Hunt 50 Carbon Disc review

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The Hunt 50 Carbon Disc wheelset offers excellent all-round performance for the price and is one of the best wheelsets available for less than £1,000 – priced at £799 / $999 / €999.

A couple of setup niggles hold the wheels back from a higher score, but if you never had to set up the wheels on your bike, you might never notice them.

You will notice the freehub noise though – those who don't like to make a statement when freewheeling, take note.

However, these drawbacks pale in comparison to the sense of performance provided, even if it isn’t markedly better than similarly impressive alternatives.

Hunt 50 Carbon Disc details and specifications

The Hunt 50 Carbon Disc wheelset was updated in early 2024, with revamped specs designed to modernise the design.

The options of 30, 40 and 50mm-deep rims remain, but the internal width has been upped to 22mm (from 19mm).

With 21mm widely considered contemporary in 2024, and well-suited to supporting 700x28c tyres (and wider), the extra millimetre is refreshingly progressive given the entry-level positioning of these wheels.

Hunt says the rims, which are hooked and therefore compatible with tube-type (clincher) tyres as well as tubeless options, are optimised for tyres up to 35mm wide, but can be used with wider tyres if desired.

Externally, the rims measure 30mm wide, which the brand says makes them aerodynamically optimised for running 28mm-wide tyres. The relatively big inner width should produce a slightly squarer tyre shape, conferring small grip and rolling-resistance benefits.

The hubs have also been revamped, using Hunt’s take on a ratchet system.

Previously, Hunt freehubs have used a stepped pawl-based design (some still do), but the latest H_Ratchet design uses a layout of one fixed and one sprung ratchet ring.

These mesh together via 36 teeth, resulting in a 10-degree engagement angle, while Hunt says the single-spring design boosts reliability and durability.

Hunt also says the latest freehub bodies feature a ceramic-based coating, called H-Ceramik, which is designed to resist cassette bite more effectively than standard alloy bodies (which I’ve seen on previous Hunt wheelsets).

The 6061-T6 alloy hub shells are laced to the rim via stainless steel Pillar JSR J-bend spokes, attaching to alloy nipples.

The spokes have a round cross-section, rather than elliptical or bladed, but Hunt says it opted for slightly thicker-gauge spokes at the rear for improved stiffness.

Hunt points out, to boost strength, each spoke hole is reinforced with 3k-weave carbon fibre, with a Toray T700 unidirectional layup used elsewhere.

It also claims a low-temperature curing resin was specifically chosen – with the rim cured at lower temperatures to reduce rim “brittleness”, this is said to improve vibration damping and impact resistance.

Historically, the brand has been refreshingly open about the aerodynamic efficacy of its wheels in testing, but has stopped short of publishing evidence this time around.

That said, the 50 Carbon Disc is claimed to be only four watts slower than its flagship Limitless SUB50 wheelset, and ENVE’s SES 4.5 hoops (both cost much more, respectively) at 45kph. However, it's eight watts faster than a “standard, 25mm-deep” alloy rim.

These values, Hunt says, were measured at the GST wind tunnel in Germany, with watt savings given on the basis of “wind averaged drag”, which accounts for drag figures across a range of wind (or ‘yaw’) angles.

The 50 Carbon Disc is also lightweight compared to most of its competition, tipping the scales at 1,488g (including tubeless rim tape and valves).

A Velocite Hyperdrive Carbon 50mm wheelset is 11g lighter, but uses rims that are 1mm narrower internally, while the other wheelsets I tested it alongside weigh more than 1,600g.

It’s also competitively priced, albeit the Velocite Hyperdrive Carbon 50mm (£699 / $935 / €819) and Giant SLR 2 50 Disc (£719.98 / €1,038) are cheaper – if your budget can’t stretch this far.

Hunt provides its own Shimano HB-M618-style lockrings (although you can use standard lockrings, if you prefer), and a set of four spare spokes and nipples in the box.

Hunt also has a lifetime crash-replacement policy, offering free parts and labour for wheel repairs, or a wheel replacement. This must be bought in addition to the wheels for £59.99 within 14 days of purchase.

Hunt 50 Carbon Disc performance

Installation of my mule 700x28c Continental GP5000 S TR tyres threw up no unexpected difficulties.

I managed to prise the tyre over the rim with a single lever, although the relatively large, 22/30mm rim widths likely contributed to tolerances feeling a little ‘tighter’ than with the narrower rims on test.

That said, once over, the relatively wide rim made manipulating the tyre to get a temporary seal for tubeless inflation easy, and afforded handy extra space for inserting my tubes for test riding.

It’s worth noting that the tubeless rim tape on my test wheelset wasn’t especially neatly applied and needed persuasion to stay stuck, while Hunt leaves you to push through the pin-prick hole it pre-punches to install a valve, which is less than precise.

This is something I’ve seen before on Hunt wheelsets, and while it hasn’t adversely affected performance, the similarly applied tape on my benchmark 54 Aerodynamicist Carbon Disc wheelset was ready for replacement far earlier than desirable.

Hunt would do well to look at many rival road bike wheels to see how it could be done better.

I also found Center Lock brake rotors would play on the wheelset’s splines more than on any other wheelset on test. In this case, I found it left significant play once fully fitted (with brakes applied, the wheels would move on a notch as they moved through the play).

Fortunately, once a second silver rotor spacer was fitted and the rotors were torqued up, this ceased, but the initial tolerances appear to be slightly looser than on some competitor wheelsets.

An easy fix, then, although it's one that shouldn’t be necessary.

Once on the road, though, the 50 Carbon Disc wheelset is impressive and feels like something of a standard-setter for wheels under the £1,000 mark.

While not substantially better in any tangible aspect of performance, the wheels certainly feel as efficient as any on test – if not more so – when faced with flat and rolling terrain.

The low weight is noticeable when climbing, providing a more agile edge to my bike’s handling than a heavier wheelset would normally bring, but it’s also fair to say that saving 120g or so versus most of its competitors isn’t much in the grand scheme of things.

On a couple of familiar Strava segments, I didn’t save any meaningful time compared to when I had rival wheelsets installed, even if it felt noticeably rapid in the moment.

Of course, on days with favourable conditions and form, any personal record is up for grabs – but I was slightly disappointed that the sense of speed didn’t translate into cold, hard success against the stopwatch.

The wheels are plenty stiff enough for my relatively modest power levels and dealt with road buzz as well as the competition.

Of course, much of the latter is linked to tyre setup – the G5000 S TR 28c rubber inflated to 29.8mm wide at 80psi (5.5 BAR), the widest on test, while more comfort can be gained by dropping those pressures.

Hunt pawl-based freehubs are notoriously noisy blighters, although the introduction of a ‘low noise’ variant went some way to solving this.

The volume is back with the new ratchet design, though, and it’s probably fairest to conclude that some will like it and others won’t.

Pickup is satisfyingly quick and solid-feeling – more than a match for the wheelset’s all-round ability.

Hunt 50 Carbon Disc bottom line

Lightweight and aerodynamic, the Hunt 50 Carbon Disc could be the perfect all-round carbon wheelset for those who want fast performance on varying topography, especially if a progressive rim design matter to you.

That said, there are aspects that may put potential buyers off – Hunt’s rim-tape application is a little haphazard compared to its rivals, the Center Lock splines on my test wheelset left excess wiggle room with rotors fitted, and the freehub is deafeningly loud.

Two of these issues are easily solvable on Hunt’s part, which is a shame, while the freehub is more a matter of personal taste.

In reality, these are niggles in an otherwise excellently performing wheelset, which achieves that holy aim of delivering aerodynamics, low weight, high stiffness and good ride quality, without breaking the bank.

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