Review: Hunt 4 Season Gravel X-Wide wheelset

Gravel can encompass an incredibly wide range of riding, from mostly paved routes to truly remote adventures and the occasional stretch of singletrack. In our review, we found the 4 Season Gravel X-Wide wheelset, delivers what Hunt says. It is a wheelset ready take on anything you’re comfortable riding on a drop-bar bike, all year long.

Hunt’s latest gravel wheelset continues the 4 Season line’s tradition of bringing excellent value together with quality and durability for year-round riding. The X-Wide is a comfortable, tough and smooth wheelset. They’re well-suited to the more adventurous side of gravel riding. And, they come at a solid price.

Hunt 4 Season Gravel X-Wide: spec and details

4 Season Disc was Hunt’s first wheel when the brand started in 2015. It’s grown exponentially as a brand since then but the 4 Season line remains as a core line. The 4 Season Gravel X-Wide is the latest offering and takes the alloy wheel range further off-road.

The 6066-T6 aluminum alloy rim uses a wider 25-mm internal width rim bed, hence the “X-Wide” in the name. That makes them better suited for wider (35mm-50mm+) tires and capable of gravel rides that lean more towards adventure than multi-use paths. The wider internal width (the X-Wides are 29mm external, if you’re wondering) does mean that the narrower tires you’d run for tarmac-primary rides aren’t as good a fit. While Hunt says the wheels have a minimum of 35mm. That’s qualified with a statement that anything under 40mm should be checked against the manufacturer’s label. But Hunt has plenty of rims for narrower tires. What makes the X-Wides interesting is the opportunities the open to run a wide range of meatier rubber.

All-season construction

Hunt builds the X-Wides around that potential uses that suit larger tires. The 28 spokes (front and rear) are triple-butted steel J-bend spokes that are easy to replace, even if you’re far from the nearest local bike shop. Those spokes are anchored by corrosion-resistant brass nipples and laced to Hunt’s own alloy hubs. The hubs are easily adaptable to any modern hub standard, back to and including quick release (for those of you that, like me, are still running your “forever bike” from before through-axle was common on the drop bar side of cycling). Those hubs roll on sealed cartridge bearings from Japanese brand, EZO, and are, according to Hunt, sealed with “proprietary waterproof grease specially selected for even the worst weather.”

Hunt offers the X-Wides with Shimano, SRAM XD / XDR, Campagnolo and Campagnolo’s N3W (Ekar) freehub standards.

On (or off) the road: alloy advantage

Set-up

Seting-up was mostly easy. I opted for a set 40mm Schwalbe G-One tires, and decided to run them tubeless. Both tires were easy to mount by hand and locked into Hunt’s H_Lock rim profile with a floor pump and minimal effort. The front wheel held air immediately. An imperfect tape job on the rear wheel kept letting air out until, after a few short rides and re-inflations, it finally held air (and has continued to reliably do so since). Since that first hiccup, it’s been smooth sailing with the X-Wides.

Riding

Riding on roads, you’ll notice the X-Wides don’t accelerate as quickly as some of the more race-focused (and more expensive) carbon fibre options out there. But that’s not really what the X-Wides were designed to do. They do roll smooth once they’re up to speed, but the alloy rims are geared more towards carrying momentum and reducing fatigue through rougher terrain.

Put the X-Wides on rougher roads and they excel. They strike a balance between being strong enough to hold a line and, due to the alloy construction and 19-mm depth, not being so rigid they are punishing. They do help dampen the vibrations and chatter coming up from the road. That can add up over longer rides.

Hunt’s made the 4-Seasons tough to survive riding all year. That also means they’re built tough enough for a really wide range of riding. They’d be great for gravel that edges into singletrack, occasionally or more often. I think that extends to longer rides and they’d be well suited to the rigors of backpacking. If something does go wrong far from home, the simple design makes maintenance more straightforward.

Review: Hunt 4 Season Gravel X-Wide

Hunt hit a lot of positive notes with the 4 Season Gravel X-Wide wheels. The alloy rims offer a comfortable and smooth ride on rougher surfaces, especially matched with tires in the 40-50mm range. They are durable with relatively easy maintenance when needed. They are a very reasonable weight and you can get them for an even more reasonable price.

The counterpoint is that the rims don’t work as well with tires on the narrower (under 35mm) end of the gravel range. They are not quite as light as some more expensive options. Hunt has other wheels that serve those needs, though. The X-Wide’s less expensive rim material and brass spoke nipples are worth any weight they add. What the X-Wide wheelset offer for the wider, more rugged side of gravel is great.

Hunt sells the 4 Season Gravel X-Wide wheelset for $663 in Canada.