To hark back to our motoring analogy, the Hope would have to be something like a Lotus. It’s not just a bike, it’s an engineering creation where you can point at each little bit and marvel at how well it interacts with all of the other components around it. There’s a pride evident in the brand and if you really wanted, you could call the factory and speak to the actual mechanic who built your bike. That, regardless of how the bike rides, is worth a lot to some people.
And the bike rides well too. It’s light and lively; the geometry has come on since the HB.160 and now makes sense of the angles and reach to give a modern-feeling bike that performs well. It’s not a ‘lightning bolt’ ride, but it’s wonderfully capable, both uphill and down.