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review

Hunt Superdura Dynamo Disc wheelset

9
£499.00

VERDICT:

9
10
Near-faultless performance and great value: a must for your list if you're looking into dynamo power
Weight: 
2,035g

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If you're looking at a dynamo system for your road bike then the SONdelux hub dynamo is pretty much the best out there for low resistance and weight, and it's renowned for great build quality which is matched by the rest of the components on these excellent Hunt wheels. Considering how much the dynamo costs on its own, the price is excellent too. They might be a bit much for the odd night ride, but if you rack up the miles after dark they're an investment worth considering.

  • Pros: Great quality, great value, tubeless ready
  • Cons: Might be overkill for many people, but that's about it

If you want to do the Transcontinental Race, or an expedition tour or similar mad adventure, you've probably looked into dynamo wheelsets, but the appeal of a dynamo system is broader than that. You'll never forget to charge your lights, and they won't run out halfway home: great news if you regularly commute on unlit lanes after dark. On top of that there are a dozen ways to use the dynamo power to charge your USB devices, of which many people carry at least one (a phone) and often more, especially on a long ride or tour.

> Buy these online here

Maybe you're thinking that the downside is all that dynamo drag and extra weight slowing you down. Well, that's where you'd be wrong.

Hunt Superdura Dynamo Disc wheelset -3.jpg

Weight first: Our Superdura wheelset weighed in at 2,035g including the fitted rim tape, so a nudge under two kilos without. That's a bit more than the 1,939g quoted weight, but even so it's only about 200g more than a similarly specced wheelset without the dynamo.

These wheels are built for a bit of abuse: there's 32 spokes front and rear, and the asymmetric rim design offsets the spoke holes to even out the forces a bit on either side of the wheel. The rims have a generous 20mm internal width, which is perfect for a 28mm tyre or even something a bit bigger. Hunt uses good quality triple-butted Pillar spokes and dependable brass nipples for its wheels.

Hunt Superdura Dynamo Disc wheelset -5.jpg

Our wheels ran true throughout testing, and they're easy to set up tubeless, with tubeless rim tape already fitted and valves included. Front and rear hubs both feature a Centerlock disc mount, and you can run them either with quick releases or 12mm thru-axles. The freehub gets good quality EZO bearings and has a four-pawl engagement, one more than is common. There's a steel anti-bite guard to stop the cassette chewing up the freehub body which has proved to be pretty effective: there's a little bit of notching on the freehub but nothing serious.

Hunt Superdura Dynamo Disc wheelset -7.jpg

Delux dynamo

The SONdelux dynamo hub featured in these wheels is designed to work with modern LED headlights and, crucially, at road bike speeds. That means SON can use a 20 per cent smaller generator than its other dynamos; it isn't the most powerful dynamo available in terms of peak output but it is exceptionally well put together, smooth running and light at just 390g.

I've found the dynamo to be perfect for road riding. It generates barely any drag (SON claims it's around 0.5W when it's not drawing power), and spins for ages in the workstand; the drag from the internals is barely any more than a slightly stiff bearing when nothing's turned on.

Hunt Superdura Dynamo Disc wheelset -4.jpg

It easily puts out enough juice to power a light system at night. I've tried it with Supernova's E3 Pro and B&M's Lumotec IQ Cyo-T, both with a Supernova E3 rear light. Both gave plenty of light for night-time riding at a decent pace, and during the day I diverted the output from the hub, through the excellent Igaro D1 USB system, into various things: battery packs, phones, Garmins, cameras.

SON uses a pressure compensation system inside the hub to protect the hub against water ingress. With a sealed dynamo hub, pressure differences caused by temperature differentials between the inside and outside of the hub shell can draw moisture through the hub seals, so the SON has a long plastic tube wound around inside the hub shell, with a small air port on the inside of the thru-axle. When there's a pressure change, air moves through this tube more easily than through the seals, but it's long enough that water never makes it to the inside of the hub. That's the theory, anyway. I've had no issues with the hub so far and it should be a long time before there's anything to report. SON offers a five-year warranty on the hubs (including the bearings) and there's a two-year warranty on the wheels as a whole.

Good value?

So there's a lot of good quality kit in the wheels, put together very nicely. Let's talk a bit more about value. Hunt is fairly well known now for producing good quality wheelsets at a competitive price; we gave the Hunt 30Carbon Gravel Disc wheels five stars not so long ago and the lowest any wheelset from Hunt has scored is four stars. So it's got form for making good wheelsets, and generally the prices have been in line with other options. Not cheap necessarily, but good value because they're well-made. That's true here too, but a bit more so: there's some serious value going on with these Superduras.

Hunt Superdura Dynamo Disc wheelset -2.jpg

If you wanted to buy the bits and build these wheels yourself then that SON Delux dynamo hub sitting in the centre of the front wheel is going to cost you at least £200, right off the bat. By the time you've added the rest of the build kit you'll have made it a fair way to the £499 asking price before you've started to put them together. I costed up an ostensibly similar build at about £440 including rim tape and valves. If you did a fair bit of shopping around you could probably put something similar together for a bit less than Hunt is selling them for, but it wouldn't be that easy.

> Buyer's Guide: Tubeless wheelsets from £124 to £2,400

The truth is that most people don't have the time/skill/inclination to build their own wheelsets, but the rules of bike journalism state that the first comment will be, 'you could build them yourself for less'. So, yes, you probably could, but £60 or so seems to me like a reasonable outlay for Hunt to build them to a tight tolerance, ship them to you for free anywhere in the world, offer you a 60-day ride and return test, and warranty them for two years. Your mileage may vary.

Hunt Superdura Dynamo Disc wheelset -6.jpg

You can get cheaper dynamo wheelsets than this that use less expensive dynohubs that are still very good – the excellent SP-PL8, for example – and you could build one yourself using cheaper parts. But given what we have here, it's a really good value wheelset.

As a dynamo wheelset it might be overkill for your riding unless you're planning to set out on a long tour or an unsupported race, or you're going to fit them to a bike that does thousands of miles in all weathers. You can't really mark them down for that, though. That's what they're designed for, and they do it faultlessly.

Verdict

Near-faultless performance and great value: a must for your list if you're looking into dynamo power

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Hunt Superdura Dynamo Disc wheelset

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the wheel is for

Hunt says, "True freedom from charging for your bike-packing adventures, hassle free commuting and winter training. The SONdelux Dynamo powers your lights and charges your GPS/phone*. Our HUNT 25mm wide rim, 4Season Disc rear hub and 32 spoke build provide excellent durability with seriously low weight."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the wheel?

From Hunt:

Rim

Tubeless-ready – designed to work excellently with normal clincher tyres and tubes or tubeless tyres. Tubeless-rim tape and valves included.

H-lock bead-seat up-kicks for easy and secure tubeless installation

6061-T6 heat-treated aluminium alloy.

Asymmetric to balance spoke tensions

Disc-specific tubeless-ready profile

25mm outer and 20mm inner width ideal for 25-50mm tyre widths

24mm depth

Matt black anodized finish with laser etched graphics for excellent durability

Maximum tyre pressure for this rim is 120psi when used with an inner tube and 100psi when running the wheel set-up tubeless. Please do not exceed the maximum pressure stated on your tyre.

Spokes

J-bend cold drawn

Made from high grade T302 (18/10) stainless steel wire by Sandvik Sweden

Triple butted 2.0-1.6-2.0 (then 2.2 at the head for the patented Pillar Spoke Re-enforcement)

32 spokes laced 3 cross front and rear.

Black stainless treatment

Nipples

Brass for anti-corrosion resistance

Square body for external adjustment and hex head for easy internal adjustment/tensioning. Hex/square spoke key included.

12mm length

14 gauge

Black finish

Hubs

Centre-lock disc mount. 6 bolt disc adaptors included

Polished anodized black finish with laser graphics

Axle Size - Easily Adaptable & We fit them for you.

These wheels are available with all existing disc brake road bike axle adapter sizes. All our axle adapters are easy to swap but we'll fit the adapters your bike needs to save you the work. After your order checkout is completed a simple form will show, as well as being sent to you in your confirmation email. The form allows you to select the axle size your bike needs, don't worry it also includes the option to tell us your bike model and we will find out and then fit the correct axles, plus we're happy to change them later at our cost if you don't quite get it right. Please note; this form is shown after you have completed your order. Please see below the full list of axle adapters available for these wheels:

Front Dynamo

SONdelux 12mm

3 watt / 6 volt output at 18-19kmh

Tested to German road traffic regulations (StVZO) standard K687 for output requirement.

Efficiency: 65% at 15 km/h in 700c-wheel

No-Load Power Input: 0,4 W at 15 km/h in 700c-wheel

Magnets: neodym iron boron, 26 poles

Connection: 4,8 mm flat spades, 2-pin, to connect without ground connection

(special design without connectors)

Axle: hollow axle ø10 mm aluminium 7075 T6

Axle Ends: stainless steel

Bearings: deep groove ball bearing 629-2RSH (SKF)

Hub Shell: aluminium 6082 T6

Sealing: alloy dust shields, rubber lip seals and pressure compensation system

Warranty: 5 years

100mm wide standard spacing.

We fit the axles you need, just complete the simple form shown after checkout:

All existing road/CX disc front axle standards are available including:

Quick Release (Quick release skewers included)

12mm Bolt Thru

9mm Bolt Thru

weight 395g

All axle adapters are also available separately.

 

Rear Hub

We fit the axles you need, just complete the simple form shown after checkout.

All existing road/CX disc rear axle standards are available including:

Quick Release (Quick release skewers included)

12x142 Bolt Thru

12x135 Bolt Thru (uncommon)

10x135 Bolt Thru (uncommon)

All axle adapters are also available separately.

7075-T6 heat-treated aluminium alloy freehub body

Steel Spline Insert Shimano freehub body reinforcement provides excellent durability against cassette sprocket damage to the freehub often seen on standard alloy freehub bodies.

4 pawl, 28 tooth engagement

9/10/11 speed Shimano/SRAM compatible freehub, Campagnolo and SRAM XD Driver versions also available.

Bearings

By EZO Japan

Sealed cartridge replaceable units

Dual full-contact seals

Rate the wheel for quality of construction:
 
10/10

Good quality components, very well put together. Arrived true, stayed true.

Rate the wheel for performance:
 
10/10

Minimal drag, especially when not drawing power. Very easy to set up tubeless. Freehub anti-bite guard works well.

Rate the wheel for durability:
 
9/10

A few notches in the freehub, otherwise no issues. Still running perfectly true.

Rate the wheel for weight
 
8/10

A bit heavier than advertised but still very good for the level of build.

Rate the wheel for value:
 
9/10

Given that buying the components separately would probably only save you about £50, hard to fault.

Did the wheels stay true? Any issues with spoke tension?

Still running true, spoke tension is very even.

How easy did you find it to fit tyres?

Pretty easy, and simple to go tubeless.

How did the wheel extras (eg skewers and rim tape) perform?

All good quality stuff.

Tell us how the wheel performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Faultlessly.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the wheel

Build, performance.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the wheel

Nothing really.

Did you enjoy using the wheel? Yes

Would you consider buying the wheel? Yes

Would you recommend the wheel to a friend? Yes, if they were serious about doing miles in the dark.

Use this box to explain your overall score

Edging towards a 10 here: didn't *quite* make it because they're a little bit heavier than advertised, and the anti-bite guard isn't 100% effective. Even so, a fantastic pair of wheels.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 44  Height: 189cm  Weight: 94kg

I usually ride: whatever I'm testing...  My best bike is: Kinesis Tripster ATR, Kinesis Aithein

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, time trialling, cyclo-cross, commuting, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mountain biking, Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling, track

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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