Hunt is no stranger to developing super-light wheelsets, having introduced the 991g Hill Climb SL rim brake wheels back in 2018. To keep up with contemporary trends as well as the standardisation of disc brake actuation across all new road bikes, the British brand has today launched the Hunt Hill Climb SL Disc – a tubular wheelset designed exclusively for the British hill climb aficionado weighing a mere 963g per pair and priced at £1,299.
While rim brake-specific bikes are still the popular choice among ardent hill climb specialists owing to their feathery frames, there’s been an increase in disc brake bikes at events thanks to lightweight models such as the Specialized Aethos and Canyon Ultimate CFR. These new hoops from Hunt will allow riders to make their bike lighter by as much as 300g (dependent on tyre choice and current wheel setup), bringing disc brake bikes closer to the hill climb rim brake median weight.
Let’s take a closer look at the details.
Weapons of mass reduction
The development of the Hunt Hill Climb SL Disc wheelset was inspired by the passionate hill climb community and brought to life through the involvement of the current British Hill Climb champion, Andrew Feather. The result is one of the lightest disc-brake wheelsets currently available, tipping the scales at a claimed 963g for the set. Weighed independently on our Park Tool scale, we returned an even lighter 950g (420g front/530g rear).
The secret comes from the special unidirectional carbon-fibre recipe, which utilises a 30mm-deep profile paired with a 26mm internal rim width. According to Hunt, the wheels have been optimised around the tubular tyre format and will play nicely with widths ranging from 23-28mm. Of course, the employment of Hunt’s UD carbon TaperLock spokes was crucial in further culling the weight. The kicker here, however, is the ease of maintenance and ability to true and replace individual spokes, thanks to the introduction of aluminium steel mandrils placed at each end of the carbon spoke attachment points – no bonded resin needed here.
Other tech highlights include the H_Ratchet UD SL hubs, which feature a lightweight CMC-machined heat-treated 6066-T6 aluminium body. The freehub uses a 40T ratchet drive with nine degrees of engagement. It can be optioned with most of the current freehub body standards including Shimano/SRAM 8/9/10/11 speed, SRAM XD/XDR, Campagnolo 8/9/10/11/12 speed and Campagnolo EKAR. Shimano’s new 12-speed cassettes are backwards compatible with 11-speed hubs, so no problems here.
Here are the full tech specs:
Price: £1,299 / $1,699 / €1,699
Material: Carbon
Depth: 30mm
Brake type: Disc brake
Tyres: Tubular
Rim width: 26mm (internal)
Spoke count: 18/20 front/rear
Weight: 950g (actual)
UD carbon TaperLock spokes
Pricing and availability
The Hunt Hill Climb SL Disc are available for pre-order on Hunt’s website with the first deliveries expected in the second week of September. In terms of pricing, the wheelset will set you back £1,299 / $1,699 / €1,699, which is neither particularly cheap nor too expensive and, to our knowledge, there isn’t an off-the-peg disc brake wheelset this light for anywhere near this price point, or any price point for that matter.
The only drawback with the Hill Climb SL Disc appears to be tubular-tyre-only functionality, which isn’t as popular as it was before. Apart from the preparation and glueing process which can take a day or two, the wheels are easy to set up from the box. We will be assessing them as the hill climb season kicks off in the UK in the coming weeks so be sure to look out for the full review soon.
62 thoughts on “Hunt launches new Hill Climb SL Disc wheelset that weighs just 963g”
Poor Hunt must be living in
Poor Hunt must be living in trepidation of the first moron to take them gravelling.
At that price I imagine all
At that price I imagine all the cx racers will be using them this winter, 35mm tubs at 25psi.
Glueing tubulars with Tufo
Glueing tubulars with Tufo tape is super quick and simple. Don’t bother with traditional glue ?
Keith57 wrote:
I bought a second hand tubular wheelset for time trialling and the tyres were mounted with tape, they were worryingly easy to remove. I would not trust tape after that.
I have been using this tape
I have been using this tape for the last 6 years and found it very good on both alloy and carbon rims with Veloflex tubs.:https://www.wiggle.com/p/effetto-mariposa-carogna-tubular-tape
Have you compared it with
Have you compared it with traditionally glued tyres? The wheels I have are carbon and I wonder if this is more difficult to adhere to than aluminium due to the smooth surface.
Hi there. No I have not tried
Hi there. No I have not tried traditional glue so can’t offer a comparison. I do use this tape on carbon rims (Campag Bora 35s) and had no issue. The tape is very strong and goes off reasonably qucikly. The only thing to be aware is making sure that you have the right width for the rim as it comes in different sizes.
Tufo tape is well know to
Tufo tape is well know to increase rolling resistance and be slower than gluing tubulars (check out Slowtwitch for thread after thread on this). Sure 5 watts doesn’t really matter for recreational riding – but if you’re spending big money on special parts to compete hill climbing then you’re probably taking this stuff seriously. Friends don’t let friends use Tufo tape.
What’s the weight limit for
What’s the weight limit for these? I suspect I’m too heavy.
95kg including bike & gear.
95kg including bike & gear.
Just one problem. If I were
Just one problem. If I were to build up another hill climbing bike – it certainly wouldn’t be a disc brake bike. My old Emonda SLR Race Shop Limited tipped the scales at 4.7kg with lots of Uber light kit, Sram red mechanical with a single front ring, Mavic ksyrium SLS wheels. There is not a chance in the world you would get a disc brake bike that light without spending a whopping amount of money for some custom boutique bike and even then you’d struggle. My Emonda cost me £4600 total.
So I’m not sure why Hunt are producing these for a comp where no serious contender is riding disc brakes since you can still build rim brake bikes up at around 4kg.
Because some people don’t
Because some people don’t want to build a whole new bike for this and bikes like an Aethos are light enough for people who just want to have fun and aren’t going for a podium, and these wheels are a “cheaper” way to shed a lot of weight of those kind of bikes.
Cheaper? They cost £1300. ?
Cheaper? They cost £1300. ?
Cheaper than most wheelsets
Cheaper than most wheelsets you can buy online at that weight, not everyone has a wheelbuilder close.
Cheaply made, yes. Cheap they
Cheaply made, yes. Cheap they are not. You can get much, much better for a lot less.
Not online
Not online
Apart from they probably won
Apart from they probably won’t want tubs for their general day to day bike.
Off the back wrote:
— Off the backBecause they will sell.
You don’t have to be at the sharp end of the national hill climb to buy some light wheels, just as you don’t have to be one of the fast boys or girls to ride a Shiv in a 10 mile time trial.
Very few hill climb bikes are under 5kg and it costs a lot to get to that figure, as you know. Dan Evans’s 2017 championship-winning Supersix Hi-Mod is for sale, he says it is 4.9kg with superlight tubulars, etap MCFK carbon etc. Rebecca Richardson’s tricked-out Aethos (with disc brakes) for the 2022 nationals was 5.0kg.
An S-Works Aethos which would
An S-Works Aethos which would cost £4000 just fir a Frameset , add a top end groupset and these wheels bars etc you’re talking close to £10k still. Or buy a used rim brake bike on eBay for a fraction. Guess you missed the bit where lightweight disc brake bikes would cost a whopping amount. For quite a niche sport.
Off the back wrote:
I think you’re missing the point regarding one of the reasons Hunt decided to launch these wheels. If you read the article:
So, the target market is not people who are building the ultimate climbing machines, it’s people who are already running something like an Aethos or Ultimate CFR and want a convenient, quick & easy way (add to basket, pay, wait for delivery) to drop 300-400g. Money doesn’t really come into it in this case.
I wouldn’t really call the
I wouldn’t really call the market for ultra light road bikes for hill climbing only large enough. £1300 on top of the cost of an ultra light bike?
mentioned before, people could buy a TT bike. But you can ride a TT bike anytime really. There are lots of club 10s etc always happening. But hills climbing is a seasonal thing that still quite niche. And do bear in mind these are tubular only, they are not likely to be used on the pot hole strewn British roads week in week out. Sure there are money is no object people who could build any bike they wanted. But I still maintain that we’re that the case, a rim brake bike with the lightest of everything wouod still be much much lighter than anything disc brake bikes can get to.
People who buy an Aethos don
People who buy an Aethos don’t care that they could buy something even lighter for a fraction of the price. They may even own a lightweight bike already.
Maybe but Hunt are providing these for people who ride with disc brakes. I doubt they will sell bucketloads because they’re for tubs but so what? There are lots of niche, low-volume products around, I don’t know why you are so bothered about this one.
And you didn’t read my
And you didn’t read my comment dude, I said for people who already have an Aethos.
I wondered same thing reading
I wondered same thing reading this; hill climb disc brake wheels is like an oxymoron.
Year 2000 called and it wants
Year 2000 called and it wants its wheels back.
From experience of a riding
From experience of a riding buddy who has just had new bearings fitted to some very little used Hunts, in his words Hunt wheel bearings are crap. They look very nice, have fantastic marketing but use cheap and nasty bearings.
£1299??? For that you could get a very light handbuilt set of wheels from an expert local wheelbuilder which would be better built, more reliable and easy to replace a broken spoke.
In my limited experience
In my limited experience these people make fantastic wheels, www.stradawheels.co.uk
Yep, the set I’ve had from
Yep, the set I’ve had from them are great, but I found their service to be pretty shocking. Maybe that’s part of their buiness plan so that I don’t keep returning them to make use of their free truing for life?
I will admit to owning a set
I will admit to owning a set of Hunt Aero Disc 50 which are very good. But they are not amazing. I more often than not have my Roval Alpinist CLX II rims on. And even though they are only 33mm they outperform the Hunts on everything. Climbing you’d expect but even on the flat they hold their speed so much better. Hunt are great if your after a budget carbon wheelset but they are not top end. Even the Aerodynamicist are overhyped. And if you’re prepared to buy limitless then there are so many better wheel sets for the money. Namely Roval Rapide which are probably best value wheelset on the market.
The best wheels I have ever
The best wheels I have ever had bar none, are those built by Paul Hewitt at Leyland. He supplied wheels to the Linda McCartney squad, and has built wheels for many olympic champions, including Wiggins, who used his wheels in the 2012 Dauphine and took them to the tour but was prevented from using them by the sponsors.
Very light wheels, incredibly strong, in buying wheels from Paul for over 25 years I have yet to break a spoke.
He could build a better, lighter, faster set of wheels than these Hunts for less, I am sure.
Biker Phil wrote:
Is that just a fan-gush or have you got any meaningful data describing how what you like are “the best”?
Personally I find Hunt wheels to be better than those generally supplied with a whole bike; or at least as good as those coming with expensive bikes. The bearings aren’t “crap” but not the very best in the world either. They’re produced to a decent standard by a Japanese producer at the bottom end of the Japanese bearing hierarchy …. but still far better than the cheesey bearings found in many other brands of wheels.
Best of all, replacement bearings can be had for all Hunt wheels at a mere £6 each. (Don’t bother with the ceramic ones – the very teeniest margin of a marginal gain at not a marginal price increase).
I bought a set for their 4-season wheels some 7 years ago when I bought the wheels (£350 with lots of spares such as spokes, end caps for different axle diameters and even a pair of centrelock-to-sixbolt adaptors) but still haven’t needed to put them in as the originals are still smoof. (I check them and regrease them, see).
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Personally I think any and all carbon-rimmed wheels are a waste of money for 99% of cyclists who don’t need no steenkin’ marginal gains. 🙂 These hill climber wheels are of this ilk – for dafties with to much money and not enough sense. Another item used to transform bike races into technology spend-fests instead of sporting events for the humans.
Fan Gush? What bollocks. I
Fan Gush? What bollocks. I have been using Hewitt Cycles for hand built wheels for over 25 years with not a single issue. One of my bikes has done 70,000 miles now without a single broken spoke or wheel gone out of true. I would say that’s pretty impressive, hence why I recommended them. So, that is why I said they are the best wheels I have owned. Because they are.
Biker Phil wrote:
You can’t claim the Hewitt wheels “are the best” if you haven’t tested all the other wheels available in comparison. The Hewitt wheels may be very good indeed but if that’s all you use then you have no grounds to diss other brands via anecdote, do ‘ee? Heresay from a friend (aka gossip) doesn’t count at all as evidence of summick, by the way.
I once had a pair of Shimano 600 hubs with Mavic ceramic rims and double butted stainless spokes. I got them in 1987 and they’re still going today. Should I diss all the other sorts of wheels on this basis?
Personally I try to avoid being a fan in favour of trying alternatives, whilst tending over time to buy more of a brand that’s proved worthy. If one gets all fanny about a brand, it automatically excludes other possibilities that may have functions you never even discover.
I might try some o’ them Hewitts though. 🙂
I would have though that
I would have though that somebody with your eye for fine detail would have noticed that in both of the posts (quoted by you in your replies) where Biker Phil endorses these wheels, at no point do they say they’re “the best”, it’s stated that they’re the “best wheels I’ve owned” and “best wheels I have ever had bar none”. Also states an opinion that Hewitt “could build a better, lighter, faster set of wheels than these Hunts for less, I am sure”. Therefore no need for evidence of testing against all other wheels, Biker Phil is simply stating an opinion from wheels previously owned and used, and we all have opinions on stuff, sometimes they get posted on road.cc. Sometimes it’s about tools, rather than wheels.
Finally, it’s a bit rich coming from you slating somebody else’s opinion based on what they have, when most of your product/service related posts here are all about whatever you use/have used is the best.
mark1a wrote:
Ah ha – here we must examine the syntax of a statement such as “the best I ever had bar none”. If this is so, which are the other wheels against which “the best” ones are compared to make the descriptor “best” mean anything?
If the Hewitt wheels are the only kind ever owned by Biker Phil then “best” is no use in dissing other wheels he hasn’t owned, such as the Hunts he’s taken agin’. He has no basis of comparison. Which of all the wheel brands he has actually owned and used is he comparing the Hewitts against?
Put another way, if Biker Phil had only owned and used the worst wheels ever made anywhere by anyone, they would still be “the best he ever owned”.
I didn’t slate Biker Phil’s opinion on what he has (his Hewitts) but his opinion on what he doesn’t have (Hunt wheels) and so has no basis to have an opinion about (apart from some scuttlebut he heard somewhere then repeated). I’m sure Hewitt wheels are very good and Biker Phil’s opinion of them seems justified. I did mention to him that I might buy some meself. 🙂
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Which products that I have and offered a good opinion about here did I claim to be “the best”? Generally I say, “I like these aspects of it because and I dislike these other aspects because ….” Sometimes I say, “I have this similar thing and its not as good because …..”
Others folk make hierarchies of worth about similar products of different brands based on extensive tests and emergent data whilst others arrange their hierarchies of worth based on advert claims, fashion or fanboy attachments. I prefer the test & data folk, me.
PS Why not let Biker Phil make his own defense? He’ll proably do a better job than thee. 🙂
Cugel wrote:
Yes you did:
here:
and here:
The point is, Biker Phil did not say they were “the best””, just that they were “the best I’ve had.”
No need to go into specifics, you’ve previously been described by other(s) as “solipsistic” (what a word) after one of your many “fan gush” posts.
Finally, FWIW, regarding Hunt wheels, I also like them, I’ve had four sets of Mason X Hunt 4 Seasons, (three sets still on bikes in my fleet, one set I’ve moved on to my brother’s bike). They’re not as good as the Rovals on two of my other bikes, but they’re 4x the price, The Hunts however (as you say) are a great easy upgrade for the money from stock wheels. Only problem I’ve had is short life on the standard bearings, but again as you say, cheap and easy to replace with better ones.
Solipsistic. Wow. I like that
Solipsistic. Wow. I like that. Narcissist also springs to mind. Thanks for the defence, at least someone has the sense to actually read what I put, rather than post a haughty reply whilst ignoring what I actually put.
And that is what I put, that the bearings are cheap and don’t last.
Biker Phil wrote:
A solipsistic haughty narcissist! I’ll get a T-shirt made and possibly a cap! Where did you get your “All wheels are crap except the ones I like” T-shirt?
PS Can you point me at the place selling magic bearings that last forever?
And there you go again making
And there you go again making things up. I recall never saying all wheels are crap except the ones I like. There’s absolutely no need to be such a knob with people.
I don’t usually reply to
I don’t usually reply to pedantic people, but I have owned some Spinergys, Dura Ace and a good few different Mavic wheelsets and others which I can’t even remember the brand. And taking all those into consideration, the Hewitts are the best I have had, which is what I did originally put. I have currently got eight pairs of Hewitt wheels on my various bikes, and have owned lots more which were sold when I moved various bikes on. I had issues with the Mavic wheels, the Spinergys were heavy and poorly built, the Dura Ace were just about OK.
Happy now?
Is that enough ‘meaningful data’ for you?
Do you have any meaningful data to back up this which you posted?
‘Personally I think any and all carbon-rimmed wheels are a waste of money for 99% of cyclists who don’t need no steenkin’ marginal gains.’
(apart from some scuttlebut he heard somewhere then repeated). Correct, I was riding next to the guy who was moaning about his wheels, and I actually replaced the bearings for him.
And what about this gem?
‘Personally I try to avoid being a fan in favour of trying alternatives, whilst tending over time to buy more of a brand that’s proved worthy.’
Is that not being a fan then? You have just confessed to doing exactly what I do, I favour a brand which has proven worthy. You are full of hot air. A typical troll. You are just being argumentative for the sake of it.
Finally, I have replaced bearings on Hunt wheels for two different people, so have experience working on them, the bearings used are cheap, a world away from the bearings in my Hope hubs.
Biker Phil wrote:
Like ole Rendy, you seem to think that I criticised the Hewitt wheels you’re such a fan of. I didn’t, of course, since I ain’t got any myself and know nothing of them.
What I mentioned to you is that your fan mentality about the Hewitts is evident in the way you dissed Hunt wheels as “crap” depsite not having any yourself or any experience of them other than a mate with a poor bearing in a set of Hunts. Such an avid desire to promote what you’re a fan of by dissing alternatives despite knowing nowt about them is classic fanboy behaviour, see?
How did the Hunt bearing you mention get that way? Did your mate give you a full history of his usuage, including the milleage, pressure hose washes, riding in the wet and muck or other events which can degrade wheel bearings? Needing bearing replacement after a degree of use is not unusual, you know.
Is this rather vague anecdote sufficient evidence to condemn all Hunt wheels as “crap”? Hardly.
“Personally I think …. just a personal opinion based on having ridden many, many alloy wheels and finding them (at 1/2 to 1/5th the cost of carbon equivalents) perfectly fine. (Two broken spokes in 60 years of cycling). Buy as many carbon rimmed wheels as you like, though. 🙂
Being a fan. It’s short for “fanatic” – the sort of fellow who grows to love a brand, then ignores anything deterimental about it whilst dissing all alternatives about which the fan knows nothing. Ultrasentive about any remark concerning his loved-brand even when the remark is actually not about the brand at all but an alternative.
Contrast this with a preference and trust in a brand one has a lot of experience with whilst being nevertheless critical of various aspects of it and always considering alternatives that may offer a diferent balance of advantages and disadvantages for one’s purposes. And avoiding the emission of a fan-gush. 🙂
Internet trolling: throwing out false and unjustified condemnatory opinions about things one knows nothing about, often whislt cclaiming an expertise one doesn’t have, just to get a reaction from the more reasonable and rational.
Being argumentative for the sake of it: a normal and productive human mode of discourse for exchanging views, amending views and discovering more information than one had previously.
If you just want to participate in a mutual admiration club or one of those places rather like the golfing 19th hole, where everyone is hail-fellow-and-well-met and agrees with each other about everything …. well, there are Gentlemens Clubs where old soldiers, Tory politicians and other denizens of the reactionary ilk all get together to condemn loadsa stuff, with one voice and one opinion on, oh, everything.
I hope you used proper techniques. 🙂
If “cheap” means inexpensive, then that might be a positive attribute. After all, it really is the most marginal of marginal gains to gain 0.5 watts less friction from a wheel bearing by spending £200 more on ceramic balls and a fancy label.
What test procedures did you employ to measure the relative merits and demerits of Hope bearings against Hunt bearings? Or did you just look at them through your infallible “engineering” eye?
Solipsistic. Yup. Enough said
Solipsistic. Yup. Enough said.
Biker Phil wrote:
Hee hee – it’s troo. Unlike some who will diss all sorts because a newspap or some gossip told them to, I enjoy the pursuit of better factuals and data lumps so as to form an idea or three that’s actually mine and of better quality than fanboygush.
I know you feel bad losing an argument …. but what can you expect when you allow bald opinions of no worth to be installed in yer wee noggin?
Anyhoo, after you’ve read that stuff I pointed you at about maintaining and replacing wheel bearings, you’ll want to thank me, I know. If you need a list of tools for doing it properly, rather than hitting it with a hammer, just let me know. Oh, and I have a quite long list of interwebbery sellers of bike bearings, of various brands, qualities and prices.
I didn’t make them up or just imagine them, honest! 🙂
Cugel wrote:
Are they as good as your previous example? Your last link for bearing seals didn’t actually sell bearing seals.
mark1a wrote:
Are they as good as your previous example? Your last link for bearing seals didn’t actually sell bearing seals.
— Cugel
You seem to have lost the bit I posted about Hunt being ready, willing and able to supply just seals for their wheel bearings if you want some, even though they don’t advertise them on the website. But perhaps you’ve gossiped with BikerPhil and been convinced that they will be “crap” as they aren’t from Mr Hewitt?
The oilseal website above certainly sells bearing seals, although possibly not ones for your own wheels. There are numerous other purveyors. Have a Google.
However, as I mentioned before, why not ask your wheel purveyor if they, like Hunt, will supply you such seals? But perhaps, like Philip, you don’t believe in maintaining wheel bearings as they should all last forever.
So, the list of bearing purveyor websites I have is, then, of no interest to you? I wonder if Phil is interested, as he claims to have renewed two Hunt wheel bearings. That begs the question: what with? If not the Hunt EZO bearings (which he regards as “crap” and so surely wouldn’t use) how are those replacements better? Were they Hewitt-made ones? Is there some data demonstrating this “better”? Perhaps Phil has a crapometer?
I’d also love to know how the old bearings were taken out and the new ones put in. He might have some lovely bearing tools I don’t know about! Or just a hammer.
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I know you want to reduce every thread to a yah-boo fest and, although I’m happy to give you as many return-raspberries as you like, aren’t you interested in a few facts about wheel bearing, their seals, their qualities, their maintenance and so forth? But perhaps you’re enjoying being a BikerPhil “It’s crap if I have something else” fan instead?
You could try drinking coffee or tea instead of that glass of vitriol for breakfast. 🙂
I’ve got better tools than
I’ve got better tools than you’ll ever have, and the knowledge how to use them too.
Biker Phil wrote:
Your talk of knobs and better tools is just too exciting. Well, for you perhaps. There could be a Cugel-Phil tool comparison to see who has the
biggestbest tool but this is risking rudeness, which I would never do, as you know.Would you like to tell me, though, that all my tools are crap if the brand is not the same as that of your own items? Go on, go on, go on – you know you want to. 🙂
Oh, by the way, you missed my request for details of various things, namely:
* What bearings did you use to replace those “crap” Hunt EZO bearings when you “engineered” a fix to your mates wheels? Not more EZOs surely!?
* Which tools and techniques do you use to take out wheel bearings and put new ones in? I might learn some “engineering” from you if you tellus.
* Does Mr Hewitt design and make his own rims, spokes and hubs, including the bearings? I had a look at his website but, strangely, it doesn’t give any details of what’s in his custom wheels or how much they cost. As you tell us all that the Hewitts will be not just better than Hunts and everything else but also cheaper for the same sort of thing, it would be interesting to know the details.
TBH each of you is coming
TBH each of you is coming across as a bit of a ‘tool’ in this thread.
Perhaps it’s time to call it quits and agree to disagree? Maybe take a slow breath and get a life.
Simon E wrote:
I fail to see why yahing and booing should be mocked! It’s the standard mode in this forum! 🙂
But you may be right. I will be a good boy.
Yet I’d still like Phil to give answers to the questions I put to him concerning his tools & techniques for replacing wheel bearings; and (since he mentioned that his tools were “better”) what tools he recommends and why.
It would be also good to know more from Phil about Hewitt wheels, since the Hewitt website gives no information at all about them. Why are they the best Phil has ever used, other than because he likes them and hasn’t had one fail? (I have all sorts of wheels and other things that have those characteristics. It means little).
Are Hewitt wheels faster, stronger, less expensive than similar wheels from others and how are these betterments measured and compared? Phil gives no parameters or data at all although he claims this is the case. Let’s hear of the parameters and their relative values across various wheelsets.
Buying different wheels for a bike is a possibly one of the first major upgrades many of us make to a complete-bike purchase, since so many bikes are sold with rather poor wheels. We can use manufacturer adverts and PR to compare alternative wheels but this is hardly the best method of comaprison.
Sadly, cycling website reviews generally don’t actually measure wheel behaviours either in anything other than an, “I rode them and liked / didn’t like them” way. Unless the differences are very large, it can be impossible to compare wheelsets by going for a ride, since the rider is not a precise measuring device and every ride can have a dozen other factors that vary ride to ride to ride, from weather to the internal gurgles and gushes of the cyclist’s biological gubbins.
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Whilst I personally think the wheels that are the subject of this review are rather a “niche of the niche” product that seem to offer small utility (but something of the opposite, given their probable fragility and olde fashioned tyre tech) even to annual hill climbists, for a lot of money, this doesn’t mean that all Hunt wheels (or even these ones) are “crap”. That’s just an unthinking and uninformed prejudice.
I have a friend just like you
I have a friend just like you. He’s a knob too who thinks he’s always correct, but invariably shows himself up.
Tools. I like it. Very subtle
Tools. I like it. Very subtle.
I have had a set of Mason X
I have had a set of Mason X Hunt 4 Seasons on my winter bike for a few years now and no complaints here. They are relatively cheap and cheerful but they do the job and are robust and fairly lightweight.
You were luckier than me sir.
You were luckier than me sir. My rear rim fell to pieces after an easy eighteen months and I have replaced three noisy bearings over three years of dry riding.
That notable engineer Hambini once referred to Hunt wheels as ‘overpriced junk’ and, while this is harsh, it is true that my DT Swiss and Fulcrum hoops seem to be of much better quality.
mike the bike wrote:
How does a rim fall to pieces? Especially if it had “an easy” eighteen months? I’ve never seen a broken rim except if crashed or ridden over that big concrete kerb at 20mph (or even 15). Do you mean the wheel disassembled itself somehow?
Did you not moan-on at Hunt and get them to fix the thing? They boast that they care about the likes o’ you, breaking their nice wheels, and will fix things. Is it not so?
They’ve sent me a new freehub body for nowt, in the past, when I couldn’t get the lockring to stay put on me new Hunt rear wheel. It turned out I was using the wrong lockring. I’ve still got the spare freehub, 7 years later. 🙂
I enjoy the Hambini lad, apart from a certain inclination to emit a prejudice in a foul-mouthed way, about things he’s taken agin’ ….. but no evidence given. He did intimate that he would be reaming or roasting (perhaps both) Hunt wheels but so far has just shown how to replace a bearing on one. I’m looking forward to it, the ream or roast!
I have three sets of DT wheels of various kinds, all of which are good – but no better or worse than the two sets of Hunts. (They’re all aluminium rimmed). Mind, I do maintain them, with bearing regreasing and the like. Perhaps some new seals will also be a wise thing to put in, if they can be got?
Do you maintain your wheels? How did you take out the noisy bearings and put the new ones in? What was making the noise – dry bearing (no grease) or dirt in there or just poor balls and race?
What does asking how the
What does asking how the noisy bearings were taken out and how the new ones were put in bring to the conversation other than to deflect from your ignorance? And you claim to own two sets of Hunt wheels but seem to think that they use balls in a race? I think you will find that Hunt wheels use sealed bearings. From an engineering perspective, which I did for many years, once a sealed bearing gets noisy, regreasing never solves the issue, it merely covers up the problem temporarily. The people who do this are usually people who think they know more than they actually do. Or are as tight as cramp. As for ‘putting new seals in’, I very much doubt you will find any bearing manufacturer who sells replacement seals for tiny bike bearings!
Biker Phil wrote:
Putting in sealed bearings can, if the proper methods aren’t used, damage the bearings, meaning the bloke in question may have started with one damaged bearing but given himself more if he put new bearings in with a method involving hammering, skewed insertion etc.. Not to say that he did that but it would be interesting to know the full history of his bearing issue.
You seem to be unaware of what a sealed bearing is. Balls in a cage in two co-planar races, with seals, all forming a cartridge.
You were an engineer? Are you sure? You seem to be unaware of what a sealed bearing catridge is and how they’re maintained. All manufacturers and purveyors of such bearings recommend a maintenance regime. Here’s Hunt’s, although you’ll probably use your “engineering experience” to deem it “crap”. 🙂
https://help.huntbikewheels.com/support/solutions/articles/43000558015-bearings-and-how-to-look-after-them
Here’s Ceramic Speed’s bearing maintenance advice:
https://ceramicspeed.com/en-eu/pages/bearing-cleaning-maintenance?
Are they just kidding, do you think? Perhaps they’ve not asked an “engineer”. 🙂
Well – there are websites recommending seal replacement in bicycle sealed bearings if the original seal gets punctured when hooking it off and on during cleaning and regreasing the bearings in their races. So, we could look for them with that Google thing, eh? All bearing specialists sell a vast variety of bearing seals as well as the bearings. Here’s an example:
https://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/All-Oil-Seals/c4747_5571/index.html
Some obsessive marginal gains lads & lasses replace the standard bearing seals, often of the contact kind, with non-contact seals, to gain a half watt or three less friction! How do they do it? Perhaps they make their own seals? Seems unlikely, though.
Cugel wrote:
I can’t find any cartridge bearing seals on that website, just complete bearing assemblies, can you link to a specific replacement seal?
mark1a wrote:
That website page is one offering ….. seals (as its url indicates). But not bicycle wheel hub specific seals for this or that wheelset. I’ll let you Google for the seals needed for the bearing type and brand you want.
As the wheels at issue in this thread seem to be Hunt you’ll be happy to know that, in reply to the question, “Do you sell seals-only to replace any damaged during hub maintenence?” Hunt say:
” ….this is not something we sell on the website but if you do damage [a wheel bearing seal] then please let us know and we can set the order up for you.”
Perhaps other wheel purveyors would do the same, although not many seem to have the high service levels of Hunt.
How does a rim fall to pieces
How does a rim fall to pieces? This Mavic had only had dry summer miles in my old best bike. No jumping off kerbs, no potholes. Just steady dry careful sunny miles. Can you supply any meaningful data as to why this failed other than the obvious? I also had some custom built wheels before I discovered Paul Hewitt. Riding along a straight road with a smooth surface, with 200 dry miles in the wheels, two spokes broke in the front wheel.
Biker Phil wrote:
Ah, “falling to pieces” is a euphemism of the hyperbolic ilk for “cracked”.
Such cracking is generally due to overtightened spokes – or so I read. I’ve never had one. No doubt there are several other reasons, including “badly made rims”. Does Mr Hewitt make his own rims or somehow test all those he buys in for any and every fault?
I got their Adventure Dynamo
I got their Adventure Dynamo wheelset a few years ago. A little over 18,000 miles later in all weather and including a lot of chunky gravel, I really haven’t had to do a thing to them. At one point I tightened a few rear spokes trying to solve a ticking/creaking noise under high power, but it turned out to be the chainring bolts.
Just to add here as well, we
Just to add here as well, we’ve got an intriguing pod discussion coming up on bearings so we can go argue about them under a new article next week…