Sneak peek: new Hunt gravel wheels match strength of MTB wheels

The new Hunt 25 Carbon Gravel X Wide wheels have the same strength as the brand’s MTB wheels, according to Hunt's senior development engineer Patrick Brown.

We caught a sneak peek of the new gravel wheels at Eurobike ahead of their launch next month, where Brown explained that Hunt put the wheels through its tougher MTB testing. 

The result is a wheelset that matches the brand’s XC and downcountry wheelsets for strength, which could be beneficial for their real-world use.

“You need to be aware of what people will do with a gravel wheel,” says Brown, adding that this burly wheelset is targeted at adventure riding. 

Tech borrowed from Proven MTB wheels

The strength of the 25 Carbon Gravel X Wide is thanks to tech borrowed from Hunt’s Proven mountain bike wheels. 

Hunt’s yet-to-be-released gravel wheels use the brand’s H-Core technology, which is employed in its enduro wheels. 

This is essentially a thin section of carbon that is 'squirted' through a die for a high fibre-to-resin ratio. When manufacturing the wheels, this thin strip of carbon is placed inside the rim between the carbon rim bed and sidewalls. The join between these two pieces of material can be prone to weakness, but the thin section of carbon mitigates this.

As a result of using H-Core, Brown says: “We’ve seen a significant improvement in impact performance.”

The other advantage of the technology is it reduces the amount of resin that’s left as waste inside the rim, which helps minimise weight and keeps the 25 Carbon Gravel X Wide down to a claimed 1,470g. 

The wheels also use Hunt’s angle spoke patches, which are found on the Proven wheels and work to reduce stress in the rim. 

These patches help secure 28 spokes on the front and rear wheels, which are tensioned with brass nipples.

Rim depth, hub design and new tape

While Hunt’s previous gravel wheels had an internal rim width of 25mm, these new wheels are 2mm wider at 27mm. 

The 25mm in the name refers to the rim depth, which is 15mm shallower than Hunt’s gravel race wheels.

At the centre of the wheels are Hunt’s Ratchet SGL hubs. These have a single-sided 32-tooth moving ratchet, which is a similar setup to DT Swiss’ Ratchet EXP design.

Elsewhere, the wheels have Hunt’s new rim tape, which Hunt says has strong adhesion and won’t deform – making tubeless setup easier even after plenty of use. 

All of this adds up to how Brown describes the new gravel wheelset: “It’s basically an XC wheelset from eight years ago, but with new technology.” 

We’ll know pricing when the Hunt 25 Carbon Gravel X Wide officially launches in July.