Hunt has a new carbon wheelset out that claims the strongest rear end of any enduro rim. Called Proven Carbon Enduro H_Core, the idea is you can slam the back end into a rock and it’ll take more of a beating than the likes of Reserve’s 30 HD, the Enve M8, or DT Swiss’s EXC 1501s before breaking… quite a boast then.

Hunt says the new Proven rear wheel can take 220J of energy in an impact before cracking, which trumps the all best mountain bike wheels on sale right now. It’s less on the front – at 170J – which puts it somewhat down on those Reserves or DT Swiss hoops, which it found took 200J before cracking. It’s worked this out from lab testing, basically dropping anvils onto rims to see how much they can take before failure.

Hunt’s latest Proven Carbon wheels claim to have the greatest rear wheel strength of any enduro wheels

And while there’s no substitute for real world testing, the Provens looks pretty good to me on paper, particularly given the brand’s history with carbon: Guy Kesteven loved the Hunt Proven Race XC UD carbon wheels and said they were strong enough for trail riding.

Proven Carbon Enduro H_Core need to know

• New carbon wheelset, with best-in-class strength claims – it takes 220J of energy in lab testing to crack the rear
• Tuned rims front and rear: individual carbon layups, wider 31mm internal rim up front, 28 spokes to 32 out back
• 4mm thick rear rim bead for pinch-flat protection and added impact strength
• Pultruded carbon inserts run the length of the rim, to ensure no cavities or weak spots remain
• Uses Enduro Bearings, brass nipples, triple butted spokes and Hunt’s H_Ratchet XL hub
• Proven wheelset is £1,200 ($1,499, €1,449); weighs 1,879g mullet, 1956g  29er

So the Provens are strong in the lab then, but what about the rest of the argument? Afterall, you need a pretty persuasive reason to move away from trusted brands like Roval, DT Swiss and so on, all of which make amazing wheels.

Strong enough to blow up a berm? Check

The Proven price to strength and weight ratio is pretty good for starters, the cost is just under £1,200 and the mullet wheelset weighs in at 1,879g, or 1,956g in full 29er. Given that high-end wheelsets usually hover closer to £2,000 that’s pretty compelling. You also get a free lifetime crash replacement for parts and repairs with the Provens, something that matches the rest of the high end wheel industry.

Hunt wants us to know that its new wheels aren’t just strong though, it’s built them to be tuned front and rear so you get a different ride response at each end of the bike. This is something pioneered by the Crankbrothers Snythesis e11 and the Zipp 3Zero Moto wheels, which both built much more compliance into the front.

It’s done the same here with the new Provens, although I’d be surprised if they were as flexible as the Zipp 3Zero Moto. Hunt has used a different carbon layup front to rear to tune its compliance, and build more strength into the rear, and more ability to move around and find grip into the front.

The Proven rims are tuned front to rear, with different carbon layups and a wider profile on the front

That’s backed up by different internal rims widths too, which also impact how a wheel feels. On the front riders will get a wider, 31mm rim that’s “holistically tuned” and boasts 28 triple butted spokes with brass nipples. On the rear that shrinks to a 30mm internal width, and the wheel uses four more spokes with a thicker gauge.

There’s also now a big oversized 4mm bead, which is the part that usually slices through sidewalls when you bottom on your wheel on something hard. The thinking here is that the force is spread over a wider area, meaning that rock is less likely to punch through.

The pultruded insert guarantees there’s no void left in the carbon layup

And if you’re wondering where the strength comes from on one of these new rims, Hunt has used its new H_Core technology. It uses pultrusion-formed reinforcement inserts that wrap around each side of the rim bed, then the rim itself is built around this framework. It’s used to guarantee there are no gaps or air pockets in the carbon, something you couldn’t otherwise guarantee without an X-ray or by sawing the rim in half… which might well defeat the point.

There’s also a 10k carbon weave added as the rim’s penultimate layer, which Hunt says reduces the chances of micro fractures.

The rim is built around the brand’s H_Ratchet XL 40T hub, which uses an oversized inboard ratchet ring. It gets a moderately quick 9-degree engagement for reduced pedal kickback, and an oversized 17mm stepped axle. Hunt has also now partnered with Enduro Bearings, meaning it gets ABEC5 bearings.

Now with ABEC5 bearings