Hunt Bike Wheels will be broadcasting live from their Facebook and Instagram accounts from 1pm today, as they take to the Airbus wind tunnel in Southern Germany to test disc brake wheelsets.
Review: Hunt 3650 Carbon Wide Aero Road Wheelset
193 tubeless wheelsets: the most complete anywhere, priced from £124 to £2,400
Review: Hunt 30Carbon Gravel disc wheelset
The UK brand want the public to see behind the scenes of their testing procedure as well as answering questions about what they hope to achieve, “unheard of in the bike industry” according to Hunt. The testing session will exclusively focus on aero optimisation of a new disc wheelset, as although discs have become hugely popular, even surpassing their rim counterparts in some sectors, Hunt say they are yet to receive the same level of attention in the wind tunnel.
A big area of scrutiny will be tyre choice. Hunt’s Chief Engineer Luisa Grappone says: “The tyre pattern, the width and shape in fact have great impact on aerodynamic drag and even using 2 different tyres of the same brand model can change the wind tunnel test results when differences in rim shape are small. This is why, during the design phase, our focus was not just on the rim shape but also on the global system of the tyre plus rim. We designed our prototype considering a particular tyre model and our aim was to obtain the best aero rim shape around that particular tyre, but we will soon test a wide range of tyre models from different manufacturers and compare the wind tunnel tests results with our selected reference tyre.”
Hunt will use Schwalbe’s Pro One Tubeless tyre, regarded as one of the fastest tubeless options, and design a wheelset that is aerodynamically optimised for it in a 28mm size to create “the ultimate aerodynamic package for the modern rider”. The wheels and tyres will be mounted to Canyon Aeroad frames throughout the tunnel testing process.
What’s more, our Tech Editor Mat Brett is out with Hunt at the moment watching it all unfold and getting finer details about the R+D process with Grappone. The testing will start broadcasting live on Hunt’s Instagram account at 1pm GMT, and on Facebook Live from 1.30pm GMT. Over the coming months we’ll be following up on the new wheels from development up until they go on sale, projected for Autumn/Winter 2018. Keep an eye on the site for more…
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
7 thoughts on “Hunt Wheels to broadcast live wind tunnel testing on social media”
Don’t flo and hed recomend a
Don’t flo and hed recomend a 23mm 4000s for aero? Even on a wide rim.
http://flocycling.com/aero_tire_study.php
http://flocycling.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/flo-cycling-a2-wind-tunnel-tire-study.html?m=1
check12 wrote:
..as did SwissSide from a pure aerodynamic point-of-view
https://www.swissside.com/blogs/news/the-tyre-factor
..but they also mentioned that the tubeless setups had lower rolling resistance, and the best of those was the Schwalbe Pro One in a 25mm size (same aero performance as the Pro One 23mm, lower rolling resistance). Can’t get to their archives any more so no idea which, if any, of those results in the ‘best’ overall tyre choice from a power perspective.
fukawitribe wrote:
im seeing 12.8w pro one vs 13.1ish for 23 4000s with latex on bike rolling resistance. At 80psi
check12 wrote:
“We’ve looked to the industry-leading Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless-Ready tyre as the ultimate option for riders wanting to go fast & tubeless. We are drawing on the expertise and assistance of their engineers, and designing a wheelset optimised for this tyre in 28c width, to offer the ultimate aerodynamic package for the modern rider.”
That was the exact words in the press release, which also went out to Hunt’s newsletter subscribers. They’re taking the popular 28c tyre/tubeless disc wheel combo and trying to make it as aero as possible, rather than trying to create the fastest wheel period… this is my understanding, anyway! Our tech editor is out with them at the moment so there will be more news on the site soon.
Jack Sexty wrote:
sorry, it was flo and SwissSide, memory failure thinking it was hed.
Interesting to see what the findings are.
bike rolling resistance test
bike rolling resistance test that I read was:
25mm One pro tubeless 20ml sealant 12.8w @80psi
25mm Continental 4000SII clincher with 80g latex tube 11.8w @80psi
Both measured 27mm on a 17mm internal rim
The 23mm conti version was 14.1w @80psi with a butyl tube
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Yes my 13.1 was trying to extrapolate the data from the 23 with butyl and 25 with butyl and 25 latex to get 23 with latex to be 13.1w ish.
With a little looking hed also recommend a 23mm tyre (they were showing a conti on the rim) with their wider rims.