AudioSQ

I'm thinking of purchasing the Hunt 34 Aero Wide wheelset, but am not sure it's a significant improvement over what I currently have. I'm admittedly pretty ignorant when it comes to rims, but the numbers look pretty close outside of depth. I mostly ride flat terrain and don't really consider myself a serious rider. I'm open to other suggestions for around $600 or just staying put if I can't really make a decent improvement for that price. Comparison to my current stock wheelset below.

Syncros RP2 (Current)
Inner: 19
Outer: 24
Depth: 24
Weight 1,740

Hunt Aero Wide Disc
Inner: 20
Outer: 26
Depth: 34
Weight: 1,548

oris

What bike are you planning on putting these wheels on? If it's truly flat terrain, I'd go bigger in depth.

You're not going to get huge gains in speed or power but the quality of the ride will be better in terms of acceleration and being able to hold speed better.

AudioSQ

Scott Addict 20 Endurance. I guess my biggest hope is to use less energy in keeping my pace so I have more energy to go longer. Deeper seems to be a lot more expensive and I also worry about crosswinds.

tFUnK

You'll definitely notice the 200g savings.

AudioSQ

What about the cheap Chinese carbon wheels on eBay? They aren't really any lighter than my current set, but they are deeper than the Hunt 34s. Would they be a better choice?

PeteHski

Honestly you would be better off just concentrating on your own performance at this point. A cheap set of Chinese carbon aero rims isn't going to be a game-changer for you. If you were at the sharp end of TT racing then the aero might make all the difference, but otherwise you will struggle to notice any gain. Day-to-day variations in wind will be far greater.

Chandne

I think you will notice the 200 gram difference but unless you are in a really windy area, I'd go deeper like the Zipp 303s or something similar. We get pretty gusty Spring winds here in mountainous Colorado and that 35mm-45mm is about the max I like. In fact, I just ordered some Zipp 303 Firecrests but that have the cheaper 303S. I have used the ENVE 3.4s a few years ago and loved that depth- light and not too deep.

tFUnK

I've gone the Chinese clincher route on several occasions and have been mostly happy. I say mostly because I feel like the actual weights come in higher than what's written in the specs page, but I haven't suffered any catastrophic failures, either. Generic Chinese or known brand, you should be able to find plenty of 40-50mm deep wheels that hit the 1500g mark.

AudioSQ

What? Work on my own performance instead of trying to buy my gains! 😛

Obviously working on me, and making sure I get proper nutrition will make the biggest difference. That doesn't mean I can't also seek improvements via gear simultaneously.

I'm not big on wasting money though. If a new wheelset won't offer any real improvement then I'm more than happy to spend the money on more audio gear.

I think marginal improvements over a long distance could add up. If new wheels would increase my pace by 5 second per mile then after 60 miles that's five minutes. When riding alone I could care less if it takes me five more minutes, but in a group.. that may be significant. I have no idea how much of a difference wheels would make though. I'm ignorant and tend to lean towards the suggestions that save me money. Thanks for the feedback.

Noahma

I cant answer to the differences between the wheels, but I have a set of the Hunts on my Orca, and they are nice! The Hunt freehub though, if you don't like a noisy hub they may not be the ones you want. The free hub sounds like a hive of angry bees lol. Nice wheels though.

smashndash

I don't the difference is worth it. Save up for a really light (~1300g) wheelset or a deep (40mm+) wheelset. Or something with carbon spokes. Or something wider. Buying a marginally better version of your current wheels doesn't make sense when you look at the variety of options available.

sw20

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/prime-rr-50...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
I bought these.

PeteHski

I was just trying to set realistic expectations for a cheap Chinese or other budget wheelset vs the quite reasonable budget wheels you are already riding. Are they really going to make a significant difference when riding in a group? I don't think so, given that when you are riding in a group even the marginal aero gains will be diluted by riding in the wheels. Nothing wrong with an upgrade, especially a wheel upgrade, but don't expect miracles here. Even if you threw £12k at a complete pro level aero bike, your relative performance in a group ride would still barely change. It really is mostly about the rider with massively diminishing returns on bike expenditure.

GhostRider62

Saving 5 seconds per mile with wheels? Impossible. Unless one is comparing MA40 box section with 35 mm wide Gators to a fast rim and faster tire. Going from normal, modern 35 mm rims to 60 mm rims might get you 1 second from aerodynamics or a touch more per mile with equal tires. Hambini seems to like Hunt wheels even less than Flo wheels.

For $600 max wheel price, I would focus on top of the line tires and forget wheel aerodynamics, which are more marginal and vastly more expensive than $600.

aliasfox

I’ve heard that Hunt is often… optimistic about their wheel weights. Personally, I’d save up a bit more and go for Light Bicycle’s options - about $1k can get you a 46mm deep rim on DT Swiss 240 hubs, or cheaper if you go with 350s.

AudioSQ

I just stuck with the stock wheels. I'm not out here trying to set records so spending a grand to save myself a minute on a 60 mile ride, for me personally, wasn't a worthy investment.

SoSmellyAir

The point of deeper wheels is not to save you a minute per ride. (You can save a minute just by making one more green traffic light.) Deeper wheels generate a more pleasing thrum as you are riding along so you feel (without being much) faster.

msu2001la

Cyclingtips has a pretty thorough review of these wheels: https://cyclingtips.com/2020/10/hunt...eelset-review/

Any performance gains here are marginal (at best). 34mm is shallow for an aero wheel and the wheels they compare it to are also not particularly aerodynamic wheelsets. Hunts own testing shows less than 3 watts of difference between this and the other 3 wheels that they tested against (Mavic Cosmic Elite, DT Swiss 1600 Spline, Zipp 30 course, Zipp 202 NSW). That's at 45kph (28mph).

That said, $600 seems like a good price for a set of relatively light, tubeless ready alloy wheels with decent quality hubs/spokes. I think Hunt probably oversells the "aero" benefits, but that doesn't mean these are bad.

urbanknight

This is the best (and most honest) reason to get deep aero wheels yet!

I'm surprised so many people claim you will "notice" 200g. If so, ditch your phone for another 200g!

msu2001la

I always assumed the more pleasing thrum was exclusive to carbon, rather than related to depth. Does a 34mm depth alloy wheel really provide that sound?

msu2001la

With rotational mass and whatnot, you'd really need to strap your phone to your wheel to see if you "notice" the difference.

Just make sure you bought the insurance...

Iride01 

I'd save for an absolutely better wheelset or a new bike. I wouldn't change from one mediocre wheelset to a slightly less mediocre wheelset.

If you aren't already running some very low rolling resistance tires and tubes (if not tubeless), then the money you want to spend on a wheel set will buy quite a few great tires with low RR.

SoSmellyAir

Thank you! Another reason is to have carbon fiber everything, except the stem, for which there is no point.

You would notice 200 g of the weight reduction if mostly from the rims (like I did going from Mavic Aksium to Mavic Ksyrium Elite) due to the reduction in rotational inertia. But it would be hard to notice a 200 g weight reduction in the hubs. Either way I would always bring my mobile phone.

urbanknight

Well yeah, if you concentrated all 200g on one part of the rim instead of evenly distributed throughout, I'd definitely notice that!!!

urbanknight

Meh, I once built a pair of 1400g wheels to replace the 2000g wheels that came on the bike (390g vs 510g each rim). Even then, I didn't really "notice" anything. I still like to think I got some gains, but nothing made me go "Wow! I can feel the extra speed!"