Hunt Wheels has updated three of its wheelsets to perform even better in the most demanding conditions. The Hunt 40 Limitless Gravel Adventure + Dynamo option, Classified 40 Carbon Gravel Race, and the 4 Season Carbon Dura all serve slightly different types of rider, but have a couple of things in common: they all use a 40mm rim depth, and have been beefed up to increase their durability in extreme scenarios.
The Hunt 40 Limitless Gravel Adventure and 40 Limitless Gravel Adventure Dynamo wheelsets (that makes two wheelsets, according to Hunt anyway!) have been developed in conjunction with Hunt Beyond athlete ambassadors, including the now-freed Sofiane Sehili, Cynthia Carson, Josh Ibbett and Justinas Leveika, to adapt the existing 40 Limitless Gravel Aero wheelset to deal with the toughest ultra-distance races.
Hunt wanted to build a lightweight, aerodynamically efficient yet robust wheelset capable of being raced across challenging and remote terrain. The option of a SON 28 dynamo hub to generate power for lights and electronics adds to its remote capabilities.
Additional spoke hole reinforcement patches have been added to cope with extra bikepacking loads, and wider 4.5mm rim beads provide greater pinch flat protection than traditional rim beads. This should help keep the wheels rolling wherever they’re ridden. An internal rim width of 27mm (front wheel) / 26mm (rear) allows easy fitment of tyres in the 35-60mm width range.
A pair of wheels weigh in at 1,530 grams, with the SON dynamo option weighing in at 1,836g per pair. The cost is £1,479 for the standard option, and the SON option adds £500, taking the price for that pair to £1,979.
Sticking to gravel, but moving to racing, the Classified x Hunt 40 Carbon Gravel Race wheelset adds a Classified Hub option to the existing wheelset to allow the two speed gearing option, whilst still benefitting from a single chainring upfront.
The Classified hub uses a two speed epicyclic gear, which is electronically switched to mimic a double chainrings’ gearing options. A single chainring has a more secure chain retention system than a standard chainring as it uses alternating thick and thin teeth to keep the chain from jumping off over rough ground.
The 25mm internal rim width allows the fitting of modern width gravel race tyres. The rim also incorporates H_Cyclo Technology, which allows full recycling of the carbon fibre and resin at the end-of-life without having to create waste solvents, as is often the case.
The pair of wheels weigh in at 1,333 grams, however the wheels do require a Classified Powershift Kit in addition, as only the hub shell is provided here. They cost £1,199 plus the Classified kit.
Finally, the Hunt 4 Season Carbon Dura adds some useful features to the road endurance range. Hunt reckons that this is still “the first carbon wheelset tuned specifically for adverse weather riding”, with a reworked carbon layup to add reinforcements compared to the brand’s racier carbon road wheels.
This wheelset has an increased system weight limit of 145kg, useful when bikepacking or using pannier racks. Durability is the key here, with the carbon layup designed to increase impact resistance and reduce material fatigue. This is done while still keeping an eye on a low rotational weight, for better climbing performance, as well as quicker acceleration performance.
An internal rim width of 22mm will optimally allow tyres in the 25-35mm range to be used. Tyres up to 50mm will work well though, say Hunt. The rear hub uses the H_Ratchet SGL which has a 10° engagement angle, and by using this mechanism rather than a pawl system, the result is a lighter, more durable hub that is easily serviceable, says Hunt.
The pair weigh 1,478g and cost £949.
All the wheels use a 24 spoke front and 28 spoke rear as a good compromise between weight and aero versus strength and reliability. Traditional hand built wheels, in the case of the 40 Limitless Gravel Adventure, and the use of J-bend spokes and high strength brass nipples (4S Carbon Dura) all help with reliability as well as in-the-field serviceability too.
It’s good to see durability for carbon-rimmed disc brake wheelsets increasing, especially when it isn’t at the expense of added weight.
12 thoughts on “Hunt release four* new wheelsets for extreme adventurers, including “the first carbon wheelset for adverse weather riding””
There’s no mention of it in
There’s no mention of it in this press release… but that 4 season carbon dura is hooked, which is nice to see. Still 22mm internal is a tad on the narrow side in 2025, 25mm would have been preferable. The others are still hookless unfortunately.
Yes, Hunt seem stuck on 22 or
Yes, Hunt seem stuck on 22 or 23 internal rims for their road wheels, ideal for 28c tyres, but probably too narrow if you intend to run 30+.
Nonsense. Internal rim width
Nonsense. Internal rim width is mostly irrelevant and 90% marketing. Why else would Hunt say 50mm tyres? Apart from minor changes in inflated widths it makes f-all difference.
Well for one, aero aside
Well for one, aero aside wider tyres just look so much better on wider rims, ridiculously so. And if you’re buying a new wheelset with have no intention of ever running 25mm tyres on it, why would you want to run a tyre/rim combo that is on the edge of the ETRTO spec giving you no room for futureproofing upgrades down the line. Because if you’re not made out of money when you’re buying a new wheelset you’re not just making the choice for today, you need to account for what you would want to do with it 5, 10, 15 years from now. You want to still be using that same perfectly functional wheelset when you’re upgrading your frameset for the next increase in tyre widths. Hunt pick 22mm because they want to make the one wheelset for every possible range of customer, even if that means compromises on the edges of the spectrum. But that’s what is best for Hunt, not you.
thrawed wrote:
Regardless of inner width I’d never be expecting Hunt wheels to last that long ;0
jasperdog wrote:
Regardless of inner width I’d never be expecting Hunt wheels to last that long ;0 — thrawed
I’m sure they could last that long, they would just be on the 3rd rim replacement, 2nd replacement hub, and 4th set of spokes.
mark1a wrote:
My set of alloy Hunt gravel wheels are approaching 9 years of age. Same rims, same spokes second set of bearings. Still true as the day they came out of the box.
kevgravelkev wrote:
Yeah. It was just an excuse to shoehorn in a Triggers Broom joke.
Ship of Theseus…aka
Ship of Theseus…aka “Trigger’s broom”.
To be fair, never bought Hunt wheels but they do intrigue me and are definitely on the list for a wheel upgrade on my gravel bike. If these endurance road wheels were a bit wider I’d be extremely tempted to run them on the gravel bike.
I’ve got three sets of Hunt 4
I’ve got three sets of Hunt 4 Season Disc alloy wheels (including a gravel bike with 38mm tyres), they’re great value for money. Only issues I’ve had are with the standard bearings, made of chocolate, they’ve become noisy after -3000km. Easy to change for something better (such as https://www.kineticbikebearings.com/).
I saw that too. Hooked and
I saw that too. Hooked and brass nipples. I’m not buying hookless ever. Width is puzzling why they made it so narrow.
Right, so it’s actually one
Right, so it’s actually one revised gravel wheelset (but only up to 27mm internal), two extra hub options and an old fashioned 22mm internal road wheelset. None of which are optimised for wider tyres – gravel or road.
Nothing new here at all really!