Hunt’s Alloy SL Disc wheelset is a light-weight aluminum providing that will not break the financial institution from the British model.
The wheels have shallow, tubeless rims and are primarily designed for on-road use. They weigh 1410g (with out disc lock rings), with the entrance wheel 640g and the rear 770g.
And the outcome? Barring some set up and high quality checks, this is a wonderful, light-weight set of highway bike wheels that might be a compelling alternative for a lot of riders.
Hunt Alloy SL overview and particulars
Hunt says the Alloy SL Disc is its lightest aluminum disc brake so far, providing “a stage of responsiveness and efficiency often reserved for carbon wheels”. That is a fairly excessive declare.
The edges used are made of warmth handled 6061-T6 alloy. They’ve an uneven rim profile with 25mm depth, 24mm outer rim width and 19mm interior rim width.
The rim widths are on the narrower facet for a highway wheel, however are bang-on with the present ETRTO normal, which suggests most trendy highway bike tires ought to measure as much as their acknowledged dimension.
Hunt says the edges are perfect for 25 to 28mm tires however they’ll formally work with any tire as much as 45mm extensive.
The utmost tire width of 45 mm means that the wheels can be utilized for gravel driving. Hunt says they will, however that is not what the wheels are designed for. With this in thoughts, it is possible price selecting up a set of one of the best gravel wheels if off-roading is your major intention.
The edges are tubeless and have Hunt’s H-LOCK bead for what the model claims helps with “simple and safe tubeless set up.”
The bead has kick-ups to the shoulders of the tubeless steps, which Hunt says ends in simpler set up and a firmer seal for tubeless tires.
Hunt’s Black Protect tubeless tape mounts to the rim bead out of the field, so all you need to do is add your most popular tubeless tire, valve and sealant to set them up.
Alternatively, because the rims are hooked (versus hookless), you can too use clincher tires and interior tubes, if that is extra your cup of tea.
Hunt makes use of its new Dash SL straight-pull hub, which contains a 15mm diameter 6066-T6 physique and shaft, for top strength-to-weight ratios.
The hubs use three ratchets with three double enamel and a 7.5-degree engagement. As a result of the physique of the hub is narrower, Hunt says it has managed to shave 35g over the Hunt Dash hubs.
There’s a spacer fitted to forestall the ratchets from dropping into the ground while you take away the freehub, which could be fairly an annoying characteristic on some wheels.
Hunt continues to make use of Japanese metal EZO bearings and Hunt says the rear hub has been upgraded to sooner rolling low-friction bearings.
The axles are simple to adapt from 12mm via axle to fast launch and Hunt have included adapters for 135x12mm and 135x10mm codecs.
Lacing the hubs of the rim in a two-cross sample are Pillar aero-butted, straight spokes.
The spokes are triple-butted with hard-anodized alloy spoke nipples, which Hunt says are simply thread-locked. I want to take a slight weight penalty in alternate for brass nipples, as alloy ones could be susceptible to corrosion over time.
The wheels have a weight restrict of 100kg and have an understated aesthetic, with simply two graphics on both facet of every rim, reverse the valve stem.
My check wheelset didn’t have the hub brand aligned with the valve, which is a vital a part of wheel constructing. Once I (half-jokingly) flagged this up with Hunt, the model confirmed that it will sometimes construct a wheel this manner and this was only a case of the wheel falling via the QC cracks.
The check wheelset had a Shimano HG freehub fitted, however there are additionally choices for SRAM XDR, Campagnolo N3W and Campagnolo 9- to 12-speed. You should purchase a substitute freehub from Hunt for those who change the groupset, for £29.99.
Preliminary checks
I took some preliminary measurements of each wheels on a Park Instrument TS-4 truing stand.
Entrance wheel lateral and radial accuracy was superb – solely out by about 0.3mm.
The rear didn’t fare as nicely and was out by 1 mm laterally on either side.
For reference, the tolerance in accordance with British Commonplace BS 6102 is 4 mm for a disc brake rim. Often, although, I’d anticipate a well-built wheel to be comfortably inside 0.5mm. For the Alloy SL Disc, Hunt says it is aiming for 0.35mm.
A wheel that isn’t true is not going to carry out nicely when using, shorten the lifetime of its elements and, on frames with tighter clearances, could cause the tire to put on into stays or fork blades.
Hunt recommends a spoke pressure within the vary of 115 to 130 kgf (kilogram-force) for the 297 mm non-drive facet spokes on the entrance wheel and 110 to 125 kgf for the 289 mm drive facet spokes on the rear.
I checked the spoke pressure on the wheels out of the field with a Park Instrument TM1 tensiometer they usually have been inside anticipated tolerances.
Each wheels have been completely flush (how centered the hub is in relation to the rim).
Earlier than testing I made a decision to enhance their accuracy and bought each wheels down to only below 0.2mm laterally and radially.
Should you’re unsure how one can use a motorcycle wheel, it is one thing that any good bike store can do, but it surely may also be accomplished at dwelling if in case you have the correct instruments and know-how.
Set up
I first put in the wheels on my BMC Teammachine SLR01 Disc with Continental GP5000 clinchers – a recognized benchmark efficiency tire.
Sadly, I encountered an issue within the set up. Once I tightened the rear Shimano RT800 disc rotor utilizing Hunt’s provided Middle Lock-compatible lock ring, I discovered that the shaft started to bind (stopping the shaft from rotating freely within the hub) when the lock ring was barely tightened, not to mention turned to the advisable 40 Nm.
Considerably puzzled, I spoke to Hunt and was instructed, “This drawback is one thing now we have certainly seen in just a few instances however primarily when utilizing SRAM rotors, as they’re brief bodied to keep away from patent infringement of Shimano’s Middle Lock patent”.
The model then advisable that I take advantage of a Shimano locking ring, which solved the issue.
If you have no spare locking rings at dwelling, Hunt says you can too use a second silver shim (along with the one shim that comes with just about all Middle Lock locking rings) to push out the unique Hunt locking ring barely, which also needs to alleviate the issue.
After the wonderful British summer time I then switched to Pirelli Cinturato Velo tubeless tyres, one among my favourite winter highway bike tyres.
Establishing tubeless Cinturato Velo tires was pretty simple, utilizing the model’s personal P-Zero sealant. The tire was simple to put in on the rim and didn’t require the usage of a tire lever.
On each wheels, air flowed out of the rim joint. After shaking the wheels completely to coat the sealant in every single place, it will definitely clogged the world.
On the rear wheel, the sealant-filled tire misplaced air in a single day, however after including somewhat extra sealant and taking it out for a correct spin, it proved trouble-free all through the check.
Hunt Alloy SL efficiency
The Alloy SL was subjected to a plethora of various rides, from brief and sharp velocity traces and Sunday golf equipment to a 115-mile/184-km epic.
The wheels accelerated adeptly on flat and rolling terrain and dealt with notably properly for an aluminum wheelset, though to not the identical extent as a carbon wheel.
They stick with their line with conviction and the edges appear to have an ideal mixture of stiffness and luxury with the 2 tires used within the assessments.
Some cheaper wheelsets can provide the feeling of your fillings rattling, whereas others lack stiffness when pressed. However the Alloy SLs have been unaffected in each situation I put them via.
An early trip with the wheelset took in Streatley Hill, a British Prime 100 climb in Berkshire in south-east England that was used for the 2020 Nationwide Hill Climb Championship.
Whereas it’s a comparatively brief 1.2km, the Streatley Hill climb will get progressively steeper. Regardless of the steep inclines, the wheels felt nimble, with the advantages of sunshine weight coming to the fore. Additionally they spin up shortly and I appreciated the fast freehub engagement.
That mentioned, they do not climb with the urgency of a shallow carbon wheel of equal weight, which Hunt himself compares them to. They’re anticipated to be extra versatile and do not fairly provide the cushioned high quality of their carbon brethren. At this value, although, it is laborious to complain.
Downhill, the wheelset feels safe and the shallow rim offers loads of confidence as you do not have to fret in regards to the wind making an attempt to ship you off-line.
The choice to go along with a 25mm rim depth is a welcome one because of this, even when it means there may be little or no sense of elevated aerodynamic effectivity when driving alongside the flats.
Nevertheless, it’s troublesome to offer all three qualities of sunshine, aero and low-cost in an alloy wheel, so that’s the trade-off right here.
Though I did not enterprise onto gravel, there is not any scarcity of bumpy, potholed roads within the UK, which proved a superb alternative to check the wheels’ compliance over sought-after surfaces. They do not dampen vibrations in addition to a carbon providing, however they dealt with potholes and debris-filled roads with confidence, with the pure flex providing stable damping.
As is typical of Hunt wheels, the freehub is sort of noisy, verging on tinny, and my presence was definitely famous at freewheel Sunday golf equipment. Nevertheless, you may simply dampen it with some lithium grease if you’d like.
Thus far the wheels have lined simply over 800 miles / 1,287 kilometers and have held up nicely, as you’ll anticipate.
Hunt Alloy SL remaining outcomes
At £429, these wheels signify glorious worth for cash and the efficiency is there too.
They’d be a superb choice for anybody – sporty riders will admire the simple dealing with and light-weight weight when going uphill, they usually’re mild sufficient to race on with out worrying about the price of a substitute for those who break them.
They’d even be an amazing choice for winter wheels while you need to grasp up the carbon wheels – for those who’re fortunate sufficient to personal a pair.
Other than just a few unlucky installs and QC quirks, I can not fault these Hunt wheels.
On the finish of the check I checked them on the right stand once more and the entrance had stayed on by about 0.2mm, whereas the rear was 0.3mm off. It is nonetheless fairly good they usually’ve been hit with some potholes within the UK.
The Alloy SL is a wonderful light-weight aluminum choice from the British model and their versatility makes them a compelling choice for a lot of riders.
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