Hunt 36 Carbon Wide Aero Wheelset

Hunt's 36 Carbon Wide Aero wheelset delivers outstanding performance for the money, keeping your pride and joy rim brake bike firing on all cylinders without breaking the bank.

A popular choice for riders looking for the best bang-for-buck performance, Hunt's wheels have impressed various road.cc testers over the years. In fact, Stu had a sister wheelset on test over the summer of 2020 in the 3650s, concluding that it was 'an excellent wheelset with some expertly chosen parts, at a very good price'.

The 36mm versions here are every bit the performance bargain Stu found that set to be.

> Buy now:  Hunt 36 Carbon Wide Aero Wheelset from Hunt for £699.00

Taking a quick half step backwards, you can have the Carbon Wide Aero rim brake wheelset in three formats: with 36mm-deep rims front and rear, 50mm rims front and rear, or the 3650 versions which (you probably guessed it) feature a 36mm front wheel and 50mm rear wheel – as tested by Stu.

These 36mm versions are practically identical to the 3650s. Stu gives a great account of the tech and design choices Hunt has made in his review, but the key specs bear repeating here.

In terms of dimensions, the 36mm-deep rims measure 27mm wide externally and 19mm wide internally, offering near enough the maximum width you can comfortably get away with on a rim brake road bike. My Shimano Dura-Ace R9100-shod Canyon Ultimate is capable of sporting 28mm wide rubber on paper, with acceptable room to spare, and the Hunts definitely make the most of this capability.

For the majority of testing, I fitted a set of 25mm Hutchinson Fusion 5 clinchers which blew outward to a nudge over 27mm at 85psi, aligning nicely with the rim. The Hunts come tubeless ready with rim tape fitted, if you're a tubeless fan.

Braking is taken care of with a track reinforced with a high Tg resin (meaning it's more resistant to high temperature extremes), and supplied Griptec brake pads that are designed to work optimally with the track. There's no truly visible texture treatment here, but Hunt does claim that the Griptec Basalt Ceramic brake track produces extra friction for improved performance.

The rims are laced to the hubs by straight-pull, triple-butted bladed spokes, 20 radially laced at the front, and 24 spokes on the rear, arranged in a two-cross pattern on the drive side. The nipples are alloy rather than brass – which arguably could result in more corrosion in the long term.

While aero performance is never going to be the main purpose of a 36mm-deep rim, Hunt has paid due attention to creating a rim profile that is rounded rather than angled, the aim to produce fast but stable performance in real world conditions.

Meanwhile, the hubs feature high quality steel bearings with a very fast-engaging freehub. The 48-tooth ratchet design results in this fast pickup, with each of the pawls featuring three engagement points (or teeth) aimed at sharing the load when you put the hammer down, as well as marginally increasing the efficiency of the power transfer.

All this results in a wheelset that tips the road.cc Scales of Truth at 1,430g, and lightens your wallet to the tune of £749. On paper, they're compelling.

Performance

Out on the road, there's no doubt that this wheelset is impressive. Its light weight, with my relatively light Hutchinsons and Continental tubes on top, brings with it the ability to rocket up steeper climbs. Coupled with the fast-engaging freehub design, as soon as you choose your moment you get incredibly direct and satisfying reactions to your efforts.

Low weight might make some fear a lack of lateral stiffness, but I've seen none of it here. No matter how hard I tried, I wasn't able to make the rims flex and cause brake rub; even when whipping the bike side to side in a full gas effort over a steep rise, they remained resolutely firm underneath.

Of course, longer and steeper climbs is where the 36 Carbon Wide Aeros really excel. Their stiffness married to their light weight means they're appreciably quick however you like to ride. Every pedal stroke results in a direct response, and when you do need to get out of the saddle the stiffness makes accelerating to get on top of a gear again that little bit easier.

I'm also impressed with the overall ride quality. I've often found that the lightest wheels can feel a little 'raw', as if that light build results in a slightly rougher ride than you might find in a deeper wheelset when riding over grainy or rough tarmac. But I suspect the wide rims are playing their part in smoothing out the experience here.

A magic carpet ride? I wouldn't quite go that far. But I've covered well in excess of 600km during the test period, through winter, while working on my base fitness from a relatively low start point (and so a little more susceptible to the various levels of fatigue that a grippy UK road can exert). I know my body, and these wheels have proven to roll kindly, taking much of the harshness out of the road – allowing me to enjoy the final 10-15km of a long ride, rather than suffering with aches and pains on my way home.

If you're a tubeless fan, your chosen setup will dictate how much this improves the ride for you. I tend to stick with a known clincher setup for testing purposes, but I did fit a set of tubeless tyres to make sure that was easy enough to do, given the tighter tolerances involved. In short, I had no unexpected issues.

On flat terrain, the 36mm rim depth results in very stable (if unspectacular) speed, almost relaxingly benign in behaviour. I'm confident that the slightly deeper (and more expensive) Vision SC 40s that I reviewed last year are faster on a pan-flat road or a long sweeping descent, but there is an obvious answer to that with Hunt's 3650 or 50mm versions if you want speed geared more towards aero gains.

The stability shines on downhills too – they gave me lots of confidence thanks to a blend of the shallower, rounded profile that easily shakes off wind gusts and the width of the rim itself, maximising the tyre profile for improved grip. The lightness and reactivity means you do need to be on your game when descending (just the lightest input is enough to dictate your direction of travel), but once you've dialled yourself into how they handle, they're confidence-inspiring and fun.

> Buyer’s Guide: 10 of the best rim-braked road bikes

Braking effectiveness is good too. The lack of texture in the brake track means that in the wet the pads can take a millisecond longer to 'bite' if you haven't used them for a while and suddenly need to pull them hard, but there's plenty of power when they do. I can't comment on how they and the supplied pads perform in the height of summer when barrelling down an Alp, but on dry days in this UK winter I've found them to be enjoyably effective, with decent 'feel' and modulation.

The freehub is characteristic of Hunt freehubs of recent times. Noisy. It's the 'downside' of the design, which results in very fast and efficient engagement when you put effort in. In my experience, some like a noisy freehub, some don't. What's for sure is that this is not a wheelset for those who like to sneak in a freewheel in the draught of their ride buddies unnoticed. Rest assured, everyone will know when you're not pedalling!

This leads me on to the one very small 'issue' that I've had with the 36 Carbon Aero Wides: when I spin them up on my bike stand in a big gear and leave them to freewheel down, just audible over the freehub sound is a slight intermittent whistle noise.

Checking with Hunt's specialists for their opinion with video evidence of the spin down, I was assured that the noise was just a result of the frequency resonance of the pawls engaging and disengaging so quickly. I can't detect any excess drag in the system nor hear the noise when riding, but I'll continue to use the wheels and report back if there are any further developments that might be cause for concern.

Value

If I had been told that these wheels were in the region of £900-£1,000 I would have believed it, and would still have considered them good value given the performance they deliver.

At £749, they're bordering on outstanding value – in many cases outstripping wheels from larger brands that cost a chunk more. The closest like-for-like comparison on paper is the 40mm Parcours Grimpeur wheelset, currently retailing at £849. These look to have been updated since we reviewed them back in 2016, now lighter and slightly deeper.

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Vision's SC 40s add a little more aero performance at around the same weight for around £300 more (they've gone up to £1,049.95 since I tested them) – plus a 'bigger' brand name.

If you're looking for something even cheaper, Liam rated the £599.99 Prime RR-50 V3 clincher wheelset highly. Those are 50mm deep, though, a little heavier, and Liam found they could occasionally flex slightly on steeper climbs.

Conclusion

If you're looking for that high bang-for-buck wheelset for your rim brake bike, this offering from Hunt is up with the best. They're perfect for those who prefer lightweight and stable characteristics over a deeper rim, and are especially great if you enjoy climbing.

Verdict

One of the best bang-for-buck wheelsets you can get for your rim brake bike