Hunt’s newest wheelset is made from aluminium alloy, uses regular (albeit triple butted spokes) and costs less than £500. That makes it a breath of fresh air for real world riders, who’ve been inundated with carbon hoops topping £2,000

Hunt’ wheels have excelled in recent years on strength and price, the Enduro V3 hopes to continue that

Called the Mountain Enduro V3, Hunt has used FEA to tune the wheels front and rear for compliance and strength, and built the rims from aluminum alloy. It also reckons in lab testing it’s the equal in strength of pricier wheels like the DT Swiss FR1500 and Roval Traverse Alloy 350.

At £500 for the pair that’s quite a claim, and bucks the recent trend of high price hoops. Last month Specialized showed us its sub-1kg Roval Control World Cup wheels, and we’ve recently reviewed DT Swiss EXC 1200s, and Reynolds’ Blacklabel 309 hoops; all of which cost more than some pretty decent enduro bikes.

Hunt’s in-house testing shows its wheels are as strong as some serious competition from DT Swiss and Roval

Hunt Mountain Enduro V3 need to know

• New alloy wheelset weighs 2,096g in 29in, or 2,057g as a mullet setup
• Tuned front and rear, with wider 31.5mm internal rim width on the front
• Rim is made from G609 aluminium alloy, and shot peened for impact strength
• J Bend triple butted Pillar spokes, 28F and 32R, and brass nipples
• New freehub design with 40-tooth double ratchet and 9° of engagement
• SRAM/Shimano (HG) Shimano Microspline and SRAM XD freehub compatible
• Complete wheelset is £499| $649| €599

Hunt doesn’t promise its Enduro V3 wheels will float like this, but at 2,097g a pair they’re not exactly heavy for alloy rims

Hunt’s new wheels weigh pretty much the same as its older Enduro Wide V2s (just 8g lighter), but they’re claimed to be much stronger. This has been done by FEA design, where a computer figures out which parts of a rim are coming under more stress and need reinforcing, and which can be pared back.

FEA has resulted in a 40% reduction in peak spoke pull-through stress, a 13% lower maximum impact stress, and the whole rim needs 20 joules more energy to start breaking up compared with the old V2.

They’re made from something new too, G609 aluminium alloy, which Hunt says is similar to 6069 and has a 30% higher tensile strength than basic old 6061.

Enduro V3s make a pretty good combination with a YT Capra

Hunt has also tuned the rims so the front and rear have different responses to the trail. For starters the front has a wider 31.5mm internal rim width than the V-shaped rear, at 30mm, while the front gets four less spokes than the rear’s 32.

All this should lead to a stronger rear wheel and a softer and more compliant front wheel, something the best mountain bike wheel builders have been doing for a long time now. Once the preserve of just carbon rims like Zipp’s 3Zero Moto or Crankbrothers’ Synthesis i9 wheelset, we’re now seeing it at more friendly prices.

Wheel strength is great, but not if the rims are slicing through your sidewalls and pinchflatting your tyres. Hunt has a solution to this too, wider than usual for alloy 2.65mm bead hooks, which increases the surface area and effectively ‘blunts’ the rim against the tyre.

Hunt’s now using ABEC5 LLU cartridge bearings on the Enduro V3 wheels

New freehub design

Hunt’s new design is called H_Ratchet XL 40T DBL, which is a hell of a mouthful. What you really want to know is that is has 9° of engagement, which is about right for an enduro wheelset where a quicker response can transfer pedal kickpack to your feet – E*Thirteen’s Sidekick hub also uses 9°.

There’s now a a 40-tooth double ratchet, and a 17mm wide 7075-T6 stepped axle. Keeping out the water are new Enduro ABEC5 LLU cartridge bearings.