Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)
  • Chris King hub owners reviews
  • rickon
    Free Member

    Hi chaps,

    Thinking of possibly giving some CK ISO hubs a go, I’ve used lots of Hope hubs, Shimano cup and cone, Mavic, but not CK.

    I’ve found it hard to find a review of the hubs, and even harder to find out how they fair in UK typical conditions.

    They’re twice the price than Hope, but are weightier, so I’d expect better life from them to justify to cost.

    Anyone got any thoughts?

    Cheers

    Ricks

    boxfish
    Free Member

    Have had a set for 8 years. Still running on original bearings. I have the CK hub tool and have done one complete strip down and rebuild in that time. I put in a new set of o-rings etc at the time, but they weren’t really needed. I suppose I clean the bearings about once every 18 months or so. The rear hub did take time to bed in from new, and required adjusting for the first couple of months (not every ride though). There’s no getting away from the fact that they cost a fortune, but looked after they will last for years.

    I suppose I ought to service mine now 😳

    Rear hub doesn’t work below -5 deg. Seems the ring drive grease freezes and the whole thing just spins 🙁

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    rickon
    Free Member

    Is that the freezing point of the grease, rather than the design?

    d45yth
    Free Member

    I’m pretty sure the freezing issue was cured years ago.

    I’ve rode when it’s been cold enough to freeze my mechs up, but my hub/s were fine.

    sq225917
    Free Member

    It’s the grease, you can run thinner stuff during winter with no issues. I had iso F&R on my Blur LT, ran them for five years, jet washed the crap out of them, jumped them all over the place and generally abused them. I never stripped or regreased the bearings, never needed doing and I only cracked the rear hub open once to put thinner lube in it.

    utterly bullet proof and worth every penny.

    the_lecht_rocks
    Full Member

    Mine are 9 years old. Rear gets ring drive clean and oil every 8 months, front never touched… Awesome product.

    Frankers
    Free Member

    daveatextremistsdotcouk – Member
    Rear hub doesn’t work below -5 deg. Seems the ring drive grease freezes and the whole thing just spins

    This is a problem but can be fixed by using a mix of ring drive grease and thinnish engine oil

    I have 3 sets, oldest being around 10 years, not fit and forget you do need the odd service and tweaking. Which I’m happy to do myself

    njee20
    Free Member

    I was a bit underwhelmed by mine. They’re not that light, they needed a lot of attention, I had a bearing seize and they were a different colour to the headset, which always annoyed me.

    Not bad, but when they’re more expensive than most I’d not bother again. DT 240 for my money.

    suburbanreuben
    Free Member

    They’re not fit and forget by any means. Bearing play adjustment willbe a regular occurence while they’re running in (2000 miles or so),but it’s a pleasure,not a chore,to work on them. After that they seem to run forever. They’re quite loud but not unpleasant like Hope.
    I still prefer DTs though…

    thomasgeorge
    Free Member

    I looked at them, but turns out they don’t do free hub for 11 spd. Gone for industry 9 instead. Also look at carbon TI, but long delivery times.

    rickon
    Free Member

    I like the idea of the fun bolts, as they’re a quick way to 10mm bolt up the hub. Its cheaper than a Hope bolt thru kit, and I don’t need to buy a flexy QR.

    hora
    Free Member

    Fantastic hubs. Hope are soo much better I found. King headsets are the polar opposite of this.

    If I did ride in north England though?

    King hubs please.

    P20
    Full Member

    3 sets. 2 aged 13/14yrs old, one set I bought them 2nd hand 4yrs ago. Ive snapped one rear axle in that time. Rarely fully serviced them. They do require thinner grease/oil for winter use in the ringdrive, I use tri-flo mixed with the King stuff.
    Yes they are expensive, not the lightest and I can’t justify if them, but I do love them and would buy again

    covertbaz
    Free Member

    Always lusted after a set back when I couldn’t afford them, then when I could they were one of the 1st bits of kit on the build list, loved them but didn’t like the continual adjustment when bedding them in. Excellent hubs don’t get me wrong and I do still somewhat regret selling them on….

    coolhandluke
    Free Member

    5 years in my hubs and Id not part with them.

    Fun bolts on the rear and the 20mm front has been converted (for not much) to become a 15mm.

    I’ve stripped the rear once and it was pristine inside after about 2 years.

    The engagement speed is amazing but only something I appreciate on technical climbs really.

    Love the CK rear hub buzz too.

    I’ve no idea how much they are these days but When I got my rear it was on offer (Stiff) for £240 when they were over £300 everywhere else. I thought (and said on here) that £240 was too much for it but it was lovely, I’d now say £300 would have been too little for the hub!

    amedias
    Free Member

    I’ve got a few sets, (all bought 2nd hand for less than the price of new Hopes) and have been running them for years, ages vary from 3 – 16 years old (still on original bearings). Am slowly replacing all my Hope wheels with them as they are so much nicer to work on and seem more durable.

    As others have said, they are not actually that light, and do need looking after, but if you do then they last way better than a lot of others. They do take a while to bed in and a lot of people seem to get frustrated early on with the adjustment while they bed in and think there is something wrong with them. Over tightening of the preload collar is a common error as well, trying to remove play by cranking up the allen key bolt instead of the collar on the axle and then just nipping the bolt up.

    Sealing wise the actual hub bearings are very well sealed and generally keep the crap out quite well. If any of the bearing seals do get damaged though they can seize quite quickly as the balls themselves are quite small and not that tolerant to grit so pays to make sure the seals are good and then relube as needed.
    I think people often assume they are like Hope and other cartridge bearing hubs where you run them until the bearings are **** and then replace, where as they’re actually more like a well sealed cup and cone arrangement where you can easily service, re-grease and adjust.
    If lubed and maintained properly it is very unusual to have to actually replace a bearing, ever, clean out and relube and they will go on for ever.

    The freehub and roller bearing is fine unless you regularly go sub-aqua with sloppy silty water and then it creeps in, but it’s a 5 min job to whip it off clean and lube and requires no more than a single allen key to get the freehub off and axle out.

    The basic stuff can be done very very easily as they mostly disassemble by hand, the tool is only needed for actually removing the bearings and ring drive, and if you look after them properly this is a once a year job at most. All parts are available as spares too so easy to fix if you ever do need to.

    Fantastic hubs if you’re prepared to look after them, and a worthwhile choice but I would never pay the full retail for them, lovely they are, but worth that they are not. 2nd hand though they are a great option, unless of course you have the spare cash and don’t care about the cost.

    Having said all of that if wasn’t for the fact I like some colour on my hubs I would go with DT 240s every time, just as durable, simpler, lighter, and with the ratchet upgrade the freehub pickup is just as good!

    mst
    Free Member

    I’ve had one for about 10 years. I sometimes chuck some ringdrive lube in there. Only been to a shop once for a service.

    Works fine. Sounds nice.

    BIGMAN
    Free Member

    Personally nothing but positive experiences. Have had 3 sets down the years all were faultless. 2 were cross builds and one set is a set of road training wheels.

    I would say I also have used Tune and Po3 hubs all worked as faultlessly if honest.

    Last time i looked to buy more Tune products the prices seemed to be rising rapidly.

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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