Hunt Wheels – should I avoid?
- Thread starter cool_hand
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AlanW
Guru
- Location
- Not to sure?
Yes l discovered this at the tail end of last week. My Four Season rim braked wheels will be in need of some new rims in the not to distant future. I contacted Hunt and they quoted me £240 to replace the rims x 2 @ £69 each and £80 labour, £40 per wheel. But that quote excludes the cost of any additional spokes. They said whereever possible they would reuse the existing ones. But there is also the carrige cost to factor in.
I asked how much a new set would be, l will admit l nearly fell of my chair when he told me. They are okay wheels, but they all nothing special at all.
I really don't know how they can justify £69 each for a no frills aluminum Chinese rim?
I have three sets of Hunt wheels, it was four sets, but l returned the carbon ones with the carbon spokes as they were a mile out of balance.
There is a thread on here, including a You Tube clip showing just how bad they were. Hunt had three attempts at putting the issue right, but in the end l called time and returned them for a full refund.
I have the Four Season ones (as mentioned above), a set of the Race Aero Wide ones and a set of 40mm Carbon Aero disc wheels, the ones with steel spokes.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
You can get the modern Kinlin tubeless ready rims for £40 each.
AlanW
Guru
- Location
- Not to sure?
Exactly, or even Mavic rims
I have a set of these, from a private ebay sale, brand new, the seller had bought them for a build then had a bad accident so plans changed, asymmetrical rear, set up tubeless (no tape required) on my steel Chesini, very light, I do like them.
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OP
OP
cool_hand
Über Member
The Four Season do use Kinlin rims but they are proprietary to Hunt – the ones you can get for £40 are the same depth but are not tubeless ready.
DogmaStu
Senior Member
Boutique wheel companies like Hunt etc simply buy existing components and have them assembled and branded as 'their's' or provide a design spec to be built up for them, typically the carbon elements. Often it is a combo of these, especially for the more expensive wheel-sets.
Most components and manufacturing-to-design are sourced from China by all brands. You get cheap Chinese and very expensive Chinese and everything in-between with the corresponding quality, some are tat, some are good despite being on the more affordable end, some are very good but expensive, some are ok but not as good as their price suggests.
Best thing is to try before we buy - or at least purchase from a company with a good return if not wanted policy.
Most components and manufacturing-to-design are sourced from China by all brands. You get cheap Chinese and very expensive Chinese and everything in-between with the corresponding quality, some are tat, some are good despite being on the more affordable end, some are very good but expensive, some are ok but not as good as their price suggests.
Best thing is to try before we buy - or at least purchase from a company with a good return if not wanted policy.
OP
OP
cool_hand
Über Member
The Four Seasons rims are Kinlin Rims and are made in Taiwan.
How much could you get for your wheels? Why not consider selling them and then putting that money into custom wheel build - so take the £240 + whatever you get for the 4 Seasons (£100?) that would get you something similar from SPA although you'd probably have to compromise on the spokes, SPA use CX Rays which is a better quality Pillar Spokes but CX Rays are around 3 x the price.
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OP
OP
cool_hand
Über Member
I had to put the wheel build on hold due to some unforeseen expenses although I do plan to pick this up again in the near future, possibly at the end of the month. Have continued to use the stock wheels that came with the bike, they're not as bad as I'd imagined – Alex Rims 18 on 105 Hubs – the Hubs are smooth and quiet. They won't be going to waste as they'll be going onto my other bike once I get the Custom Set.
Milzy
Guru
It doesn’t matter as they are still complete dog $h1t set up tubeless too.
OP
OP
cool_hand
Über Member
Could you provide a link to these 28 deep tubeless ready Kinlin's.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Hunt four seasons are 26 deep, 24 external, 19 internal. In other words, same as these tubeless ready ones at £37.50
OP
OP
cool_hand
Über Member
The 4 Seasons Disc are 26 deep but we were discussing the rimmed 4 Seasons which are 28 deep.
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/products/hunt-4season-aero-road-wheelset-1589g-28deep-22wide
Hunts are tubeless ready but the XC-279 rim is not.
https://kinlin.com.tw/xc-279/
AlanW
Guru
- Location
- Not to sure?
I already have two sets of handbuilt wheels, both on Ultegra 6800 hubs. One set has Open Sport rims which l used to use when riding to work. The other rims are Open Pros, which are on my touring bike.
The Four Season wheels were my weekend choice 😇
OP
OP
cool_hand
Über Member
Four Seasons are Kinlin 28s on Novatec Hubs/Pillar Spokes – Spa could build you Kinlin/Bitex Hubs/Sapim Spokes, you wouldn't get the HUNT logo on the rims though.
