Out of balance Hunt carbon wheels?

[AlanW]

Ive just taken delivery of a pair of Hunt 36 UD carbon wheels and very nice they are to. Super light at just 1290 grammes, which means that they hook up incredibly quickly and ascending with them is just fantastic. The bearings are so silky smooth to, these are not the ceramic bearing version either. A really lovely, if a bit expensive, wheels.

However, descending with them isn't so good as they are so out of balance. Once you get up to 30mph + you can really notice the out of balance nature of the wheels. At first I thought it might be the tyre/tube combo that might be the problem, but even with them removed its still really bad for the price that they cost.

I know its not a good and accurate test because a bike behaves differently on the road than it does in a stand, but with the bike mounted in the work stand, if you get the rear wheel spinning at a decent rpm, the vibration is that bad it dam near shakes the bike out of the stand!

Needless to say I've sent Hunt a couple of short video clips so it will be interesting to see what they say?

 

[Joffey]

It might be a common problem as Silca produce a wheel balancing kit. My Zipps are out of balance but I can't say I notice when I'm riding them.

 

[C R]

There's a guy on YouTube that shows how to do the balancing using blue tack and golf lead tape. Looks quite easy, but I would hope that an excessive out of balance would be covered in the warranty.

View: https://youtu.be/dcgiUcbS64c

 

[AlanW]

It might be a common problem as Silca produce a wheel balancing kit. My Zipps are out of balance but I can't say I notice when I'm riding them.

Yes lve seen the Silca kit, but have failed to locate it for sale anywhere in the UK

 

[AlanW]

There's a guy on YouTube that shows how to do the balancing using blue tack and golf lead tape. Looks quite easy, but I would hope that an excessive out of balance would be covered in the warranty.

View: https://youtu.be/dcgiUcbS64c

Yes l watched that the other night and ordered some self adhesive golf weights. But then noticed that the Hunt logo is adjacent to the valves so it would look odd covering up half the logo.
Ideally it would be good to put the self adhesive weights under the rim tape?

 

[C R]

Yes l watched that the other night and ordered some self adhesive golf weights. But then noticed that the Hunt logo is adjacent to the valves so it would look odd covering up half the logo.
Ideally it would be good to put the self adhesive weights under the rim tape?

The way I understand that video you most likely need the weight across the wheel from the valve, not next to it. You may be able to lay the tape along the ridge of the rim, so it wouldn't be too visible, and you can get black tape for more stealth.

 

[AlanW]

The way I understand that video you most likely need the weight across the wheel from the valve, not next to it. You may be able to lay the tape along the ridge of the rim, so it wouldn't be too visible, and you can get black tape for more stealth.

Of course you are 100% correct, no idea why l said put it next to the valve, totally defeates the purpose!
Hunt wheels have two lots of logos per wheel, one next to the valve the other one directly opposite the valve, thats the logo l was thinking of...😁

 

[C R]

Of course you are 100% correct, no idea why l said put it next to the valve, totally defeates the purpose!
Hunt wheels have two lots of logos per wheel, one next to the valve the other one directly opposite the valve, thats the logo l was thinking of...😁

Is there enough space on the ridge for the tape to go along the top of the ridge instead of across? That way you wouldn't cover the logos. In any case, perhaps better to wait for Hunt to say what they think.

 

[AlanW]

Is there enough space on the ridge for the tape to go along the top of the ridge instead of across? That way you wouldn't cover the logos. In any case, perhaps better to wait for Hunt to say what they think.

If it was a case of just one strip it might be possible, but weighting the wheel with lumpd of bluetac to gauge the necessary weight required suggests lm gonna need five or six self adhesive weights. This would mean sticking them on top of each other, rather than side by side as per Shane Millers You Tube clip.
But as you, lm doing nothing till lve heard back from Hunt

 

[C R]

If it was a case of just one strip it might be possible, but weighting the wheel with lumpd of bluetac to gauge the necessary weight required suggests lm gonna need five or six self adhesive weights. This would mean sticking them on top of each other, rather than side by side as per Shane Millers You Tube clip.
But as you, lm doing nothing till lve heard back from Hunt

What about spoke weights? They are used in motorbike wheels, not sure if you could get them to hold on bicycle wheels, but it should be possible.

 

[AlanW]

What about spoke weights? They are used in motorbike wheels, not sure if you could get them to hold on bicycle wheels, but it should be possible.

Again, this is also something lve wondered about, but with carbon spokes crimping weights on might prove problematic in the long term?

 

[C R]

Again, this is also something lve wondered about, but with carbon spokes crimping weights on might prove problematic in the long term?

Carbon spokes probably makes spoke weights a non starter.

 

[mrandmrspoves]

I don't do light weight or fast but it seems to me that adding weights to balance carbon wheels somewhat defeats the purpose of carbon wheels........

 

[AlanW]

I don't do light weight or fast but it seems to me that adding weights to balance carbon wheels somewhat defeats the purpose of carbon wheels........

We are only talking around 14 to 20 grammes to balance the wheels to be fair

 

[ColinJ]

We are only talking around 14 to 20 grammes to balance the wheels to be fair

You probably paid £50 extra to lose those 14-20 g in the first place!