Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 40 total)
  • New Wheels: How do Hunt stack up?
  • mrmoofo
    Full Member

    Having sneaked a BFe frame in at Christmas time, I now need some new wheels – on a “as cheap as I can get” basis.
    I have alway bought wheels with Hope Hubs – as they have never let me down, but on a variety of rims. That said I have been using a set of Spank 27.5 wheels on a HT that have been brilliant.

    Hopes are now quite expensive – and I bought a back one with the first incarnation of a wide rim – which seems very “soft” , to run. mullet set up. And stock seems to be hard to get. One option is to buy a 29 front and run the BFe as a mullet with the 27.5 Hope wheel and a 2.8 tyre

    Hunt are the new kid in town ( in fact I had coffee outside of their warehouse on Thursday) – I know they run novotech hubs. How good are they ….
    The fact that they have stock is also a big attraction.

    Any experiences / thoughts

    tuboflard
    Full Member

    Seems to be a bit of split opinion, personally they’ve been great for me. Got a mix of 27.5 and 29 Enduro wheels from them and they’ve been faultless. Some comments that the rims are soft but I’ve not experienced that; maybe I don’t ride that hard or run too low pressures mind.

    Customer service is first class from them too, I think they missed out the valves on the delivery for me once and they arrived 48 hours later with a free water bottle and a few other free bits too.

    jedi
    Full Member

    I got carbons, they are awsum

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    Catalogue rims and hubs rather than designed in house iirc but non the worse than any other rebadged wheelset from someone else. If the price is right and they have stock you could do worse so why not

    hatter
    Full Member

    Kinlin rims, Pillar spokes and Novatech hubs, pretty much the definition of ‘nowt special’ but the stickers are nice and it saves you the faff of putting them together yourself.

    Our of your choices I’d go Hope for the long term hub spares support if the budget allows.

    thepurist
    Full Member

    Hunt have been fine for me, some people on here have dinged rims but the only damage on mine was from an impact that would’ve done the same for many other rims. I’d happily buy them again, especially as they’ve apparently got tougher rims in the new version.

    steveh
    Full Member

    Everyone I know who’s had Hunt wheels has had multiple problems with them, from many dented rims (to the point of tubeless failure) on fairly innocuous stuff, to freehubs and other faults. They appear from what I’ve seen to be a triumph of marketing over reality.

    kelvin
    Full Member

    Mine have done many years now, on the gravel bike and the full sus. The TrailWide rims have dinged… but still hold air. Hubs have been faultless. Hope are my default hub normally (and BB), and it’s true about long term spares being a big plus point for them. Hunt’s choice of rim are a better trade of between weight and strength than Hope hoops though IMHO, if weight matters to you. If you want tougher, Hunt offer other stronger options than TrailWide, which still work out lighter than Hope’s offerings. Really want tough and long lasting? Hope hubs and appropriate DT rims probably the best option.

    uggski
    Full Member

    Like previous comments above. They really split opinion. Especially amongst people who know someone who has them. I have a set of trailwides in version 1 29 flavour. As above I dinged them casing a jump onto the edge which was lined with a log. Probably would have dinged any other rim. Very small ding that I have to look for. I know a few people who have them and they all seem happy. I guess if you are going to be smashing through Rock Gardens at full speed then you will need a tougher rim but that goes for a lot of wheels out there.

    Ridden a few Bike Parks and lots of rocky runs like Ard Rock and still running fine two years later. You get what you pay for. So far I have been happy with them. Would I buy them again, yes, no question and I believe V2 is slightly tougher.

    I am biased as an owner but I do think they are a good balance of price, lightness and reliability.

    mrmoofo
    Full Member

    Okay, thanks all
    Will buy a Hope frontie and run mullet for a while

    jimdubleyou
    Full Member

    Have a chat with your LBS – mine were very competitive when I needed a new set of gravel wheels.

    I got some DT Swiss 350s & some H-plus sons rims built up for under £400.

    tall_martin
    Full Member

    I have some 3 year old hunt cc.

    Spoke pulled thought a rim. They picked it up with a courier, re rimmed it and delivered it back promptly.

    Freehub broke after a year and a half. It was replaced under warranty within 48h.

    Nowt special in bits, but that was pretty good customer service.

    Bang on states weight.

    garethjw
    Full Member

    I agree with what jimdubleyou is suggesting- a good bike shop can build you a really good set of wheels.

    stingmered
    Full Member

    Try the Sonder stuff. I’ve had a pair on a gravel bike for 3+ years and they are in perfect condition. I’m usually fairly hard on rims and haven’t spared these, constantly running the pressures too low and tw4tting them off rocks, but to no ill effects at all, true and round as day 1. The other morning on a road descent (in the dark and fog!) I hit a huge pothole doing 50km. After soiling, then congratulating myself for staying on I was absolutely dumbfounded that a) the tyre was still up and b) the rum was good.
    Just got a pair of their Alpha 27.5 on the hard tail. If they’re half as robust I’ll be pleased.

    JonEdwards
    Free Member

    I’m in the “avoid like the plague” camp.

    Put 6 dinks in my rear Trailwide in the first 2 rides. That was with me being 10stone and using a 1.4kg Tough casing tyre run pretty hard. Some of them were big enough to deform the spoke bed. I didn’t feel *any* of them happen. No CLANK “ooh that’s a rock”. Just get home and notice the big flat spot.

    Hunt were gracious enough to take it back for a rebuild with an “oh, we’ve never heard of this happening before…” (!). Except they didn’t bother telling me they’d run out of rims, so it was a month wait, and then it only got expedited when I spotted Cotic had just had a Trailwide drop and I rang them up to find out what was happening. Then it took 3 more calls to get it back – every time it was “oh it’s just being done now, it’ll go out tomorrow”. End result was 6 weeks, in the middle of summer, unable to ride my new bike. Very nice and friendly on the phone, very apologetic, utterly useless in the actual practical sense of getting stuff done.

    New rim *with a Rimpact in*, still picked up dents, although at a (slightly) slower rate. It wasn’t very well tensioned and went wobbly pretty quick.

    At the time I was un-employed, but as soon as I got a proper job back, first paycheck went on Hope hubs/DT rims/Sapim spokes, for a build that was a hair heavier than the Trailwides, but a lot lighter than Endurowides and they still haven’t got a mark on them, despite being caned unmercifully.

    If I was desperate to get an off-the-shelf wheelset that wasn’t built with DT rims, I’d look at Just Riding Along, as the road wheels I’ve had from them have been faultless, and far and away the most accurate, straightest, tightest builds I’ve seen.

    tenfoot
    Full Member

    I like mine but my rear Trail Wide developed a radial crack around 10cm long. It was a V1 rim, which Hunt have replaced under warranty with a V2. I was quite disappointed because I live in the South East, so don’t hit any big rocks, don’t jump off anything higher than 2ft and I’m well within the weight limit.

    There was no question about it being replaced but it did take from late July to mid December to get the wheel back, mainly because of the ongoing global supply problems.

    I have since become aware of someone else with the same issue. Again on V1 rims, so I’m hoping the V2 will be a bit more durable.

    deanfbm
    Free Member

    My experience is bad, exploded freehubs, dented to point of write off and short bearing life.

    Can’t recommend nukeproof horizon v2 enough for a similar price.

    zippykona
    Full Member

    So far mine are fine.
    What I do like is the fact that you can phone them up, what I love even more is the fact that when I received no answer, 5 minutes later they called me back.
    Top service.

    Pauly
    Full Member

    @jedi – why are they “awsum” in your opinion?

    jedi
    Full Member

    The carbons are cheaper than another I know of and have lifetime warranty

    boxelder
    Full Member

    Alloy nipples – I’ve had 5 fail across two wheelsets ( one gravel, one MTB). Soft rims too.

    vdubber67
    Free Member

    I don’t think I could ever bring myself to buy Hunt wheels due to the way they’re marketed (stickered up catalogue parts? – no sir, we’re a boutique wheel designer – look, we’ve got an ‘aerodynamics expert’ and we design our own rims)

    It just winds me up for some reason 🙂

    militantmandy
    Free Member

    I have about a million sets (5 I think) across various bikes. For the money they are decent, but far from the last word in wheels. They’re customer support is very, very good though.

    Bearing life has been not great for me and the axles have a habit of seizing in the bearings if not removed fairly often.

    I think the ride quality is great though and the issues are fairly minor. So I am pretty satisfied overall.

    However, if I was buying a new set of wheels tomorrow, I would probably cough up a bit more and get DT Swiss rims with Hope hubs.

    timc
    Free Member

    My experience with hunt wheels as a product isn’t great, despite good customer seevice.

    I had a pair of trail wides and had the following issues.

    Firstly the rim split, about 6 inches around the edge, replaced under warranty but this was riding XC at delamere, simply shouldn’t have happened.

    Then i had a problem with the freehub body failing, paws exploding, this happened twice and was replaced twice under warranty.

    Finally the hub racket for the freehub failed, possibly because of the previous issues, maybe it caused them, and i was then given a whole new wheel.

    Sounds like a good conclusion, but covid, stock issues, i was without my wheel for approx 18 out of 24 months & they had very little & light use, id be shocked if they ever covered 500 miles.

    I now have DT swiss & Hope wheelsets

    lightfighter762
    Free Member

    The trailwides are really fragile IMO and I would use them on a XC or hybrid frame. I went with the endurowide v2 on both enduro sleds and no issues other than the main hub bearings going out pretty quick. 6903s seem to last a season in there tops.

    militantmandy
    Free Member

    The trailwides are really fragile IMO

    Think this is a bit unfair. I did a week absolutely smashing off rocks in Finale and my trail wides held up well. A couple of extra dings in the rear, but easy to fix and didn’t cause any issues on the ride.

    timc
    Free Member

    Its totally fair if you read my experience lol

    malv173
    Free Member

    Save up a bit more if you can and get DT Swiss Ex511s on decent hubs. Pretty much bombproof.

    I got a set built on 350 hubs (36t ratchet) for around £500 including shipping.

    But the hunt hubs aren’t simply Novatech. They have tweaked the internals, apparently.

    But,

    https://fitwheels.eu/wheelset-dt-swiss-350-is-ex511-27-5-1960g-p-61.html

    Less than 400 euros. No brainer.

    mrmoofo
    Full Member

    Thanks all – will look at Nukeproof / Hope

    walleater
    Full Member

    I don’t know what the pricing of Bontrager aluminium wheels is like in the UK, but over here they fit into the ‘quite cheap and quite good’ category. A few issues with the hubshell ring drive spinning in the hub and ideally they’d have a 32h option but they seem to hold up pretty well for ‘normal’ riding.

    TrailriderJim
    Free Member

    a good bike shop can build you a really good set of wheels.

    A good wheel builder (rather than a good bike shop) can, but there’s no guarantee your LBS will have one. I learnt how to build my own last year and haven’t looked back. Provided you start off with the right understanding and you have patience, you can’t go wrong. I can now transfer old hubs onto new rims with minimum expense and faff. Plus the process is genuinely a joy. So much of the issues come down to poor attention to tension in the build process and then poor tyre and pressure choice by the rider, especially on the rear and double especially if on a hardtail.

    boombang
    Free Member

    More of the same here with Hunt (road wheels). Needed wheels fast they had stock, turned up damaged. Some back and forward and paid extra to upgrade to carbon and they turned up well out of true with significant moulding issues around.

    On my MTB I had a set of Hunts too, never managed to bend them but they went out of true after the first ride (spoke tension was variable to say the least) and the bearings lasted a disappointingly short time before needing replacement.

    Went back to DT Swiss factory wheels.

    titusrider
    Free Member

    Plus one on disappointing, my experience was road but awful bearings and sealing, corroded spoke nipples and a rim profile that was an absolute b*st*rd to get tyres off

    Can’t recommend bontrager carbons, snapped 3, Just bought a set of reserves will see how they go!

    kuman
    Free Member

    Can’t fault hunt. My 4 season gravel wheels clocked 10000k before they went slightly out of true and needed new bearings. And I’m not the lightest rider at 94kg.

    endomick
    Free Member

    I’ve build quite a few wheels now and Spank rims have been great and taken more abuse than other brands I’ve built up, I usually go with Hope hubs but my last build was a Spank Hex hub and so far it’s been flawless.
    Shame they currently don’t do the colour options on their wheelsets, but they are definitely worth a mention and consideration.

    mrmoofo
    Full Member

    TBH, I bought my Spanks from here used. Didn’t realise how much they cost new!

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    I’ve got Trailwides and I’m happy enough with them. If I loved the noise of the freehub, I’d be delighted with them. Bought for new frame 2.5 years ago. I would have gone for DT350 and XM481s from fitwheels, but then realised I could have Trailwides delivered, tyred, and spinning me up to the trails the next morning, so I did that instead.

    I like the fast engagement, don’t like the noise. I packed them with dt ratchet grease which shut them up for 2 or 3 rides.

    I folded the rim wall after coming up short on a gap and stopping dead on a root with the back wheel. Hardtail, tyres run on the soft side, mainly riding sand and loam. Not upset at all with the rim. Tube in, rode the rest of the morning. Crash replacement from Hunt for a decent enough price, laced the hub straight over and not a problem since. Apart from the noise!

    Since got a set of 350 on EX511 later anyway for a second set for more smashy riding. Much prefer the sound!

    Neil_Bolton
    Free Member

    @walleater said: I don’t know what the pricing of Bontrager aluminium wheels is like in the UK, but over here they fit into the ‘quite cheap and quite good’ category. A few issues with the hubshell ring drive spinning in the hub and ideally they’d have a 32h option but they seem to hold up pretty well for ‘normal’ riding.

    I’ve had both and if people suggest Hunt rims are soft then Bontrager are even softer. I have had several sets of the Bonty comps and they’re like cheese. I literally threw away the rims and just kept the hubs in the spares box.

    I had a set of Hunt Trail Wides and besides one dent which was rider inflicted, they were great – ran true and smooth for a good year without any intervention. Only reason I’m not using them now is I’ve moved from 27.5 to 29″.

    Now on my 29 bikes I have a set of Hunt XC Race on my XC bike – but for my big boy bike, I went EX511 on i9 Hydra – mainly so they were fit and forget.

    I’ve been happy with Hunt – would recommend.

    DrP
    Full Member

    I’m a bit mixed RE hunts…

    I’ve a set of XC wides on my rigid singlespeed… i’m not overly kind to that thing…race, rip, and shred around on it… Those wheels have been faultless!
    (declaration… I was given them free by HUNT to ride for their XC team.. but… DrP’s opinion can’t be bought…fo shizzle…)

    Based on teh above, i then bought myself a set of the trail wides…
    Smooshed them on pretty much the first outing to BPW down a blue run..
    MULTIPLE dings and dents along the WHOLE rim.
    Quickly gave up and bought some SC Reserves (which are FAB, but at £2k a set they ruddy should be!).
    Not long ago I reincarnated them, and quite quickly realised the rim has also split along its length….
    Emailed Hunt, who didn’t have V1 rims in stock to fix, so i had to wait. I asked if i could have the BETTER, v2 rims. Was told nope.

    TBH, I think there’s better out there for not much more..

    DrP

    muddy@rseguy
    Full Member

    Got a set of 29er XC Wides that I’ve been using for about 20 months and done about 2000kms, not been doing stupid free ride/jumps but I’ve not been particularly gentle with them either, still running tight and true. Lightweight and with nice brrrrrrrrrrrrrr noise from the freehub as well. They look pretty smart too 🙂

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 40 total)

The topic ‘New Wheels: How do Hunt stack up?’ is closed to new replies.