bike hut front brake!

[Mr Bob]

get an avid bb7, i hated my hope!

[Mr Motivator]

you should just stick to the bike hut front brake

+1

[Dale-Hill]

Dude your really not havin a good time with this bike! Prehaps you should just stick to the bike hut front brake!

+1

+2 there sick best thing to come out of halfords

[willis-gu]

hope...less hehe

[† CETFLY †]

Who is James Quigley?

I've sent you an email buddy, hopefully get Hope to Sort it, like Ben said Hope are pretty good at customer service.

just like to point out I couldn't have know about the crack and am not a dodgey seller. I am going to help get this sorted, please dont hate me.

Hahaha nah mate, not angry at you or anything. Just annoyed at the situation im in. You couldnt have possibly known. It was only when rebuilding it with new seals that the specialist noticed it and took some super macro shots of it to show it.

By no way are you a dodgy seller mate, not at all. You were great with getting this to me and I appreciate all the help with the current situation.

This thread was more of an info page for people who've had issues with their own Hope Mono's or bad experiences as it shows the design flaws with Hopes body and explains why they may have had problems.

With this type of crack they can lose power significantly, bleed out past the piston seal and potentially onto the pads, again, reducing power greatly.

Got some more pics here to make it clearer to everyone exactly where they crack. This kind of thing shouldnt happen. Hope need reinforcing at this point. The curves need to be much smoother rather than sharp (where the cnc machine has been)

Wes

[AdamR28]

Hope need reinforcing at this point.

Not sure they do really, I have NEVER seen this happen before so it's clearly just one caliper with a tiny imperfection, which can happen to any product. Hope will sort you out.

[† CETFLY †]

Not sure they do really, I have NEVER seen this happen before so it's clearly just one caliper with a tiny imperfection, which can happen to any product. Hope will sort you out.

Hey mate

I wouldnt have either but this is what the specialist said.

If anything, theres no need for that part of the body to be machined away. It should be left a bit thicker and with a smoother surface. Its the fact that its a sharp "corner" (in a way) taking the load whereas a smooth sweeping radius will be much stronger.

James is going through Hope to see what he can do to help me out. Top bloke. Cant recommend him high enough as a seller and nice guy, even before this happened

Thanks James

[† CETFLY †]

+2 there sick best thing to come out of halfords

Yeah boys, they may well be but I dont think theyre the best thing I can put on my bike

They look terrible! Theyre very powerful, sure, but they dont have much modulation at all. I need modulation big time.

These are perfect brakes, however, for trials as opposed to street I think.

At the moment Im hoping to get my wheels back tomorrow. At least I'll have an ugly, but working and reliable front brake on there which will stop my face eating handlebar or bitumen

[N.Wood]

You'll have to make a vid/take pics of you riding this thing.

[† CETFLY †]

You'll have to make a vid/take pics of you riding this thing.

Be honest....you just want video of me eating handlebar dont you

I'll be sure to have the training wheels edited out of the video

Still learning to ride it and do any form of trials stuff, but it just feels so SO much easier on this Inspired than on the Woodstock. Feels far lighter and more nimble, so looking forward to getting quickly used to the bike. Cant wait!

[AdamR28]

Hey mate

I wouldnt have either but this is what the specialist said. *general engineering drivel*

'Engineer' or bike parts specialist?

As I said, a small defect meaning a sharp corner was still present, so it's a one-off... It's clearly not an issue as I have not even heard of it happening before. Good that James is getting you sorted

[† CETFLY †]

'Engineer' or bike parts specialist?

As I said, a small defect meaning a sharp corner was still present, so it's a one-off... It's clearly not an issue as I have not even heard of it happening before. Good that James is getting you sorted

Engineer without the bit of paper

He does testing into where carbon fibre breaks on bikes for court cases using special resin and UV light with macro zoom camera etc etc. He repairs carbon fibre frames and thats his field speciality. He does many reports for serious court cases in terms of analysing peoples bikes in accidents hit by cars. One kid was left a vegetable, the other woman riding her carbon frame bike was left a paraplegic. He analyses steel bikes, alloy, carbon, the works. He showed me a few cases he was working on, it gets extremely technical. He has to work out the speed, direction, impact force and angle etc all variables from the evidence of whats left of a bike.

He tests stress fractures, breaks, the lot.

If in court the other legal team go to question his credentials, his own engineers (from the other company he's working with) back him up as they also test his evidence.

Trust me, he's far more than a regular bike mechanic. He has extensive physics and chemistry backgrounds. Has designed his own resin which theyre testing as a new form of shock absorber for the car industry, developed his own (INSANELY BRIGHT) LED light to replace normal lights, but at 1/3 the amperage consumption and having a thickness of only 7mm (seen it myself) etc.

Hes a very smart guy. Really interesting to chat to actually. A lot to learn from a person like him.

[Luke Rainbird]

That's all well and good, but this is still a one-off occurrence. Shit happens, you deal with it, and move on

[trialsmax04]

That's all well and good, but this is still a one-off occurrence. Shit happens, you deal with it, and move on

Amen!

Send it back to hope and just see what they say. Hope are one of the biggest breaking companys around and this is like the first one i have ever seen go wrong. So there bond to sort you out.

max

[† CETFLY †]

That's all well and good, but this is still a one-off occurrence. Shit happens, you deal with it, and move on

Amen!

Send it back to hope and just see what they say. Hope are one of the biggest breaking companys around and this is like the first one i have ever seen go wrong. So there bond to sort you out.

max

Yeah, totally agree with you Luke. Im def dealing with it with the help of James, and of course, moving on forward

The reason for starting this thread, as mentioned, was to show where this one has failed and maybe offer some help to people who've had theres fail in the past which Ive heard a fair few cases off, who've not known why they'd failed.

It also shows where to check for failure if you've just bought a second hand one like I did or are the owner of one currently, that it losing power since you'd initially purchased.

Yeah Max, hoping they come through with a free body replacement. Would be great if they did and I hope it helps them in the manufacturing side of things

[trialsmax04]

Yeah Max, hoping they come through with a free body replacement. Would be great if they did and I hope it helps them in the manufacturing side of things

i really cant see them charging you for it. To be fair its worth more for there reputation than one cracked caliper. They replace Pro2 hub shells for free i believe? Did you buy it new?

[Mark W]

The reason for starting this thread, as mentioned, was to show where this one has failed and maybe offer some help to people who've had theres fail in the past which Ive heard a fair few cases off, who've not known why they'd failed.

How many is 'a fair few'? Like Ads said, not had any back with this having happened to them, nor really heard of it happening before?

[† CETFLY †]

How many is 'a fair few'? Like Ads said, not had any back with this having happened to them, nor really heard of it happening before?

Scotty (Bender) - wanna throw your 2pence in on this question for us mate?

Also, if people are so happy with them we wouldnt be hearing people saying theyre "crap" which ive read in other threads. Just because people havent gone back through Tarty's doesnt mean problems havent happened.

Im in no way having a big negative hype on hope here as its starting to feel people are having a shot at me here now. I wouldnt have just gone and kitted my (basically) entire build with Hope if I thought for a second they were crap would i.

Im merely going off what a few people have said, like Bender as one example as he's a mate of mine, what ive read in previous threads from their personal opinions and experiences and from what the specialist has mentioned about the leverage points/design of this body.

Im sure its not a constant build issue. I agree with whats been said by Luke and Adam@Tarty. If there had been significant damage to the outer housing it could be put down to misuse, but its in perfect condition. Thus rendering it a manufacturers fault.

Due to how fine the crack is (cant see it easily from the outside, but can internally when the bore cap side piston seal is removed) maybe some people who've been unhappy with this particular brake have also had no idea why it was giving them grief and they've simply on-sold it to someone else.

Im hoping to make people aware that if this is the case, they may have the same issue ive discovered.

Im hoping to get a replacement from hope and have a drama-free future, riding with hope kit on my Inspired.

Hope thats cleared things up a bit

[Mark W]

Also, if people are so happy with them we wouldnt be hearing people saying theyre "crap" which ive read in other threads. Just because people havent gone back through Tarty's doesnt mean problems havent happened.

There's a massive difference between someone saying "they're crap", and that meaning that a manufacturing defect like your's has happened to other people. Brake setup is massively personal and are affected by a massive range of things that a brake can be 'crap' for one person with an identical setup to someone else purely because of contamination to pads, braking surface, differences in quality of bleeds, etc. - but again, a brake being 'crap' for someone doesn't mean it's cracked inside like your's has.

[† CETFLY †]

There's a massive difference between someone saying "they're crap", and that meaning that a manufacturing defect like your's has happened to other people. Brake setup is massively personal and are affected by a massive range of things that a brake can be 'crap' for one person with an identical setup to someone else purely because of contamination to pads, braking surface, differences in quality of bleeds, etc. - but again, a brake being 'crap' for someone doesn't mean it's cracked inside like your's has.

I agree.

They could also be saying "theyre crap" due to a fault theyre unware of and not really wanting to go to the nth degree to find the problem. Some people may just think *its doing this -insert problem- dont know why its happening, dont know how to fix it, i'll just sell it and get something i know works to replace it.*

Not many people would think to check the body for a crack. Ive personally never heard of a body cracking, as have most people who've replied to this thread. I wouldnt have check it for cracks either. It was only when the specialist noticed it that it became apparent.

Im saying that it could be this issue im having if other variables dont seem to be the cause of other hope mono trial owners' problems.

For example, contamination as you've stated, can be from the fluid passing through the crack, past the seal and onto the pads. To the naked eye it may look like a seal problem. Or next step you'd think scoring of the piston, allowing fluid past the seal.

Im not saying that any problem that people have is because of a crack. I never said that.

Im simply trying to help people out here, as ive said time and time again, to make them aware of this problem ive found as it could be a possible cause.

Thats all it is.

Im not getting into a legalistic discussion over all this and/or over-analysing this issue. It is what it is.

If youve got one and its not working as you'd hope, want or how it used to when new, then after checking all the simple, easy to remedy methods, check for cracking.

You may have the same problem.