Hunt Bike Wheels have just doubled their mountain bike offerings with three new wheelsets covering XC racing to all-mountain & enduro, even to DH racing. The standout of the MTB lineup is definitely the new All-Mountain Carbon H_Impact, Hunt’s first carbon off-road wheels with front & rear specific rims and a lifetime crash replacement deal. But don’t miss the light alloy Race XC Wide & no-nonsense tough Downhill Privateer wheelsets, offering exceptional value for the budding mountain bike racer or trail rider…
Hunt All-Mountain Carbon H_Impact enduro wheels
We best know Hunt for their affordable road wheels (which I’ve personally given some good off-road abuse without any issue). But the quickly growing Sussex wheel specialists are mountain bikers too, and they’ve put their best carbon wheel engineers to the task, to create innovation equaling their world’s fastest, wide Limitless Aero wheels. What they’ve come up with is the new H_Impact trail bike wheelset. Working with some top UK DH & enduro talent, Hunt have been bashing through four iterations of the new carbon wheels to be sure they are trail-ready, and downhill-tough. From V1 being tested on the DH circuit to V4 prototypes Hunt created a 21% stronger wheel – all at the same weight thanks to a retuned carbon schedule and a new, more complaint V:Absorb resin.
“I’ve been using the V4 All-Mountain carbon rims for racing and riding; trail, enduro and even downhill for over a year now with over 3,000 miles logged. I was told by the guys at HUNT to give them a hard time and challenge them as much as possible – I’ve been doing exactly that and they’ve stood up to every challenge. They are lightweight, stiff, responsive and strong and I would have no hesitations in recommending them.” – Tom Makin, Steve Peat Syndicate Racing.
How did Hunt build a better carbon all-mountain wheel?
The secret to the All-Mountain Carbon (AMC) H_Impact wheels seems to come from front & rear specific rims, optimized for the different needs of your front & rear wheels – and of course smashing them on the Hunt test rig. Both share the same hookless, tubeless-ready 28mm internal rim profile and general T24/30 UD carbon with 3K reinforced spoke holes. But the 460g (27.5) front rim uses a lower density layup that focuses on improving compliance and grip for cornering with 28 spokes. And in the back the 530g (27.5) rim of the same overall dimensions has a higher-impact carbon layup and 32 spokes for higher strength & rigidity for withstand high-speed impacts.
The High-Impact H_Impact wheels are built for durability, so both wheels feature thickened sidewalls and the vibration absorbing V:Absorb resin. The AMC wheels feature high 3° engagement RapidEngage hubs with six, two-tooth pawls that engage in alternating triplets for 120 points of engagement from three pawls at a time.
Laced with 28 front & 32 rear triple butted J-bend spokes, the Boost-spaced AMC wheelset is offered in 27.5″ (1810g) or 29″ (1878g) and sell for £789 / $799 / 909€. The wheels are available now for pre-order, with free global delivery starting in four weeks – before the middle of August.
Not to be overlooked is their lifetime crash replacement warranty. So long as the owner doesn’t put them on a downhill bike (single crown forks only), if you break one of these carbon wheels while riding, Hunt will get you on a new wheel.
Hunt Downhill Privateer, super tough alloy DH mountain bike wheels
OK, so say you do need some DH wheels… for just £359 / $429 USD / €419 Hunt has a new alloy option called the Downhill Privateer. With a wide 26mm tubeless-ready internal, this is meant to be “no nonsense, super tough DH wheelset” for the budding DH rider – living out of a smelly van driving race-to-race.
No need to break the bank to go fast downhill, the DHP wheels come in 27.5″ (2136g) and 29″ (2220g), and have been raced to DH podiums in the UK & abroad – from the Fort William downhills to Whistler’s BC Cup races.
The higher tensile strength 6069-T6 alloy rims feature thick sidewalls to resist damage from big rock strikes, and burly 32/36 spoke lacing spreads the loads from repeated impacts, and the odd hard landing after thinking it was wise to gap the train tracks! (Yeah, that’s Hunt graphic designer Dom Knight sending the DHP wheels over the Pemberton Train Gap, because… product development?)
The DHP wheels feature the same 3° RapidEngage hub internals as the new Boost-spaced AM carbon wheels, but scaled up in bigger, more DH-capable hubs to 157mm rear wheel spacing (or 150 with adapters). They again get triple-butted spokes but not as thin in the middle, plus brass nipples. The new alloy Downhill Privateer wheels are in stock & available now.
Hunt Race XC Wide, lightweight alloy trail mountain bike wheels
Lastly, the new alloy Race XC Wide sits on almost the opposite spectrum, racing cross-country and riding more reasonable trails (no train gaps for me, please & thank you.) Paring back their all-rounder XC Wide singletrack wheels, Hunt figured they could make a 150g lighter weight race version of the alloy wheelset that could still keep all of the trail-ready strength.
To do that the Race XC rims switch to higher strength 6069-T6 alloy and drop a millimeter to 24mm wide internal. The new rim maintains the same wheel stiffness, and these 29er-only wheels are superlight at 1517g. But Hunt says they are still built to handle technical rooted & rocky XC courses, and are meant for everything from your short travel XC bike up to the latest mid-travel ‘downcountry’ trail bikes.
The tubeless-ready, H-lock bead alloy RXC wheels get 5° hub engagement, 28 straight pull butted spokes, alloy nipples, 6-bolt rotor mounts, Boost spacing & Shimano or SRAM freehubs. They are available to pre-order now for £399 / $469 USD / €459, with delivery at the end of August 2019.
