The wheels I won on eBay have arrived, and I have to say I am rather pleased with them. They’re Hope Hoops, which incidentally means that I won’t have to try to remove the sticker from the frame – evidently it’s previous owner had a pair as well! The bearings feel super smooth and the rims (Mavic XC 717) are in good condition. I need to get adaptors to change the axle types – at the moment, they are both 9mm QR – I need to change that to 15mm through axle for the front and 12mm Maxle for the rear. Since the hubs are Hope Pro 2s, that seems to be fairly straight forward.

The hubs have Hope Hoops branding on them, rather than the more normal model label, but the seller assures me they are indeed Pro 2s – this only makes a difference for the rear axle that I need to change – the front adaptors are the same as the Pro 2 Evo.

The free hub body looks a little chewed up – hopefully I can still get a cassette on there, but if not, they are replaceable (at a fairly steep £60 – but at least it’s possible).

I’ve also won an auction for a pair of Crank Brothers eggbeater 3 pedals. They were a good price, but they are pretty tired – the bearings on one are knackered which isn’t too much of a problem as rebuild kits are available. The bigger problem is that the springs seem worn, causing a lot of movement in the wings – I am not sure if this is easy to rectify or not. I may try and see if I can get replacement parts from Crank Brothers.