Hope Centre Lock Lockring

Hope's Centre Lock Lockring is easily the most affordable bling upgrade you can make to your bike. Machined here in the UK then hard-anodised in a choice of six colours, for eight quid a go they are great value too.

Hope Technology in Lancashire has been churning out beautiful CNC-machined bike parts for years, and its new road/gravel-specific rotors bring them up to date on the braking front. Fitting centre-lock-compatible wheelsets, the CL Rotors are easily swapped between wheelsets or removed and replaced after travelling.

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A key component of the Centerlock standard is obviously the lockring itself. Here Hope offers its lockring in six different colours – red, orange, blue, purple, black and silver to match its own centre-lock rotors, hubs and RX4 callipers. Weighing 10g and costing only £8 a go, this is fabulous value – the rrp on higher-tier Shimano lockrings is often double Hope's price or more, and they only come in black, or sometimes silver in the lower specs. The fact that Hope can machine them in the UK in a rainbow of bling for eight quid is unbeatable.

Noting the obvious fact that the teeth are on the inside, this lockring uses a standard Shimano-compatible tool like you'd use to remove or install a rear wheel cassette. This also means it's good to fit up to a 19mm external-diameter axle endcap while still allowing a lockring tool to slide between the endcap and lockring; the Park Tool FR-5.2GT works perfectly on my Hunt wheels with a 12mm thru-axle. Hope says axles up to 15mm should be fine, but again it's actually the axle endcap that is the defining measurement here.

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The only fault I can find is that the thin metal washer used to help lock the lockring in place isn't retained like the Shimano ones are – so you need to hold it in place when starting fitting, and remember not to lose it when removing. A niggle, but a very minor one and the only thing stopping it getting full marks.

There's really not much else to say here. These are the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to customise your gravel-road ride, made in the UK with no weight penalty. Blingtastic.

Verdict

Hands down the cheapest, easiest and fastest way to bling your bike