YOU ARE DRIVEN TO RIDE FASTER, WE ARE DRIVEN TO DEVELOP FASTER RIMS FOR YOU.

Wind tunnel-proven against world-leading rims. See the research white paper for full technical details of our wind tunnel testing methodology, including data/graphs and the full range of wheels we tested against.

Designed by HUNT's in-house engineering team.

HUNT LIMITLESS technology (patent pending*) allows for low weight and extra-wide aerodynamics.

Fully compliant with new ETRTO tubeless road guidelines (yet to be released) for 23/25/28mm+ road tyres. As with all our current HUNT rims, the LIMITLESS rims have a normal hooked sidewall and are suitable for all clincher road tyres including Continental.

CeramicSpeed’s world-renowned low-friction bearings.

WIDER TYRES & WIDER RIMS | RIDE FASTER

Leading rim-brake rims have been at the 27-28mm wide mark for some time, with undisputed aero benefits over narrower designs. However, they are aerodynamically limited by rim brake calipers limiting the maximum width of the brake track. Further, most are optimised for narrower tyres. 23mm tyres used to be the standard… but for us, you and most pro riders, 25/28 and even 30mm tyres are the preferred choice. Let’s face it: when leaning in on the final turn of a mass bunch sprint or descending sweeping alpine bends, you want serious grip! Plus, the lower rolling resistance benefits of 25 and 28mm tyres* mean that road disc aero rims should be specifically designed around these wider tyres. Accordingly, this rim has been designed using schematics and feedback from Schwalbe's own engineers.
(*Especially rider-system benefits, rim & tyre only tests do not include rider damped losses, and how lower pressures reduce these losses by reducing rider movement. This is a whole other area we will be releasing scientific data on.)

HOW WIDE? 34.5mm!

In the last 9 months, road aero disc-brake rim widths have been creeping out to 30-32mm, with several leading wheel and bike companies realizing the benefits of having a rim wider than the tyre (even a 28mm tyre). This creates the most effective overall aerofoil shape (when considering the rim and tyre together) and reduces turbulence as airflow transitions into the spoke bed. It is now obvious that disc-brake road rims need to be significantly wider to be at their best aerodynamically. With our experience at HUNT, we knew disc brakes provided us with a huge opportunity to smash open this area of rim development. In autumn 2017, a full year before anyone knew about any other wheel companies’ 30mm+ development, we set about unleashing rim widths, and designed several 3D-printed prototypes for wind tunnel testing. We worked closely with Europe’s leading bicycle wind tunnel, and over 18 months of painstaking research, design and multiple wind tunnel visits, developed the 34.5mm wide shape for the new 48 Limitless Aero Disc.

WIDE RIM = WEIGHT OR TYRE PROBLEM?

The aero benefits of going wide can come with downsides, as usually, a compromise choice has to be made:

- Go for a wider internal rim of 24 or 25mm = LOSE TYRE COMPATABILITY with 23/25mm tyres from leading brands.

- Choose to add extra carbon material to thicken the sidewalls, in order to maintain the wide aero shape = HEAVY RIM WEIGHT

THE SOLUTION | HUNT LIMITLESS TECHNOLOGY (PATENT PENDING)

The HUNT 48 Limitless Aero Disc rim has as much carbon-fibre material and mass as any other comparable road disc wheelset, and far surpasses ISO impact testing. Added to the sidewall area is an extra-strengthening co-moulded low-density polymer (density only 0.7g/cm³ vs carbon fibre prepreg of 1.6g/cm³) that keeps the weight low whilst allowing the extra width. LIMITLESS is a patent owned by HUNT and developed by HUNT's in-house engineering team, Tom and Pete, and is exclusive to HUNT rims. So, you can have a rim with the world’s fastest aero shape but also impressively low weight.

THE RESULTS…

The wind tunnel data we recorded is shown against the full range of incumbent world-class aero wheels in the charts below. The results speak for themselves. It was amazing to see Luisa’s face when it became evident what we'd achieved for riders. It’s been hard work but it’s been very worthwhile. This process and the knowledge gained from pushing the boundaries of aero rim development creates huge opportunities to serve you with a wide range of world-leading aerodynamic rims…this is just the beginning! Thank you.

THE DATA

Read the full research white paper showing all technical wind-tunnel testing method details, extensive wind tunnel data and the full range of wheels we tested against will be available on the 21st June.

The Mavic WAD calculation is based around Time Trial speeds (45 km/h), we used this as an industry standard to show an unequivocal comparison. Our own road speed (35 km/h) simulations show the extra width of the LIMITLESS rims provide even greater aerodynamic gains at the wider wind yaw angles that real road riders experience. Please see the research white paper for more details.

8.4 Fourth wind tunnel test - June 2019

The Enve Ses AR 3.4 Disc wheelset was released in May 2019 – an additional test for this wheelset was arranged. In order to complete the test in a timely manner, the tests were carried with the front wheels only, mounted on a single wheel turntable and roller, with no bike. Note that the total drag and power values are lower without the presence of a bike.

Figure 17 Drag [g] vs yaw angle [°] from third wind tunnel test in April 2019 showing HUNT 48 LIMITLESS AERO DISC against Enve SES AR3.4, using a variety of tyres.