Hunt Wheels has overhauled its premium gravel wheelset with the new 40 Limitless Gravel Aero using lighter hubs and offering the option to spec carbon spokes, which together result in a claimed 1,380g wheelset weight, some 220g lighter than its predecessor.
Hunt’s wind tunnel test results indicate that the new wheelset is marginally second only to the 3T Discus 45 / 40 wheelset in a head-to-head test against a range of gravel bike wheels, when used with 40mm or 45mm nominal width Schwalbe G-One tyres.
Prices for the new 40 Limitless Gravel Aero wheelset range from £1,479 with steel spokes and bearings, through £1,849 with carbon spokes and steel bearings to £2,449 with carbon spokes and CeramicSpeed bearings.
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Lower weight
Hunt launched its previous generation 42 Limitless Gravel Aero (LGA) wheelset in 2020. The feedback from Hunt’s gravel pros who raced on the wheels was that although they valued the aero performance and stability, they wanted lower weight.
So Hunt set out to reduce its successor wheelset’s weight while maintaining or improving the aero performance. It has achieved the former by incorporating into the new 40 LGA gravel wheels much of the tech it introduced in the road-going Sub50 Limitless Aero Disc wheelset, which was released in February 2024.
That includes adopting carbon spokes – although steel spokes remain an option for the new wheels. The stronger carbon spokes have allowed it to reduce the spoke count to 20 from the steel-spoked variant’s 24 front and rear. At the same time, Hunt claims that the wheels are laterally stiffer, with the carbon spokes also transmitting less vibration to the rider than steel.
Hunt’s carbon spokes use conventional nipples, so the wheels can be trued or a spoke replaced if needed. The brand offers a lifetime crash repair/replacement warranty on all variants of the wheelset.
Further weight reduction comes from Hunt’s latest 314g per set H_Ratchet DBL alloy hubs, which have a 48-tooth ratchet freehub with 7.5-degree engagement. Again, it’s tech ported over from the Sub50 road wheels.
New aero rim profiles
Hunt has aero optimised the 40 LGA wheels for 40mm and 45mm Schwalbe G-One Allround and G-One R tyres, as it says that these are the most popular widths for its gravel pros. With knobblier tyres, the side knobs dominate the results of aero testing.
It started its aero development with a set of 42 different rim profiles, performing around 2,500 hours of CFD simulations to whittle this starting set down to three front wheel and five rear wheel profiles.
These it progressed to wind tunnel testing with a complete bike, first with 3D printed mock-ups then with carbon fibre prototypes. There’s a full white paper available on Hunt’s website if you want to dig into the details.
Its testing concluded that the best aero performance, with good handling and stability, was achieved with a front wheel that’s 40mm deep, with a 36mm external/27mm internal width. At the rear it uses a slightly deeper 41mm profile that’s 35mm wide externally and 26mm internally. Although wide, that's still quite a bit less than the width of the new Zipp 303 XPLR gravel wheels, which are 32mm wide internally, although they're also heavier at a claimed 1,496g.
Hunt says that aero performance is most important at the front wheel, where airflow is more laminar, while lower weight is a more significant consideration at the rear wheel, as airflow there is already turbulent.
Hunt has adopted a hookless bead design, as it says that this results in a better tyre profile, with straighter sidewalls. This still conforms to ETRTO guidelines and allows it to reduce rim weight and increase manufacturing consistency. Hunt says it also reduces the risk of pinch flats.
Performance versus competitors
Hunt has wind-tunnel-tested its new 40 LGA wheelset against a range of wheelsets from competitors such as Enve, Zipp, Reserve, Cadex, DT Swiss, 3T and more. Its chosen wind and wheel rotation speeds were 40 and 45kmh and it tested over yaw angles between +/- 20 degrees. Tests took place at the GST Windkanal wind-tunnel in Immenstaad, Germany.
It claims that only the 3T Discus 45 / 40 wheels were more aero, but that this is achieved with 314g extra weight, so that once weight is taken into consideration its new wheels' performance is best in class for aero gravel wheelsets.
Prices and availability
The premium spec Hunt 40 LGA wheelset, complete with CeramicSpeed bearings and 20 carbon spokes front and rear has a list price of £2,449 / $2,989 / €2,898 and a claimed 1,328g weight.
Swapping from CeramicSpeed to steel bearings, with the same carbon spokes, the weight remains the same, but the price decreases to £1,849 / $2,279 / €2,279.
With 24 steel spokes and steel bearings, the claimed weight is 1,431g and the price is £1,479 / $1,849 / €1,849.
The new Hunt 40 Limitless Gravel Aero wheelset can be pre-ordered immediately, with a limited number of wheelsets slated for delivery in late November.
