Test Hunt 35 Carbon Gravel: The British wheel manufacturer is currently very popular - and if you want to know why, all you have to do is ride a wheel set like the Hunt 35 Carbon Gravel. From the weight to the performance to the sound, everything is just right - and fortunately, the price tag is right too.
Rim or disc brakes? That was never the question with gravel bikes. The young breed is a child of the new era; compromises in terms of tire width, frame shape or rim material never had to be made with gravel bikes. And so it's no wonder that a lightweight carbon wheel set is at the top of the wish list of many gravel fans.
Hunt Wheels: Popular manufacturer with high-quality products
One name that keeps cropping up is Hunt. The British are heavily represented in gravel racing and don't necessarily charge a high price for it. Of course, when aerodynamics and weight are maximized, it can be a bit more expensive. But even for just under 1.000 For €100, you get a set of wheels from Hunt that has no weaknesses – but many strengths.
Wide, lightweight aero rims
Curtain up for the Hunt 35 Carbon Gravel for 999 Euro, which we'll first put on the scales: 1.499 grams including tubeless tape, divided into 684 for the front and 815 for the rear wheel – you can't ask for less in this price range, although the Brits recently introduced a gravel wheelset with flat aluminum rims that costs a third less but weighs almost 100 grams less. But gravel racers naturally also want aerodynamics, and that means deep carbon rims are unavoidable. At 35 mm, this aspect isn't exaggerated; but at moderate speeds, deeper rims aren't necessary either.
When graveling, it is of course important that the width is right. With an internal dimension of 25 mm plus the advantage of the hookless shape, the Hunt 35 Carbon Gravel can be used with tires up to 64 mm wide; according to the manufacturer, the minimum tire width is 29 mm. The range of applications is therefore wide, from all-road bikes to trail gravelers. Hunt favors 40 mm tires, which are currently the standard for graveling. You can see why after fitting them: You can see a smooth transition from the rim to the tire, especially since the hookless shape of the former constricts the latter less; the Schwalbe G-One Speed is also exactly 40 mm wide and therefore only arches a few millimeters over the rim flank at the sides.
Hunt also uses aerodynamically favorable bladed spokes for the medium-high gravel wheelset - 24 at the front and 28 at the back, which makes the rear wheel even more stable. The double-crossed spokes touch each other, but this does not lead to any noise, which is an indication of the high rigidity of the wheelset. The "pillar" spokes are reinforced at the bend of the head to provide more stability at this critical point; replacement spokes and tubeless valves are included in the delivery. The rims are asymmetrical, although this is hardly visible to the naked eye.
Easy tire mounting thanks to hookless rim flank
After the extremely easy installation - a typical feature of hookless rims - the tires remain permanently sealed; even after several days of standing, you can almost save yourself the trouble of re-pumping. With just under 2 bar, you can go off-road, and compared to the 1.800 gram standard wheel set, you can say straight away: 300 grams less "rotating mass" is definitely noticeable. The bike is a bit easier to handle and seems more agile, although admittedly you get used to this effect pretty quickly. The Hunt wheels also seem very stiff: whether you're accelerating or braking, there's no noise from the brake discs when you're out of the saddle. In direct comparison to similarly constructed wheel sets, the Hunt 35 Carbon Gravel feels rather tight, whether on the comfortable steel gravel bike or on the super-stiff Bulls Machete - if you notice this, you can of course counteract it with 45er tires.
The six-pawl freewheel also contributes to the fast ride of this wheel set. When you stop pedaling, you hear a bright, distinctive whirring sound; but above all, you can feel that the freewheel is not slowing you down at all. The low pressure angle of just 5° (72 grid points) means that the free play when pedaling is very small. Hunt is currently switching to an in-house toothed disc freewheel, which may run with even less resistance, but has a larger pressure angle with 36 teeth.
In continuous use, even the odd hard impact leaves no trace; after a few hundred kilometers, the concentricity is top notch. And the wheelset looks great thanks to the subtle but unmistakable decor, which signals to other gravel fans: whoever sits on this bike has made a good choice when it comes to wheelset.