British wheel brand Hunt has teamed up with British Hill Climb national champion Dan Evans to develop a brand new wheelset that weighs in at under 1kg. Together, the Hunt Hill Climb SL tubular wheels tip the scales at just 991 grams with the rims themselves weighing just 280g each.
At under 1kg for both, these new Hill Climb SL wheels from Hunt take their place as one of the lightest in the market designed, as Hunt states, specifically for 'those who eschew bar tape, abstain from padded saddles and shun shifter hoods to save weight'.
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The weight is kept to a minimum due to 6K weave carbon rims, 3.4g 'megalite' bladed spokes and minimalist hubs with forged and CNC'd heat-treated aluminium alloy bodies. The wheels are also fitted with Hunt Ti skewers.
The Sprint SL J-Bend hubs also have a 7.5 degree engagement with Hunt suggests to be 'ideal' for fast accelerations while climbing uphill.
To keep weight low, the wheels will only be available as tubular with compatibility for tyres between 23mm and 30mm.
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Hunt claims that despite the minuscule weight, its new wheelset 'maintains stiffness under the highest bursts of power' due to a 16 front and 20 rear spoke count and high tensile rim strength.
In total, a set of these wheels will set you back £1,089.
Despite their claims of strength, Hunt warns that the upper rider weight recommendation for this wheelset is 78KG while any rider over 70KG should have the wheels checked regularly by an experienced mechanic. However, the wheels did pass Hunt's standard harsh cobbled-rolling road tests.
Hunt also hastens to add that 'the rough and tumble of general road riding and racing, and long fast alpine downhills with extended heavy braking' would be better suited to alternative wheelsets with better heat and impact resistance.
However, it is highly unlikely that these wheels would be used for anything but the most explosive of efforts uphill anyway.
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Evans, who is a two-time hill climb champion, will be planning to use the new Hunt Hill Climb SL wheelset during the upcoming hill climb season which traditionally starts in September.
One of these competitions will be the Hill Climb World Championships in Santa Barbra, California in which Evans will challenge former pro-turned-YouTuber Phil Gaimon for the title on the famous Gibraltar Road, regularly used in the Tour of California.
