Hunt tubeless 36 Carbon Wide Aero road wheelset is race-ready

Salice

Hi VeloKitty. Thanks for your response. You definitely make a good point, and in our experience we have also found filament wound construction methods can be really good on certain products. That said, on bicycle rims we have foundsome limitations with this particular fabrication technique. Primarily, these limitations come in the form of restrictions on how you can choose to lay up. As you must wind in a certain direction around a mandrel, it means you can’t always ensure strength in the directions an engineer would choose for a rim e.g. along the rim edge. Specifically, in our experience of testing we have found some filament-wound rim beds to fail due to the lack of perpendicular strength in this area. From some research, it appears FSE rims have a non-filament wound top/visible layer of carbon fibre (the outer layer you see on FSE rims is not actually filament wound) so maybe this is how they have dealt with this issue, or maybe they have a technique that does not have these issues.

In terms of QC and variability in quality, you’re absolutely right this is something that the FW technique certainly helps with, but we’d say in our experience that working closelywith the world’s best carbon rim makers (utilising the more adaptable hand layup methods) with high levels of controlled processes for production and QC can produce a better product, as strength can be designed in in ways it may not be possible with FW. We really do stand behind our carbon rim suppliers, and so long as they continue to produce to the standard that they do, the above-mentioned benefits of FW are not of as much significance as if we were just working with ‘any given’ rim producer. Interestingly, we have been offered FW rims by some suppliers at significantly lower prices than we pay for our hand-laid carbon rims, as obviously less cost is involved (generally speaking) when working with machines than with a team of expert technicians. It’s the same as with a watch or pair of shoes – if an expert cobbler or watch maker has made either with their hands, it would generally cost more than you would if it was made by a machine.

You also make a good point on the voids and their infrequency associated with FW, although it is definitely worth remembering that voids are as much associated with other parts of the production process (i.e. the resin, how it’s baked, how the pressure is added) as it is with the layup process. Going back to the point made above, FW will remove voids for the most part, but working with experts at lay-up planning and processes will have the same effect. Having strictly controlled resin/pre-preg handling, pressure and heating processes will also do similar by preventing bubbles and moisture creating voids (the effect on voids from FW vs Hand-lay-up is completely independent of these processes) – when visiting our carbon rim supplier in Taiwan a few weeks ago, our newly-hired senior wheel engineer was amazed at just how perfectly smooth and well-finished the rims were once the molds were opened. We’d absolutely be open to using the FW method in the future if the above limitations (surrounding the freedom of layup application to ensure strength in the right areas) are worked around, and we’re still testing with FW rims ongoing – but we aren’t going to jump into producing with them just yet. Obviously, when such a time comes (and it may well do soon) that FW construction offers a better product and a competitive option for riders, then we’d be very keen to adopt this. Thanks for the heads up with the CT article on FSE rims – certainly some interesting reading and something we’ll always consider as we’re making decisions with suppliers ongoing.

Ollie…I am truly impressed with your honest and thorough answer the the above questions, and appreciate that as a potential customer. Thank you for taking the time to answer questions that could have been pushed aside or ignored. It shows great dedication and confidence to pull back the curtain and address each issue separately.

From an owner of various Hunt wheels, i can honesty say they offer great value and the produce is of a high quality. I current run a set of Hunt 30 gravel on an adventure bike, Hunt 50s on my race bike and i’m shortly going to buy a set of the 36 rim version from my French alp climbing bike.

I have had all sorts of brands from Zipp, DT swiss, Mavic etc. and Hunt wheels are up there with the best, but don’t break the bank. But, thats just my opinion.