Some very early hope hubs had an Alloy cassette body which is black - Note the later sport [non ti] hubs have a steel black body so this not a straight forward generalisation. The alloy body had different bearings but the Ti version you have is as per the fettling link above.
Front hub is a piece of piss too - exploded diagram on the hope site shows what I mean but it's simply a case of taking the end caps off and pushing/hammering the axle and bearings out.
The only weak(ish) link on these hubs is the ratchet ring in the hub body - but even this can be replaced by Hope when all the teeth have snapped off.
I'm lazy these days and when my rear Hope hubs fail i send them to hope who service them for £35 and send back what is a virtually brand new hub ready for another 5+ years abuse. Fronts I do myself with BIG HAMMER.
