Hope dive into the World of clip pedals with their Union range and Pete got his hands on the trail-oriented Union TCs.
It would appear that Hope’s new Union TC pedals tick all the boxes, with the same axle system used on the H20 flats, plus a bespoke engagement and cleat, would you have thought Hope would have done it any other way? Pete gives his first thoughts on the new Hope Union TC clip pedal.
Key features:
- Dual mechanism
- Dual sided
- Fully CNC Machined pedal bodies
- Stainless steel clips and cleats
- 2 cleat options give
- Replaceable pins for increased grip on Union TC (8 pins)
- Q-Factor – 55mm
- Three cartridge bearings and a norglide bush
- Fully serviceable and re-buildable
- Cr-Mo, heat treated and plated axle
- Available in 6 colour options
- 437g (pair)
- £150.00 RRP
- Hoptech.com
Out of the box, the Hope Union TCs look like a Hope product. The hue of the blue anodising almost says ‘Made in Barnoldswick’ to me. Hope launched their series of flat pedals a few years ago, and like everyone else, we were wondering if they’d ever have a pop at a clipless pedal.
The Union clipless range comes in three flavours, RC, TC, and GC. Race, Trail and Gravity. In the RC guise, they look very much like the classic XC clip, while the TCs, seen here, build on that with a platform and some pins, with the GC building on that again. Weight and support increases from RC to GC, naturally.
The Hope Union TCs come without the pins attached and the mechanism in the fully slack position. Adjusting the tension is straightforward and much like any other clipless pedal. Rotate the 3mm hex bolt clockwise to tighten, anti-clockwise to loosen.
The axle is fairly stiff from new, meaning they’ll stay put when you unclip, rather than spinning away while your foot is unclipped. The pedals do come marked as left and right, but the laser etched logos only read correctly when you have them oriented in the right way. There’s only an 8mm hex key indent to remove these, no spanner flats for those who prefer to use a spanner. The stiff bush and bearings mean you can thread them into the crank without a tool up to the point where you’d need to nip them up.
You get a handy cleat slot tool to help you fine tune your setup. I mated mine to a set of Specialized 2FO clips and found that the cleat slot on the Specializeds didn’t sit level, so the pedals are slightly closer to the sole of the shoe on the outboard side. Nothing major but it means the spacers provided aren’t much use in this instance.
A very definite, positive click tells you that your foot is engaged. Despite going for the supplied Number 4 cleats that give 13 degrees of float, they felt spot on for me. The Number 5 cleat drops the float a degree but does make unclipping harder. Stack height on the pedals is low and even with the low BB on the Kenevo, I wasn’t worried about pedal strikes.
The Union TCs feel solid, which isn’t a surprise for a Hope product. There’s plenty of adjustment in the pins, cleats and engagement tightness to fine tune to your fit. They’re completely rebuildable too, so they should last you forever. Keep an eye on a full review to come.
All three pedal options will be available for retailers to order from today, with first deliveries to dealers scheduled for September.
