BEST OF BRITISH HOPE TECHNOLOGY
One wall of Hope’s meeting room is fully glazed. The smartly appointed mezzanine looks out across the workshop floor and rows of machines, the double glazing blocking out the noise and giving the scene a strange serenity. These large anonymous looking machines run around the clock turning steel and aluminium into bicycle components with high-speed precision. Working with metal has a reputation for being grim and grimy but here it’s light, airy and almost suspiciously clean. This is cutting-edge manufacturing.
Hope is one of the UK cycling industry’s great success stories. Over its 30-year history, Hope has forged — or rather machined — a reputation for pragmatic, robust design combined with colourful anodised flare. For this reason, and many others, it has earned itself something of a soft spot in the hearts of British riders. In turn it has never been afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve — the fact that its workshop is on view to visitors is proof that it’s proud, not just of what it makes, but how it goes about making it.
Pride of place in front of the reception room’s window is Hope’s latest bike — the HB.T track bike. Designed in collaboration with Lotus Engineering and the Great Britain Cycling Team,
