Non-Ebay Deals/Bargains

Good catch. Misread

Popped into Bicester, fuck all of note in Rapha, but Lululemon had their “cycle friendly” trousers reduced to £29. Definitely not £138’s worth but decent for under 30 and pretty comfy. These:-

https://www.lululemon.co.uk/p/men-pants/Off-The-Chain-Pant-MD/_/prod8020329?oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F&rd=true

genuine bargains on planet x atm - lots of rivendell tyres for £20 a piece, 700 and 650b - including jack browns

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYPAJBB/jack-brown-blue-folding-tyre-with-puncture-protection

Hunt nearly new wheels

https://www.huntbikewheels.com/blogs/news/the-nearly-new-sale?mc_cid=8a6b9ce1ef&mc_eid=7b029d759b

Act fast they'll be gone in an hour like last time

Edit: All gone now

R725 Track in now £349, very tempted.
https://www.brothercycles.com/shop/frames/r725/#lilac-metallic

Without prejudice

Am I missing something? @Saffronspokes - do you work for them?

Are HUNT wheels handmade in the UK? The words expertly handcrafted and minimum quantity batches are used but that doesn't mean anything.
It doesn't say where they are actually made which leads me to think they are from the far-east like pretty much every single carbon wheel.

IMO a £899 disc wheelset in the 40% off sale isn't a great deal at all, just hit ~~ AliExpress ~~ LB and get wide rims and ceramic hub for £500.

Without prejudice

EDITED for @amey - LightBicycle / LB and not AliExpress which obviously sells inferior carbon rims from the exact same factory using the exact same materials/mould.

Comparing (Chinese) apples to (British) apples I think the parallel to draw would be Lightbicycle and an LB wheelset costs about £750 delivered in the UK.

Even at full price Hunt are good value in that comparison because you get the customer service and support thats relatively easy to reach.

At £775 they were a steal, so I bought a set.

Plus they tick quite a few of the boxes, adaptable hubs, centrelock etc.

I'm quite sure the parts are far-east sourced, especially with those novatec hubs. However Hunt is kinda known for their quality control, AliExpress isn't..

Isn't that basically what you're paying for with mid range carbon wheels? The bloke over here that checks the wheels..

And the rims kinda look a bit more fancy than most carbon rims on AliExpress.

@Amey but are they actually made in the UK?

Rims / hubs? Or is it all Far East with a sprinkle of social media (check us out in a windtunnel or using a computer software for aero-ness) and good customer services (aka UK stocks for immediate replacement if they fail)?

I am just trying to understand how much better they can be if the rims and hubs are similar to Aliexpress one, that's all.

As @Jaap said - have they just got a dude flying to the factory once a quarter to check that there are enough carbon layers and they are pretending to just produce those bespoke rims for them?

are they actually made in the UK?

I hope not. Maybe even made by LB.

Stop quoting Ali, apples to apples its Lightbicycle and the price diff is 15-20%.

UK stocks for immediate replacement if they fail

If its not this, it will still be easier than customer service from LB just due to proximity.

I do not work for Hunt - I thought the 40% deal was decent so shared it here.

The bloke over here that checks the wheels..

According to the Hunt Wheels website:

'Wheels being hand-built and finished by Mr. Hao-Cheng at our wheel building partner. He has built and finely tensioned tens of thousands of wheels for leading high-end brands during his many years as a master wheel builder. All our wheels go through a two person build and finishing process. Every wheelset then has a full quality control inspection where all features of the build are checked. Your wheels are then signed off personally by the builder on the individual control card which is supplied in the box.'

Doesn't suggest that there's any QC in this country at all. Can't see any reason why you'd bother doing QC in this country anyway if they're being made in the Far East, which they clearly are.

There's an element of marketing but I'd rather not Ali express a wheelset.

Picked up a Gravel disc set for £221, I own the near equivalent Hope version which cost a fair bit more. Seems great value and they come with all the associated adapters you'd need and unlike Hope, you get skewers, decent ones too.

TLDR: An offer worthy of this thread.

@Saffronspokes / @amey - thank you for the feedback.

I was not trying to stir shit, just trying to understand how good the wheels can be and the general provenance / pricing strategy.

TL;DR - Hunt gets wheels done in the far east. Business model is import / Pay VAT / Offer local warranty. Wheels are good, price is fair

Totally, I have LB wheelset too.

Good quality far east stuff is not 'cheap' anymore. The cheap stuff on ali is not as good.

Doesn't suggest that there's any QC in this country at all. Can't see any reason why you'd bother doing QC in this country anyway if they're being made in the Far East, which they clearly are.

I was talking about the bloke here that checked the quality of the wheels made bij Mr. Hao-Cheng. Every wheels seller on Ali can have a story like that, but you need someone over here to confirm the story/quality in the first place right?

Basically Hunt found a great Chinese wheels seller and made a deal with him.. Nothing wrong with that right?

I was talking about the bloke here that checked the quality of the wheels made bij Mr. Hao-Cheng

Pretty sure no such person exists. I'd be amazed if they even open the vast majority of the boxes which get shipped in from Taiwan.

you need someone over here to confirm the story/quality in the first place right?

Why? What's the person over here going to know about building wheels that Mr. Hao-Cheng and his colleagues don't?

Raoul Luescher, Mr. Hao-Cheng and Mr Hunt walk into a bar ..

the guy from Hunt is on here, just ask him.

cc/ @OllieTheWizard

Like I said.. You need someone over here to confirm the story/quality in the first place. Mr Hunt didn't just browse through Ali and thought "I need mr Hao, order a thousand wheels now!". You wanna check the quality of someone's work before start selling the stuff..

It's like the emails from a Nigerian Prince, do you just trust those as well?

I've been hovering over this for a while but I just can't quite justify it at the moment. Maybe my track bike will fall apart soon and force my hand....

No, I'm sure given their knowledge and experience of the bike industry, the people behind Hunt didn't go on Ali Express, in the same way that no commercial enterprise would source its goods from Ali Express. I'm sure that they have sufficient knowledge of the Taiwanese bike companies to know which wheel building firm (Pro-Lite for example, who do a lot of OEM work) could provide a quality service, just in the same way that they knew that Bitex make good hubs, Kinlin make good rims and Pillar make good spokes. They may well have got a few samples before they placed orders for full-scale production but if you're in the industry you'll know who the reputable and high quality companies are beforehand anyway.

Hi chaps,

Thanks to everyone for their comments and feedback. Happy to dispel a few assumptions and hopefully clarify things for you guys, although I'm afraid I don't have the time to answer each and every comment made in the posts above. If you do have any direct questions, fire away and I will endeavour to give you an honest and open response.

We source our components from suppliers in Taiwan, similar to most other brands. It's certainly interesting when you consider how incredibly French Mavic are perceived to be, yet they use some of the same suppliers as we do. I do wonder what informs this perception that products are inherently better if/when made locally. If our website says anywhere at all that the wheels are sourced or made in the UK then please let me know (it doesn't), but I think the huge piece on our homepage about how proud we are to work with Taiwanese experts is much more prominent.

It may seem anecdotal to many, but dealing with the Taiwanese and dealing with the Chinese is chalk and cheese (rhyming unintentional), which is why we do one and not the other. Aside from anything else, the Taiwanese are much better at what they do and we pay anything from 50-70% extra on components than if we just went to China and bought off-the-peg items, but we operate a lean business model that enables us to avoid this.

Similar to the assumption of products' quality in virtue of their location of origin, it's also worth noting that closed-mold products are not inherently better either. They're just exclusive to the brand that paid however many thousands of dollars to make it so. To put it frankly, companies will generally do this for their (commercial) benefit - not yours as a rider. I would personally, at this stage of our journey as a company, rather see that money spent on another member of staff to continue to ensure we can respond to all customer emails within 24hrs and ensure riders are given the information and resources they need to make decisions about what will benefit them.

So yes, we source our components from Taiwan, and proudly so. Yes, some of the components that make up our wheels can be bought on the internet and put together by yourself if you so wish. But most people would agree that things are worth more than the sum of their parts.

P.s. Mr Hao-Cheng, known locally as Jonnie, is very real, and is a prodigiously talented individual. He's personally responsible for overseeing the team that build all of our wheels, including those ridden by Canyon Eisberg at UCI Conti level. If they're good enough to take Chris Opie to 3rd on a TdY stage, then they're good enough for us mortals.

Cheers all, hope none of the above comes off the wrong way or anything. I'm genuinely grateful for the feedback as it helps inform our decisions about what riders want, and how we can better build to serve those needs.

As stated up top, any questions then fire away.

Ollie :)

Bitex

They are novatec:

But whatever..