Wednesday 27 May 2009

Something Special...

Hope Technologies are a wonderfully innovative company in Barnoldswick here in the UK, and anyone who knows anything about mountain bikes will have heard of Hope. Their flagship product line is their range of hydraulic disc brake systems, and Hope have been sponsoring me with their wonderful Mono Minis since 2004.

My sponsorship with Hope is part of their Factory Sponsored Riders programme, providing selected athletes in the UK and abroad with a full range of their fantastic kit. Hope Factory Sponsored riders get their kit custom anodised - bright green for the men and pink for the women. This custom kit is done as a special run and is available to the team riders only. This year there is just one Hope Factory Sponsored female XC racer in the world - lucky old me!
This means my new 3-bolt Pro3 SP pink hub wheels in their Stans 355 hoops are the only ones of their kind in the world.





The 355 rims are not quite as light as the Stans Race 7000 versions, but the integrated hub and rotor system takes some of that weight back, making these wheels competitively light (1450gm per set, including rotors) and very strong and durable. Durability in wheels is especially important in marathon and stage racing, when you don't always know what's around the next corner. They have a rider weight limit of 85kg, but for me at 50kg they are pretty much bombproof.

The matching pink Mono Mini Pro brakeset is also unique (although you can buy a standard Mono Mini in pink).

To find out more about Hope kit go to http://www.hopetech.com/. You can't get these wheels in pink, but you can get the same technology in black.

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