Hunt has issued a recall for its 48 Limitless Aero Disc wheels, which it boldly refers to as the "world’s fastest road disc brake wheelset up to 50mm, due to damage caused by potholes.
The 48 Limitless Aero Disc wheel is a disc-specific aero wheel designed around 28mm tubeless tyres. They were launched in June this year, after extensive research and development, some of which road.cc's Mat Brett got to see firsthand.
A lot of work has clearly gone into these new wheels, but they’ve hit a bit of a bump in the road with a few incidents reported by customers and in one case involving a crash. Luckily nobody was badly hurt.
Here’s the official word from Hunt, which was communicated to all Limitless customers this week:
Unfortunately, we have had a small number of incidents reported with the new 48 Limitless wheels where the rims have suffered significant damage as a result of impacts on potholes, in one case resulting in a crash causing minor injuries to the rider.
Despite the wheels having passed the industry-standard stationary impact and cobbled rolling road tests, we have decided as a precaution to recall your wheels and replace the rims with a new updated and strengthened rim design.
Please stop riding the wheels immediately – and contact us by replying to this e-mail so we can arrange for the collection of your wheels and replacement of your rims as soon as possible.
We take safety incredibly seriously here, which is why we have decided to take a cautious approach and replace your rims with an improved design as soon as possible. We will keep you updated as we arrange this. Our current estimate is that the new rims will be available in late December/early January. We appreciate that this is far from ideal and we really thank you for your understanding while we get this sorted for you.
We will keep you updated and will be working as hard as we can to get your wheels back to you as soon as possible. We’re really keen to ensure you get rolling on your Limitless wheels again but please also be reassured that you can still choose to exchange your wheels for any others in our range, or cancel for a full refund. We know these are a world beating aerodynamic wheel design so we hope you are able to bear with us while we get the new rims sorted.
Thank you for your help with this matter. We have very comprehensive communication with you our riders, and always aim for the highest standards of safety data collection and safety actions, hence why we are contacting you about this issue. As is the way with all responsible companies, we issue updated safety advice to our customers where necessary to ensure riders can use our equipment with confidence ongoing.
We take testing and development very seriously, with full ISO lab testing and, going beyond these, real world testing and full safety procedures and documentation in place from all of our suppliers. We want to ensure you get back riding as soon as possible, so if you have any questions or if there’s anything at all we can help you with please don’t hesitate to contact us by replying to this e-mail.
Thank you again for all your support and help, from all the team here at HUNT | TheRiderFirm whilst we work to maintain the highest safety standards and keep doing the right thing by riders.
Have you bought a 48 Limitless Aero Disc wheelset this year and does this effect you? It should be added that Hunt has a very good reputation amongst cyclists with its wheels proving popular and a good customer service track record.
More info at hwww.huntbikewheels.com/
David has worked on the road.cc tech team since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.