Welcome back: HUNT Bike Wheels returns as a supporting partner of The British Continental
The West Sussex wheel brand — a partner of The British Continental from 2021 to 2022 — rejoins for 2026 with a clear view of what's at stake in British domestic road racing and a commitment to backing the development teams trying to navigate it.
Three years is a long time in British domestic road racing. Long enough for teams to rise, to flourish, and to fold. Long enough for the landscape to look quite different from the one it was. And long enough to appreciate, more clearly than ever, the value of brands that have stayed close to the sport through all of it.
We are pleased to announce that HUNT Bike Wheels are returning as a supporting partner of The British Continental for 2026.
HUNT were founded in 2015 by brothers Tom and Peter Marchment in Partridge Green, West Sussex — and they are still based on the same industrial estate today. The founding logic was simple: they knew the wheels they wanted to ride but couldn’t find them easily elsewhere. So they built them. A decade on, they make a full range of road, gravel and mountain bike wheelsets, all hand-built, and have become one of the most consistently well-reviewed wheel brands in cycling. The rider-first thinking that started the company has not gone away.
Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
It is part of why HUNT have always been willing to put support into the domestic scene rather than simply around it. When they first partnered with The British Continental in 2021 — a relationship that continued through 2022 — they were already backing Canyon dhb SunGod, one of the most significant teams of that era. That commitment was not incidental. It reflected the same instinct that started the company: riders building for riders, at every level.
In 2026, HUNT are backing Shibden Apex RT and Simpson Nouvelles — two development outfits with clear purpose and a track record to match. Shibden were The British Continental‘s Team of the Year in 2024, a team that has very quickly established itself as one of the foremost junior development teams in the world, producing talents including Cat Ferguson and Imogen Wolff. Simpson Nouvelles, meanwhile, run a focused U23 programme with an international racing calendar and a new formal link to the Liv CC–Halo Films junior pathway for 2026.
HUNT are clear-eyed about what has happened to the domestic scene. Teams like Canyon dhb and Lifeplus Wahoo — which provided vital homes for developing riders and pathways for young British talent to race in Europe and earn contracts — are gone. No single brand can fill those gaps. What HUNT can do, and what they have chosen to do, is work alongside development teams to ease the burden and lower the barrier to entry for the next generation coming through the junior and U23 ranks.
Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
It is a recognisable position. The same argument is made, in different ways, by the organiser who keeps a race going year after year, by the team manager piecing together a budget from goodwill and sponsorship alike, by the riders who fit training around work and still make the startline. The domestic scene runs on that kind of commitment — and it needs brands willing to match it.
For The British Continental, HUNT’s support is part of what makes proper coverage of that scene possible. It helps us get to races, commission photography, conduct interviews, and publish the previews, reports and analysis that give the season its shape — and to keep all of it free to read. Independent coverage of British domestic road racing is still fragile. Partnerships with brands that genuinely understand the scene are what sustain it.
HUNT join 4Endurance as supporting partners of The British Continental for 2026, alongside title sponsor Rapha. We are very glad to have them back.
Three years is a long time in British domestic road racing. Long enough for teams to rise, to flourish, and to fold. Long enough for the landscape to look quite different from the one it was. And long enough to appreciate, more clearly than ever, the value of brands that have stayed close to the sport through all of it.
We are pleased to announce that HUNT Bike Wheels are returning as a supporting partner of The British Continental for 2026.
HUNT were founded in 2015 by brothers Tom and Peter Marchment in Partridge Green, West Sussex — and they are still based on the same industrial estate today. The founding logic was simple: they knew the wheels they wanted to ride but couldn’t find them easily elsewhere. So they built them. A decade on, they make a full range of road, gravel and mountain bike wheelsets, all hand-built, and have become one of the most consistently well-reviewed wheel brands in cycling. The rider-first thinking that started the company has not gone away.
It is part of why HUNT have always been willing to put support into the domestic scene rather than simply around it. When they first partnered with The British Continental in 2021 — a relationship that continued through 2022 — they were already backing Canyon dhb SunGod, one of the most significant teams of that era. That commitment was not incidental. It reflected the same instinct that started the company: riders building for riders, at every level.
In 2026, HUNT are backing Shibden Apex RT and Simpson Nouvelles — two development outfits with clear purpose and a track record to match. Shibden were The British Continental‘s Team of the Year in 2024, a team that has very quickly established itself as one of the foremost junior development teams in the world, producing talents including Cat Ferguson and Imogen Wolff. Simpson Nouvelles, meanwhile, run a focused U23 programme with an international racing calendar and a new formal link to the Liv CC–Halo Films junior pathway for 2026.
HUNT are clear-eyed about what has happened to the domestic scene. Teams like Canyon dhb and Lifeplus Wahoo — which provided vital homes for developing riders and pathways for young British talent to race in Europe and earn contracts — are gone. No single brand can fill those gaps. What HUNT can do, and what they have chosen to do, is work alongside development teams to ease the burden and lower the barrier to entry for the next generation coming through the junior and U23 ranks.
It is a recognisable position. The same argument is made, in different ways, by the organiser who keeps a race going year after year, by the team manager piecing together a budget from goodwill and sponsorship alike, by the riders who fit training around work and still make the startline. The domestic scene runs on that kind of commitment — and it needs brands willing to match it.
For The British Continental, HUNT’s support is part of what makes proper coverage of that scene possible. It helps us get to races, commission photography, conduct interviews, and publish the previews, reports and analysis that give the season its shape — and to keep all of it free to read. Independent coverage of British domestic road racing is still fragile. Partnerships with brands that genuinely understand the scene are what sustain it.
HUNT join 4Endurance as supporting partners of The British Continental for 2026, alongside title sponsor Rapha. We are very glad to have them back.
Share this:
Discover more from The British Continental
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.