Hunt dares us to find a lighter set of modern road bike wheels with their new 1213g Hunt 32 Aerodynamicist UD Carbon Spoke Disc road wheelset. With a 32mm deep aero carbon rim, wide 21mm internal hookless tubeless bead, bladed carbon spokes, fast-engaging centerlock disc brake hubs, free lifetime crash replacement program, and a reasonable price… there’s not much we can say other than these look like a killer set of lightweight wheels that will lighten up your road bike…
Hunt 32 Aerodynamicist UD Carbon Spoke Disc road bike wheels
We actually got a good look at prototypes of these ultralight wheels last fall in Philly, when final details were still a bit limited. Now that we know more, the only thing we can really fault Hunt for here is such a long product name for these latest ultralight carbon road bike climber’s wheels.
But to be fair, they’re trying to communicate a lot of tech packed into these light carbon hoops…
They are in fact, an evolution of a prototype 1151g 36mm deep tubular wheelset that Qhubeka raced last summer at the Tour de France. Hunt even says Qhubeka’a Sergio Henao and Fabio Aru were also secretly race-testing these new hookless tubeless wheels both at the Tour and the ’21 Vuelta a España.
What’s new?
The Aerodynamicist name means these are their top-tier of aero optimized and wind-tunnel tested road wheels, even with the relatively low-profile 32mm depth paired to a wide rounded U-shape 25mm external/21mm rim width. These do appear to be one of Hunt’s first hookless tubeless road bike wheelsets in an effort to shed weight while maintaining strength (after a brief hookless experiment in 2016, when tire options were limited).
But that means they are strictly compatible ONLY with road tubeless tires. Hunt says they’re optimized for 28mm tires for the best aerodynamics. Proper tubeless 25mm tires are also compatible, as are wider tires, but max pressures should never go higher than 72psi/5bar.
We first saw their TaperLock double-nipple threaded & bladed UD Carbon Spoke construction back in 2019, promising even lighter weight AND significantly increased stiffness than the best steel spokes can offer. In just over two and a half year, those carbon spokes made it to the Tour de France and an XC World Cup mountain bike.
Tech details
The new 32 Aerodynamicist Carbon Spoke road wheels are built with 377g UD carbon rims and 2.7g UD carbon spokes, and are laced to a new generation of cold-forged & CNC-machined 7075 alloy Sprint SLC centerlock disc hubs (claimed 95g front & 220g rear).
The hubs feature 48 points of engagement (7.5°) with three sets of triple-toothed pawls, and spin on premium sealed Japanese EZO steel bearings (CeramicSpeed upgrades are also available). Hubs are default for standard 12mm thru-axles, but QR & more obscure thru-axles are also possible. Freehubs are available for Shimano HG, SRAM XD/XD-R & Campagnolo 12sp (no mention of Campy N3W).
Claimed complete wheelsets start at 1213g.
Hunt 32 Aerodynamicist Carbon Spoke road wheels – Pricing & availability
Hunt’s latest lightweight 32 Aerodynamicist Carbon Spoke road wheels sell for £1199 / $1519 / 1379€ as a pair, pre-taped for tubeless, including tubeless valves and the axle setup & freehub of your choice. Plus, they come with Hunt’s top H_Care warranty, offering free lifetime crash replacement for the original wheel owner.
Pre-order today to get the new wheels in about nine weeks’ time, with deliveries starting the first week of May 2022.
