After lastly selecting up their dream bike and blazing via the honeymoon interval with the right new rig, many cyclists inevitably start tinkering.

The right bike they spent months researching earlier than pulling the set off now looks like it could possibly be even higher. One of many first locations many riders go when on the lookout for upgrades is a brand new wheelset. Wheels can present an astonishingly completely different really feel and experience expertise.

Relying on development, they’ll additionally play an enormous position in effectivity and efficiency. There’s no scarcity of metrics to contemplate when selecting a brand new wheelset, however one of many larger inquiries to reply is whether or not a brand new wheel might be hookless, or a standard “hooked” wheel.

Each have their advantages and downsides, however at the same time as hookless wheels have exploded in reputation in recent times, many people could also be unaware of precisely what they’re, or what they’ll convey to the desk.

What are hookless wheels?

Within the previous days of the early to mid-2010s, wheelset designs, together with the increasing tubeless appropriate choices erupting onto the market, featured an fringe of the rim that curved right into a form of hook.

The hook permits a tire’s bead to snap and lock into place with added safety as it’s primarily being gripped by the hook. The hooked design additionally helped inside tubes mould into the proper place to interface with the rim and tire.

Nevertheless, as carbon and tubeless wheels grew ever extra fashionable, producers started to ditch the standard hook in favor of a flat, or straight-wall design that we now seek advice from as hookless. You may additionally hear hookless known as TSS, or Tubeless Straight Aspect. Designers construct these wheels particularly for contemporary tubeless setups, making them supreme platforms to run at a lot decrease pressures.

How do hookless rims work?

As a substitute of a hooked bead, tires fitted to hookless rims depend on strain to lock into place.

Hunt Bike Wheels was among the many first pioneers to start bringing hookless know-how to bike tires in 2016.

In accordance with Hunt, the important thing elements for a tire to suit a hookless rim correctly embody guaranteeing that the rim is of the best diameter on the bead seat (the flat part that the tire sits on), that the bead seat is vast sufficient that the tire can sit sq., and that the bead is just not folded over and might work optimally. 

“When the tire is inflated and in service [on a hooked rim], it isn’t sitting on the bead seat however pressed into the facet wall a number of millimeters up the hook, and it’s the bead core on the tire that’s offering the reactive pressure to maintain the tire in place,” Hunt mentioned. “When utilizing tubeless for that reason it will be significant that your tubeless tape does go up the hook a number of mm simply to make a superb seal.”

These kinds of wheels have been the norm in automobiles and bikes for a very long time. However with the upper pressures traditionally related to street using and to some extent, gravel using, biking was initially hesitant to leap on the practice. That, nonetheless, has been altering.

What are the advantages of hookless wheels?

The hookless pattern gained explicit reputation within the mountain bike realm, the place riders moved way back towards decrease tire pressures which can be properly suited to hookless techniques.

However Hunt introduced the hookless occasion to its street wheels too, providing what was then its H_LOCK Wedge know-how on its 55 Carbon Large Aero and 30/50 Carbon Aero Disc wheels from 2016 via 2018.

Hunt mentioned its early iterations of hookless wheels produced rims that have been 10 to fifteen grams lighter at a lower cost. That pattern has continued into its fashionable hookless merchandise, which it mentioned function stronger rim development, lighter weight, decrease manufacturing prices, and a extra aerodynamic profile.

“Hookless rims [side walls] assist cut back drag as a result of they don’t pinch the tire sidewall inward, thus resulting in the tire profile sitting barely taller and making a extra seamless transition between the tire and rim,” Hunt mentioned. “Because of this, you get a barely quicker form for the tire in most setups.”

Likewise, decrease pressures related to hookless wheels permit for higher grip, and since there are not any inside tubes and a extra pure tire floor, flats ought to occur much less steadily.

What are the drawbacks to hookless wheels?

Whereas hookless wheels include the advantages of aerodynamics and power, they aren’t with out their drawbacks.

Since strain retains a tire seated in place on a hookless rim, the interface between the tire and rim must be exact with the intention to operate correctly. Even a tenth of a millimeter may cause issues, so not all tires can match any hookless wheel. That turned loads of cyclists off within the early days of hookless know-how, as some wouldn’t be capable to run the tire they needed on a specific rim. Nevertheless, as time has gone on, the vary of tires appropriate for hookless wheels has grown significantly.

“With the ETRTO [European Tire & Rim Technical Organization] having standardized the inner rim contour for hookless rims for the previous few years, it has allowed the tire producers to convey a variety of tires out that match this inside form,” Hunt mentioned. “With ‘standardized’ rims, riders have extra selection, simpler fitment, and higher efficiency out of the mix.”

Most manufacturers embody lists of tires that they’ve examined and confirmed carry out as supposed on their wheels.

However nonetheless, hookless tires have some limits to which tires will work, and whether or not they can accommodate a tube in a pinch or not.

Present requirements for hookless wheels additionally require significantly decrease pressures. Hookless wheels shouldn’t attain above 72.5 PSI, in accordance with Hunt, so anybody who favors a better PSI could need a rim that may accommodate larger pressures.

That will not look like a problem for mountain bikers or gravel cyclists, whose PSIs often sit properly beneath 70, however street cyclists whose pressures usually attain properly above 70 and above could desire one thing that may agency up extra.

Which to decide on

Virtually each main wheel producer makes each hooked and hookless choices, and each may be stellar. Making the best selection comes down to every rider’s explicit self-discipline, model, and desires.

Riders who get pleasure from the advantages of decrease pressures, slight aerodynamic benefits, and who aren’t extraordinarily explicit about tire selection would most likely be more than pleased on a hookless wheel. Those that completely must have a specific tire, preferring to run their tires at excessive PSIs, or who usually discover themselves utilizing tubes, could desire a hooked possibility.

This submit is sponsored by Hunt Bike Wheels. Be taught extra about Hunts hookless wheels at us.huntbikewheels.com.