The Cycle Show opens its doors today to the public at the Birmingham NEC, but here’s a sneak preview from our visit to yesterday’s press day.
Hope Technology has earned an enviable reputation for well engineered, CNC machined components and the Barnoldswick firm brought some interesting new items to the show.
A 3,000 lumen headlight, a flip-flop hub to support a fixed gear or freewheel, and a 500 lumen headlight were among the items to catch our attention.
If you’re heading to the Cycle Show over the next three days, scroll to the bottom of this page for our discounted ticket offer.
Hope Vision R8
Is 3,000 lumens sufficient for your lighting needs? Hope’s Vision R8 is intended as a light for trail riding, but if you’re regular training loops are conducted on entirely unlit country roads (and we’d recommend significantly more illumination than just a front light if they are), this might be the answer.
As the name suggests, the Vision R8 contains eight LEDS, arranged in two banks of four. The four lamps on the top row, Hope call ‘blending’ beams. Below there are two diffusing beams, and two with elliptical patterns, offering direct or broad beams.
The Vision R8 has six settings, each controlled from an illuminated push button mounted on the top. The button is colour coded, and glows blue to indicate maximum power, purple to indicate a medium setting, and yellow for its lower output.
A six-cell rechargeable battery will be provided with the light, with an power gauge indicator, equipped with five LEDs, integrated on the side of the unit. It will provide sufficient power for a two-hour run time on the R8’s maximum 3000 lumen setting.
The Hope Vision R8 will sell for £350, including rechargeable battery and charger.
Hope Vision R1
The Vision R1, with its neat CNC-machined housing, is another new addition to Hope’s range of lights for the coming winter, and one capable of churning out 500 watts.
The R1 is intended to fill a gap in Hope’s range below the popular R4, which has a maximum output of 1,000 lumens, and which we tested earlier this year. Hope, errm, hope this more modestly powered unit, priced at £150 will prove popular with road riders.
Hope Fixee Hub
The Barnoldswick firm showed their new flip-flop hub, one equipped, unsurprisingly, with a freewheel on one side and a fixed gear on the other.
The shell is CNC’d aluminium, based on Hope’s Pro II hub, and contains a 10mm bolt-in axle. Internally, there’s a 40-tooth internal ratchet with two-pawls for engagement on either side.
Both sides utilise a six-bolt attachment, which has a similar appearance to the rotor mount on Hope’s disc equipped hubs. Cogs with 15 teeth and more can be mounted. Two lacing options are available: with 32 holes or 36 holes.
The Hope Fixee Hub will sell for £165. A matching front hub, with a 9mm bolt-in axle, will also be available, priced at £70.
Special Ticket Offer
RoadCyclingUK.com readers are being offered a special ticket price of just £11.50* per ticket in advance by visiting http://www.cycleshow.co.uk/book and entering discount code RCUK when prompted. Tickets for children aged 14 and under are £1 with a paying adult and children under five go free.
*Tickets are normally £13 in advance and £16 on the door. A £1 booking fee will be charged for all advance bookings.
