Gravel wheel depth, weight, width considerations

Equipment
1

Hunt have just emailed me with their re:new wheels and they are now cheaper than building on to my existing hubs. They have both 35mm and 40mm options (£539/£449 and £659 respectively) both are 30mm ext wide. The 35mm are 1459g and the 40mm are 1383g.

The 40s look to be the race version so better hub, lighter weight and all that jazz.

For UK gravel (read singletrack mud n stuff) how deep would you roll? I’m getting accustomed to deep wheels running 60mm on the my road bike, would also use it fully loaded for bikepacking but I’m not the largest at 68kg and have light kit. Currently run alloy h-son hyrda rims on Miche hubs with 40mm tyres.

Just after opinons one spending the extra 100-200 quid.

2

I can’t see them, already sold?

Given the choice, I’d not buy anything gravel / backpacking related in less than 25mm ID - though maybe you are sticking with 40mm tyres long term.

3

Must have gone in the last couple of hours!

That being said the depth considerations still count for me as I’ll just keep an eye here when either sizes come back.

4

I doubt <100g and 5mm of depth will make any difference at all on muddy singletrack! Going to wider tyres might so if your bike has clearance could be worth looking at wider wheels that would work well with 45+mm. Are the Hunt Limitless a lot more?

That said, an extra £1-200 isn’t all that much in the greater scheme of things either so if it’s worth it to you to know you’ve got lighter, deeper wheels with better hubs and you can afford it then go for it.

5

Quite a good deal more!

But since the consensus is 5mm is here nor there I’ll just wait for whatever bargains appear!

7

They do have some alloy spoked 40s, which are really close to the 35s in weight so will just keep eyes on the refurbs.

Got 3 months before the event so no rush.

8

As both events draw closer and the refurbs are missed/not suitable, it comes down to paying for the full retail, box-fresh ones. The prices are all pretty close, albeit almost £150-200 between the 40mm and 35mm versions. I have the money for 40mm if warranted; however, 150 quid covers a few events.

If you were spending close to a grand, where would your money go? I’ll move my current 40mm tyres over and move back to 42mm/45mm when these are worn out. I think 35mm would be an improvement over shallow alloy, and allow for use in the terrible wind we get in the Southwest (my 60mm on the other bike has shown quite how mad it can get).

My current alloy hson rims are already fairly light so rim weight is probably only saving 100g or so. Which add the question is it worth it for a slight weight saving and whatever aero gains are available when paired with wider tyres.

This might be a more UK question, as although they’re international brands, I think they might both be less seen in the States.

9

If you do want new wheels, Id buy the cheaper ones and spend the extra £150 on a wider pair of tyres.

But then again, if there isn’t much in it weight-wise compared to your current setup, I’d probably just buy the wider tyres.