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TECH NEWS

Hunt launches three new wheelsets

The 55 Carbon Wide Aero wheels come in as top-level rim brake option, plus new lower priced options

The guys from Hunt Bike Wheels called in at road.cc last week with three sets of new wheels spanning a wide range of prices. Here are all the details you need.

55 Carbon Wide Aero

HUNT 50 Carbon Wide Disc .jpg

Hunt reckons that its new 55 Carbon Wide Aero wheelset (£999) is its fastest yet. It’s notable for the absence of a rim hook which allows the brand to reduce the overall weight.

HUNT 50 Carbon Wide Disc - Rim detail.jpg

The vast majority of bike wheels have a ridge on the inner edge of the rim, opposite the top of the brake track, to help retain a clincher tyre’s bead, but some mountain bike wheel manufacturers have dispensed with hooks over the past couple of years and Hunt is doing the same here. The brand argues that a hook is primarily used as a means of compensating for a lack of accuracy in wheel and, especially, tyre manufacture. It adds security when the rim and tyre don’t marry up as well as they should.

HUNT 50 Carbon Wide Disc - Spoke.jpg

Hunt is a strong advocate of tubeless tyre systems and these have to be made to accurate sizes with non-stretchy beads otherwise they won’t seal. With that in mind, Hunt believes that a hookless rim and a tubeless tyre make an excellent partnership.

Hunt says that getting rid of the bead allows a stronger structure to be produced that can better handle braking forces, so less material can be used to keep the weight down.

The rims used for these wheels are 55mm deep and 26mm wide (21mm internal) yet they weigh just 480g. The complete wheelset weighs a claimed 1,549g.

HUNT 50 Carbon Wide Disc - Rear Hub.jpg

The wheels are built up with Pillar PSRXTRA Aero straight pull spokes (20 front, 24 rear) and Hunt’s Race Season Sprint 6061 alloy hubs with a 15mm diameter 7075-T6 alloy axle. You also get quick release skewers, brake pads, tubeless tape and valves, spare spokes and a spoke key.

Hunt reckons that these are its fastest wheels, especially if you go for the option with Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tyres (the rims will work fine with other tubeless tyres). A 25mm tyre width is recommended although you can opt for 23mm or 28mm if you prefer. You get sealant as part of the £1,099 package. 

HUNT 50 Carbon Wide Disc - Quick Release.jpg

Our man Dave Atkinson took the Hunt 55 Carbon Wide Aero wheels for a quick ride on Friday – just half an hour or so.

“First impressions were good,” he said. “For a start, the tyres didn’t fall off, bead hook or no bead hook. They felt eager under power and even when properly sprinting there was no brake rub, and because I’d swapped the Hunts in from some slightly narrower wheels the brakes were running pretty close.” 

“It wasn’t an especially windy day and I didn’t go very far, so making any judgement on whether they were faster than a standard wheelset – or another aero wheelset, for that matter – would be conjecture. But they certainly roll well and the ease of getting the tubeless tyres on looks like it’ll be a real boon.”

HUNT 50 Carbon Wide Disc - Front Hub.jpg

Incidentally, the guys at Hunt say that the growing trend towards wider rims and tyres is helping avoid issues resulting from carbon rims overheating on long descents. With more surface area on the rim and tyre, and a larger air chamber, the heat doesn’t build up to the same degree.

 The Hunt 55 Carbon Wide Aero wheels will be available from January. You can pre-order now at www.huntbikewheels.com.

4Season Dura 

Hunt Dura Four Seasons.jpg

As the name suggests, the 4Season Dura wheels are designed for year-round use and durability, although they’re still pretty lightweight at a claimed 1,698g.

Hunt Dura Four Seasons - Rear Hub.jpg

The hubs are 4Season 6061-T6 alloy with large, double sealed bearings from EZO that are designed to keep water and gunk out, and a steel spline insert is designed to prevent sprockets digging in to the alloy freehub body.

Hunt Dura Four Seasons - Rim 2.jpg

The rims are 23mm wide and come with a deeply grooved brake track to maintain performance in wet conditions. Hunt says that it has kept that brake track thick for extra durability. 

Like all Hunt wheels, they 4Season Duras are tubeless ready so you can run lower pressures for more grip without the worry of pinch flats.

Hunt Dura Four Seasons - Rim.jpg

You get Pillar spokes with reinforced heads – 24 at the front, 28 at the rear – and they come fitted with 14mm long brass (and so corrosion resistant) taper-grip nipples. 

The rim brake 4Season Duras are £229 while the disc brake wheelset is £239.

Aero Light Disc

Hunt Aero Light.jpg

Hunt reckons that these are the fastest disc brake wheels out there at this price. The Aero Lights are built with aluminium rims – 6061-T6 heat treated – with a 28mm deep profile and a micro-peened finish. They’re 22mm wide (17mm internal) and Hunt say that they work well with tyres from 23mm right up to 45mm. 

Hunt Aero Light - Front Hub.jpg

The hub is Hunt’s Race Season Disc that’s adaptable to take all axle standards, with EZO and S&S bearings. The butted and bladed spokes are straight pull and slightly stronger than standard J-bend spokes. 

Hunt Aero Light - Rim.jpg

Hunt claim just 1,449g for the wheelset, which is very light.

These are £459 the pair and will be available from January. You can pre-order now. Pay £99 more and you can have them fitted with Schwalbe One Pro tubeless tyres.  

For more info on the entire range go to www.huntbikewheels.com.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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10 comments

Avatar
mellowmiles | 8 years ago
0 likes

looking forward to a review of the Aero55s 

Avatar
birzzles | 9 years ago
0 likes

I see wheelsmith Race24s at £450 with in house hubs at 1590g.  I dont see anything for £500 that weighs only 1400g.

So Mavic Kysirum Pro for £500 (which you could at bike-discount.de, but cant now) or these Hunts at 1585 for £349.  So to quote "stiff, light, cheap pick 2" - are Hunt the exception?  It appears so.

Avatar
birzzles | 9 years ago
0 likes

Having just bought a felt z4 disc with the mavic aksium wheels i am looking to upgrade.  You can get Kysirum Pro for £500 (about 1550g).  But they are a bit bespoke - cant take them to the local bike shop for a fix.  Hunt seem to be literally the only other option for wheels under 1600g for less than £500.  Question is are they any good?  For example Kinesis do light CX disc wheels for under £300, but they are of suspect longevity.  Much is made of the bearings in these hubs - EZO, whatever.  But i believe the hubs are Novatec, and they are not highly regarded.

Suspect this is a fast evolving area. 

Avatar
Iamnot Wiggins replied to birzzles | 9 years ago
0 likes

birzzles wrote:

Having just bought a felt z4 disc with the mavic aksium wheels i am looking to upgrade.  You can get Kysirum Pro for £500 (about 1550g).  But they are a bit bespoke - cant take them to the local bike shop for a fix.  Hunt seem to be literally the only other option for wheels under 1600g for less than £500.  Question is are they any good?  For example Kinesis do light CX disc wheels for under £300, but they are of suspect longevity.  Much is made of the bearings in these hubs - EZO, whatever.  But i believe the hubs are Novatec, and they are not highly regarded.

Suspect this is a fast evolving area. 

 

Your local bikeshop must be awful if they can't fix a Mavic Kysrium!

Avatar
birzzles replied to Iamnot Wiggins | 9 years ago
0 likes

Iamnot Wiggins wrote:

I mean the parts are unique to Mavic and therefore expensive, i have replaced my own bladed spokes, so not that hard.  Perhaps Mavic are £150 better than equivalent Hunt, that is the question really.

 

Your local bikeshop must be awful if they can't fix a Mavic Kysrium!

Avatar
Gromski replied to birzzles | 9 years ago
0 likes

birzzles wrote:

...Hunt seem to be literally the only other option for wheels under 1600g for less than £500.  Question is are they any good? ...

Wheelsmith will build you a set for around 1400g for £500. 

Avatar
userfriendly | 9 years ago
2 likes

Those last ones looks tasty. And lighter than their 4Season, which are excellent but, for my weight, slightly overbuilt. Seem perfect for the titanium build I'm planning for next year.

angry I can has review pleez?

Avatar
pedalpowerDC | 9 years ago
1 like

Dave might be the first cycling journalist to say some thing like this: ". . . making any judgement on whether they were faster than a standard wheelset – or another aero wheelset, for that matter – would be conjecture."

Avatar
Scoob_84 | 9 years ago
0 likes

The profile of those deep section rims don't seem to be U- shaped as is the trend. 

 

I'm more interested in Hunts 38 carbon wheel which has this profile. Will details of these rims be available soon?

 

http://www.huntbikewheels.com/collections/road-rim-brake-wheels/products...

Avatar
Yorky-M | 9 years ago
4 likes

is that an entry for a dating website at the end of the review?

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