I'm big admirer of Shimano. It's very hard to beat midlevel Deore as value for money, and longevity too, if you look after it.
That said, I ride a daily bike that's entirely Shimano-free.
Shimano has price classes for a good reason: they are capable of producing down to a price, or up to a price. The threshold in the upward direction for most sensible cyclists is midlevel Deore.
It seems to me that above mid-level Deore, if you have the money, you can do better than the pricier class of Shimano components, in some cases much better because Shimano is selling an image rather than genuinely superior engineering. As an example, I have a bike with Shimano Di2 but it isn't the current Dura-Ace Di2, which is cut down from it, is not even auto-shifting but merely assisted manual shifting, and offers nothing on the suspension side; by contrast, the Di2 that I have is fully automatic shifting, its computer and small motors are self-powered via a dynohub, and the computer also operates active suspension. You could buy a complete touring/commuter/utility bike with this first series Di2 from prestigious makers like Gazelle for under £800 and Trek Benelux for under £1500. You can see what I'm talking about at
http://coolmainpress.com/BICYCLINGsmover.html if you're interested.
I take Paul's point that "Forged shells are inherently stronger than machined", but what you're actually buying a Hope for is greater punctilio in the fettling so that it looks and feels superior, and offers -- you hope -- better internals.
The problem with a Hope, as far as I'm concerned, would lie otherwise, in the temptation to buy other components to match it (a Royce bottom bracket, anyone?), and soon you end up with a gravel bike the price of a pre-loved BMW.
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When I'm tasked with such behaviour, I look down my nose, look the insensitive wannabe social critic up and down, and say mildly, "D'you know, those were the cheapest components that would do the job. All you're doing by being a cheapskate is use up the earth's resources faster. You just have to face up to it: you're a polluter, and I'm morally superior to you." I never hear a word about again.
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Something else that enters these decisions is psychological: once you have identified a superior component -- for any reason that seems reasonable to your -- and decided you can afford it, it is a mistake to buy the cheaper product on the perfectly rational grounds that "I'm never going to do the mileage to justify such quality." The new part, which isn't quite the best, will nag at you until you chuck it off and buy the better one anyway. That way you buy twice, and have the fitting bother too, and often a chain of other components that have to be upgraded to match, and guilt about the waste. It's just a big waste of money buying the cheap component when you've identified and convinced yourself another component is superior.
