Journal | Hunt Bike Wheels

The Vatternrundan is a 300km race around the second largest lake in Sweden, on or near the longest day of the year. Riders go off in groups of about 60 at a time, in 2 minute intervals and this year nearly 23,000 rolled up to the start line between 8pm to 8am to follow the midnight sun.

The Swedes do make something of a thing of midsummer. They celebrate it as a national holiday and general excuse to eat herring and drink lots of Akvavit (Scandinavian spirit).

300km of Swedish Madness.

“Grinduro is a ridiculous event. Nothing about it makes sense. Thanks for blowing it... I’ll be back..."

Adam Craig

When you read something like this the day before you set out for a race, how should you feel? This 'ridiculous event' was exactly where I was heading... not exactly confidence building. 

There has been an explosion in the popularity of gravel riding. Once existing on the fringes with gruelling events like the Dirty Kanza 100 and the Rouge Roubaix, gravel has now become its own and developed well beyond the days of riders modifying their 'cross machines or mountain bikes. And gravel events are no different. Grinduro has been a product of this hype and caught the mixed surface, drop bar, wide tyre fever. Combining the format of enduro mountain biking but on a course suited to this new breed of go anywhere bikes... the race is only a small percentage of the course. The rest is a trip around a spectacular route.

For the first time, Grinduro has stepped out of its birthplace and taken to the Isle of Arran off the west coast of Scotland. The event provided the perfect stage for the HUNT Team to test out different wheel combinations, gain insight into wheel technology in this emerging category and put the wheels through some seriously muddy conditions. 

While race reports provide great information and insight into the race, I am sure there are many, many more out there telling a very similar story... so here you are, the "Doodle Do's & Don'ts" of Grinduro Scotland.   

The Team. Post Grinduro, caked in mud, wet and cold but still smiling! Top Effort.

World traveler and bike packer, Josh Ibbett, has just spent the last six weeks in Europe mostly riding through the Iberian Peninsula. At the time of writing he has caught a plane to New York and now managed to ride up to the Canadian boarder at Niagara Falls. We managed to check in with Josh and catch him for a journal entry on his experiences so far.

Enjoy. 

As discussed in part one; tyres strongly influence how your bicycle rides. With the advent of tubeless the benefits which more and more riders are appreciating include:

Riding the road less travelled offers an entirely new opportunity to explore beyond where the tarmac ends. Heading out for a big day with only a loose plan is certainly a great way to spend a Saturday. Meanwhile, 'cross bikes make for a fast option to blast out an hour cutting through fields, parks and everything in between. This type of riding is quite varied and places unique demands on how a tyre needs to perform. Not quite as beefy as a mountain bike tyre but larger and more grippy than a standard road tyre - the rubber rings for your mixed surface bicycle is ironically a little more specialised but made to be super versatile. PART 2 of this tubeless tyres round up series gives you some more information on these tyres and the differences between them.

Former Hunt employee now turned professional bike packer, Josh Ibbett, has just passed on over his first video blog. Months if not years, before planning the trip, Josh has been deliberating over what to take with him on his world wide adventure. Whilst many long haul tour cyclists are heavily loaded with large panniers and even small trailers, Josh has tried to keep with the FastFar concept his Mason Bokeh and 650B AdventureSport Wheels laced to a front Dynamo Hub were designed for. So far this set up has carried Josh from Cambridgeshire right down into the Basque Country of northern Spain.

One of best days had out on the bike we have had with the Hunt Team was filming for the release of our newest wheelset - the Superdura Dynamo Disc as well as our farewell to Josh, our first full time employee. Having a helicopter fly above our heads as we snaked down the South Downs on our Mason Bokeh bicycle was certainly something we had never experienced before (and probably never will again!) 

Last weekend, former Hunt Brand Manger Josh Ibbett, left the UK and headed for the continent to commence his riding trip around the world. At the time of writing, he is currently down near Bordeaux but knowing Josh, this can be more accurately described as 400km radius from the coastal French city.

You can check out the final video by clicking here.

We decided to put together a short photo gallery of the cold morning spent on the Downs trying our best to keep things rubber side up.

Prepare for an onset of dot watching excitement across Italy.

First thing that came into my mind when I woke up this morning.

“I’m going riding.”

Second thing that came into my mind;

“My medical insurance probably doesn’t cover this, best not crash!”

I had only made contact with Himalayan Singletrack the day before I left the UK so I was really pleased that they managed to come up with a single day trip for me to get out of the city and see some of Nepal from a bike. Expecting the terrain to be somewhat mountainous I also tentatively asked if it could not be too gnarly as I had a course to teach the following week!

Early this morning in Australia, Hamish, our Hunt Australia and NZ Manager was meant to meet the highly respected Ultra Endurance Cyclist Mike Hall for a rolling interview for Kinesis UK as he raced the Indian Pacific Wheel Race. As you can see from his Instagram feed below, tragedy had struck Mike Hall's ride.

RideInPeace Mike Hall, an inspiration to us all.

I had this week all planned out – Wednesday was going to be a leg-breaking, lung-busting 215km ride from home out across the Strines to Holmfirth, then up the ‘Moss, over the Glossop and Macclesfield, up the Cat and Fiddle and home via Buxton. Then a cold intervened and I decided something a little more low-key and less chest-infection-inducing was more in order.

I decided that I’d tick off another ride on my list instead – the Monsal Trail tunnels. Having ridden on the trail as a youngster, and knowing that the tunnels had been opened up in 2012 after some grant funding to make them safe, I had fancied getting up there and riding the entire length of the trail for some time. As it is flat all the way, I thought it would be less likely to transfer the lurgy to my chest and have me running to the GP for the dreaded antibiotics.