Hunt actually has three new disc brake carbon wheelsets that they have just announced and opened up for pre-order, two for road riding and one for gravel. The lightest is the 30Carbon Aero Disc, then comes the 50Carbon Aero Disc at just 100g heavier. The third, the 30Carbon Gravel Disc shares the same rim profile as the lightest version but gets a few more spokes and a hubset more up to the wet and muddy riding you’ll find on a gravel adventure. All three use hookless carbon rims designed by Hunt, and are all tubeless ready. Built with the same durable components as their other wheels, Hunt develops their wheels to offer a lot of durability and value that they can pass directly onto riders. Check out the full details, pricing and delivery dates after the jump…
30Carbon Aero Disc
The Hunt 30Carbon Aero Disc is their new flagship disc brake road wheelset. It uses an all new rim profile that they’d been working on, at least since we rode their 38mm carbon wheels with them last winter. The new 30mm deep, 26.6mm wide external, 21.3mm wide internal carbon rim is made from a new UD 30/24T carbon fiber, with 3K reinforcement at the spoke holes.
Hunt has said that now with truly disc-specific rim design they have been able to really achieve massive weight savings vs. the equivalent rim brake profiles. Being able to focus exclusively on supporting the tire and dealing with spoke forces has freed them to truly rethink their light rim design, while still producing a wheelset that can stand up to riding rough roads and even off-road gravel tracks.
A new vibration absorbing resin can also be used in the rims that doesn’t have to deal with as high temperatures from rim braking. The lower temp resin makes the rims much less brittle, meaning hugely improved impact resistance.
Hunt is also using a new hookless H-Lock tubeless-ready rim bed profile on the carbon wheels. The rim beads slope slightly in for better strength, and combine with a deep central trough and stepped up shoulders to make a good seal for tubeless setups. The design is also said to better hold the tire bead at low pressures, making it great for wide tire and off-road use. Like all Hunt wheels, you can have them set the wheels up tubeless in their shop, and ship them to you with tubeless tires of your choice already installed and sealed. It eliminates the hassle and potential mess of going tubeless and is actually cheaper than doing it yourself. No reason not to go tubeless!
Hunt says that when they mount up a 25mm Schwalbe Pro One on the new rim, the tire measures out to 29mm, so if you are looking to put these on your new aero disc brake bike (like that new S3 Disc) you might have to double check your frame’s max tire size. Of course there are all the improved grip and lower rolling resistance benefits we’ve been hearing about for quite some time, with maintenance tubeless to add on top.
At a real 1338g with 12mm thru-axles installed (but no tubeless valves), Hunt thinks this may be one of the lightest traditionally spoked road disc clincher wheelsets available, as well as being fairly wide and tubeless compatible. Combine that with their straight pull, Centerlock Race Season Disc alloy hubs and 24 bladed Pillar PSRXTRA Aero spokes front and rear, for compatibility with QR or 12mm axles (more available separately) and Shimano, Campy, or SRAM XD cassettes.
The 30Carbon Aero Disc wheels are up for preorder now for £999 (about $1300/1170€) with delivery slated for late November 2016. If you don’t want to pay the full price on the wheels now while you wait, you can also put down a refundable £99 deposit for any of the wheels. They’ll contact you when the wheels show up and you have a week to pay the balance or get a refund of your deposit. Pretty low risk.
50Carbon Aero Disc
The 50Carbon Aero Disc road wheels share 100% or the same tech with their own deeper carbon rim profile. The 50mm deep rims get the same 26.6mm external & 21.3mm internal widths, also made from the same UD blend of 30/24T carbon fiber, reinforced at the spoke holes with 3K fiber. The deeper wheelset uses the same H-Lock bead/bed shape and is also built with the Race Season Disc hubset and 24 aero spokes front and rear.
With the deeper rim the wheelset comes in just 100g heavier at 1438g. The 50Carbon Aero Disc wheelset can be preordered for a bit more at £1099 (~$1450/1300€). They also have a later delivery date set for late January 2017.
30Carbon Gravel Disc
The 30Carbon Gravel Disc wheels share the same rim as the light 30mm deep road wheels (so 30mm deep, 26.6mm external & 21.3mm internal) but swap in the Hunt 4Season Disc hubset with its j-bend spokes and better seals. Now with 28 aero spokes at both ends the Gravel wheels are rated for cyclocross, gravel, and road riding, the wheelset weight climbs to just 1489g.
The 30Carbon Gravel Disc wheels can also be preordered now for the same £999 as the 30mm road wheels, and they even have a quicker delivery turn around, set for late October.
