Apart from the Sapim stainless steel double butted spokes and brass nipples, the rest of the Hope Tech Enduro wheels is made in its factory in Barnoldswick.

Switching driver bodies is tricky but sealing is first class

At the heart of this wheelset is a set of the latest Pro 4 hubs. We ordered our sample wheelset with 100mm front and 142mm rear spacing but you can have any axle configuration imaginable – QR, 100mm or 110mm (Boost) front and 135mm QR, 142, 148 (Boost) or 150mm rear. You can also choose between a Shimano or SRAM driver, all three wheels sizes – 26, 27.5 and 29in – and straight pull or standard spokes.

End caps can be swapped to suit the various standards

Like all the wheels we test, we ran the Enduro tubeless and, while the rims are fully compatible, they only come with standard Velox tape and this isn’t fitted. To properly convert to tubeless you’ll need a No Tubes tubeless kit, which Hope sells for £22.65. If you decide to switch driver bodies you’ll need to buy a £9 seating tool to install the green seal on the hub body and the drivers themselves are £66.84 for SRAM or Shimano. Both are machined and run on sealed bearings but we did have a slight hiccup running the SRAM XD driver – the gap between the axle and the 12-speed Eagle cassette was a little tight, so the removal tool didn’t engage fully and this caused it to slip when tightening.

The in-house rim is a triple cavity construction but at 28mm wide it’s the narrowest on test wide and only has a 23mm internal width. A narrower rim changes the tyre profile and, in this case, also the geometry – when we swapped from a wide 35mm rim to the Hopes there was around a 4mm increase in bottom bracket height.

Pounding round tracks the Hope 29er Enduro wheelset feels very precise and has rapid acceleration but it does less secure as the rim twists off roots and rocks. It’s not as surefooted and it’s the heaviest wheelset on test by 130g but it’s incredible value and comes in a ton of options.