Plainsman

Wheel shopping, and bang for the buck the Hunt wheels look to be hard to beat, but I've never seen them in person. I'm considering either the Hunt 33s or the Hunt 44 Aerodynamicist, tubeless road disc versions. Both are under 1500 grams a pair (the 33s are actually under 1400g and <$1000 USD). Can anyone who has used them offer up some experience based pros/cons? Open to other carbon wheel options out there, but don't want to look at offerings much over $1000 (For instance, I would consider the Zipp 303 Firecrest slightly out of range). Thanks!

robbyville

I haven’t heard of them before. If you don’t get any viable feedback lots of good reviews on LightBicycle wheels which would meet your needs. Yoeleo and Farsport are other options as well.

good luck!

noodle soup

+1.

I’ve read comments about Hunt hubs being a little sketchy, which is why I went with Light Bicycle wheels, and DT Swiss hubs.

Bah Humbug

Hunt is...

Get LB or a more reputable major brand.

Noctilux.95

Hunt is low end Chinese rims/hubs, with western marketing. There are many, many, better options out there.

Plainsman

Like the Falcon Pro 45s? I’m not familiar with Light Bicycles brand but sounds like many of you are. Looks like they are hooked rims?

Plainsman

Looks like LB will still run me somewhere in the neighborhood of $1400 though, which would be closer to Zipps, but beyond what I was hoping to spend.

melikebikey35

I had a pair of the Hunt Aero 50s and they were total garbage.
I have a pair of Light Bicycles AR36 (DT 240s hubs) and they are very good.

Anything in the Falcon or Falcon Pro range will be very good...AR46/45 for an all-round wheel, AR36/35 if weight/wind is more of a priority, or AR56/55 if aero is.


AR46 with DT 350 hubs and CX Ray spokes with run you $800-900, depending on shipping option and will be 1000x better than anything you'll get from Hunt.

tomato coupe

You can send the Hunts back in the first 60 days if you don't like them.

noodle soup

60 days of use isn’t likely to show issues with the hubs.

bahula03

Just out of curiosity and context, what made the Hunts total garbage?

melikebikey35

The hubs, and overall stiffness (i.e. lack thereof). And their claimed weights are optimic at best...mine were 100g+ over.

If they were a priced ~$500 then I'd be less harsh towards them. But at $1000-1600 there are far better options.

jmm77

I've put about 3000km on my Hunt Carbon Gravel and they have been solid. My other bike has LB WR38 and I would rate them better than Hunt but also more expensive.

Plainsman

Maybe this is a silly question, but I've been doing a little reading, and aren't the Light Bicycle Wheels also Chinese wheels? (Like Hunt)? Boyd also has a new series out called the Prologue. The run $1050.00, but are a bit heavier than the offerings from Hunt or LB (>1500g for the pair). It looks like I could hover around $1200 for some Falcon WR45s or bump up a bit to $1300 - $1350 and have an AR45 Pro set. This is more than I wanted to spend, but I did see they have a flyweight option that puts a wheelset at just over 1300g, which is crazy light in my limited book. Not sure what qualifies someone to ride a flyweight wheel though. I average around 150 pounds. Must admit I'm intrigued by LB at the moment though.

Sy Reene

Can't speak to them, but another brand I came across is Scribe
eg. https://scribecycling.com/collection...de-42-d-1-442g

WhyFi

LB is Chinese is a carbon manufacturer - they make the rims, but they're lacing them to hubs made by other manufacturers (DT Swiss is the most commonly recommended, but they offer a handful of good quality hubs with Novatec being their budget option). Hunt seems to be taking off-the-shelf parts and re-branding/obfuscating their manufacture.

Plainsman

Thanks. I don't live in the camp of Chinese = poor quality. I know that MANY of the carbon frames and parts with good reps come from the China market (Giant for ex). I also understand that there are definitely unknowns in the China market as well. When I spec'd the LB wheel I was looking at, I chose a DT Swiss 240 hub (I need to research them, because that was a random pick). Right now LB has me intrigued though. May be a little on the $ side compared to what I was looking for, but I can also get a lifetime warranty on the wheel, which seems like a pretty good deal. I'll keep my eyes open, and I'm starting to look for online reviews as well.

Plainsman

Looks like all LB wheels have hooked rims though. I'm just getting my feet wet in the whole hooked vs. hookless debate. Can anyone shed any light? I plan to run tubeless (I have read A LOT about tubed versus tubeless over the past few years). I've just decided I want to give it a shot., but I'll still carry a tube in case of a major road failure.

noodle soup

If you are looking for reviews, this thread has lots of information.

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...le-wheels.html

WhyFi

You can opt for hookless when you're spec'ing out a custom build.

I've been running tubeless exclusively for years, so I'm committed to it and going hookless wasn't much of a leap of faith. If you haven't been running tubeless, or if you don't already *know* that you want to run tubeless because of regular flatting, I'd have some reservations about recommending hookless/exclusively tubeless. Like most things, hookless is a trade-off. Pro: slightly lower weight, better against impacts, smoother/more aero tire/rim transition, lower production cost (ideally, this would be passed on to the consumer). Con: lower max PSI (most people really don't need to worry about this, though), you can only run tubeless tires (though you can run them with tubes) and not all tubeless tires are approved for hookless rims (the Conti GP5k TL being the most prominent).

In my case, rather than go with LB, I opted for the Zipp 303S - no offense to LB, but if I'm going to hang myself out there with newer tech, I'd rather have a company like Zipp behind me and go with a something that's hookless starting from the design phase, as opposed to a tick-box option (I'll also admit that the lead time was also a big factor - I'm impatient).

For hooked rims/wheelsets, I'd have no reservations about LB.

cuevélo

Light Bicycle will lay up pretty much any rim for you hookless if you ask. The impression I got when I asked about the AR45s was that they would build the two rims for me specifically, not just remove the hook on a complete rim.

melikebikey35

There is a substantial difference between the WR and AR, so you need to pick the one that is right for your riding conditions, and prefered tire size. With a 25mm inner width, and a 32mm outer the WR is designed for gravel use and the wider tires that go with it. Personally, I wouldn't go narrower than a 30c tire on them, especially if going hookless. In which case, I'd say 32c at the minimum.

If you are riding road and prefer 25-28c tires, than go with the AR model. At 150lbs, you'll be fine with the flyweight version. Once you get up to ~170 lbs it seems like LB recommends sticking to the standard version, or flyweight on the front only.

Seattle Forrest

DT 240s are excellent.

Plainsman

Thanks, that is good info. Sounds like I'm safe for the flyweight option then if I choose to do so. The Giant Defy comes stock with 32c road tires. I might one day venture out for some light gravel, but I figure I'll have the aluminum Giant wheels (PR-2) for that. I don't see myself running road tires under 28c. Wondering if the WR with hooked rims would work for me, and allow me to to go as low as a 28c. I like the thought that I could also mount a 35c Gravel King (or even 38) if the mood should ever strike me to try the LB wheels on gravel though.

robbyville

Hi again,
I started the Lightbicycle wheels thread over two years ago now. I'm ashamed to admit that I don't even remember which model wheel I have. I got mine through their North American Distributor since they had Industry Nine hubs which I'm a big fan of. I can't tell you if mine are hooked or hookless but they are tubeless compatible and I've run them tubeless from the day they were received and continue to do so now. After two years of constant riding, pothole hitting, and general stupidity they are as perfectly true now as the day they were unboxed. I don't really know of anyone who has had challenges with them from a quality stand point.

There are a ton of great options for wheels, I'm sure almost all at these prices are solid so I don't want to take away from the joy of selection. But I can say that I think you will be very happy if you choose to go the LB Route.