Chris King Hubs Over Priced Or Ture Quality

…just looking at the prices and yeah…

They are ‘ture’ quality but they’re still overpriced.

I was disappointed with mine. Heavy, draggy, needed more maintanence than any other hubs I’ve owned.

They looked good, and sounded nice, but I’d not have another set.

They are ‘ture’ quality but they’re still overpriced.

Given a choice what brand of hub would you go for Rorschach?

Not aimed at me, but I’d have DT240s.

As njee says, heavy, draggy and overpriced.

Look very good, but otherwise there’s better. Oh, and the noise is VERY annoying!

DT240S are better in every way, except for pickup speed, but 36 point engagement on the newer 240’s is still pretty quick, 72 point on the King’s is kinda pointless IMO.

Not aimed at me, but I’d have DT240s.

are DT Swiss hubs better pieces of engineering compared to Hope and Chris King in your’ opinion?

I really like hope, due to them manufacturing in Britain.

I love mine, and will buy more sets for other bikes.

Money no object, Dt 190’s tbh.
Royce maybe (mainly because I end up on the phone for an hour every time talk to him 😀 ).
Extralite if I was’nt going to ride them much.
But at the end of the day hope for price vs quality vs serviceability.
Dull and predictable I spose.

Mike, what would you think of them if they werent made here, all other things being equal?

I bought my rear hub for my 40th a few years ago.

I posted then that, at £300 I paid, I thought it was superbly engineered but not worth £300, probably worth £250 though, I think.

I have run this hub for three years now, stripped it totally once and it’s still perfectly it’s been to the Alps twice too, when I ruined an XT hub in under 2 days on a previous trip.

Happy that I got one but happier that it was years ago when they were cheaper.

If you’ve got the cash, I doubt you will regret the purchase. Oh BTW, the pick up is very quick. The buzzing noise when freewheeling is ace too, like being chased by friendly bees.

Industry nine all day long …………… or hope if you are on a budget

Mike, what would you think of them if they werent made here, all other things being equal?

My Evo Pro 2 drags quite a lot and is fairly weighty but otherwise fantastic. Really chuffed. However my previous hub was a shimano cup and cone FH-M485…

Overpriced and excellent quality. But they are just hubs, nothing more. I am a fan of them, mainly for the engineering of the driveshell mechanism. I’ve found them to be very low maintenance and extremely reliable.

Poor postie here and have two sets on two bikes and they are a joy to service and bearings are very servicable.Bought mine from Aspire would not Pay UK prices,great sound and blingness 😉

Btw Hope on another set of wheels and pretty disappointed with the bearing life even worse than White Industries Hubs

The one and only thing I regret selling is my ck wheelset. They cost what they cost.

I just don’t get what’s so good about them. My normal hoops are Spinergy MTB wheels with pretty generic design hubs, nothing special at all sealing wise, yet I ride all through winter, jet wash the bikes to death and only have to change the odd cartridge bearing every few years or so.

they are overpriced,but they are pure quality.So that justifies the five sets of wheels ,eight headsets and four bottom brackets on the bikes in my shed then 😉

The bearings just go on and on… And the freehub is indestructible. Hope bearings tend to last me about a year. I have a set of Kings that are now 4 years old. I once owned a non-disc set for 7 years and other than the occasional strip and grease I never actually replaced a single part.

I guess if you are ham fisted and hate maintenance, Hope is probably easier as you can just hammer out the old bearings and hammer in new ones once a year. Kings are a little more involved.

GB

I’d love a set, just can’t quite justify the spend.

I have hopes all over now. They range from a 36 Hole ’06 through to some from the last batch before the Evo’s.

I’ve replaced bearings and one free hub on the oldest. The machining is great quality and feels right somehow.

I should add I’d never buy a new set – I got my 2 sets off here for about £250 per pair.

GB

I really like hope, due to them manufacturing in Britain.

They need to have more than that. CK sound less agricultural than Hope as well, which is a good thing for me.

Hope are great value; Parts are easy to find and fit.

King don’t need parts, they just need a small bottle of lube and a bit of time every few months. Draggy? I think most of that is in your head.
Going from King to Crossmax SLR’s is a revelation, you will not believe how slow the pick up is on the Mavic’s. Expensive, but they last and last.

Hope for price; King for value.

Love the sound of my kings squealing when I’m going quick. Really adds to the moment.
Mine have needed a few services in the 3 years I’ve owned them but I would buy them again.

For the price of King hubs I wouldn’t bother. Having been very disappointed with Hope Pro 2s I’ve switched back to the older, tougher and QUIETER XCs on 2 bikes and DT Swiss 240s on my main bike. I buy all my hubs in sales or used and build my own wheels but my pair of 240s on Mavic 717s have cost me about £170. (everything was brand new except the rear hub)

I do have some very old Goldtec hubs on my 93 Explosif. Not sure what miles they’ve done but I’d have another pair of those like a shot if the quality is still the same. They really are stunning, at least equal to King hubs.

Mine have been running around 7-8 years (since two part silver hope mini vintage) they are good, and have lasted forever but there are deffo downsides.

Upsides: durable bearings (never changed!)
Strong wheel build
Light (imo) (1500g wheelset with stans 355)
Love the sound and the instant pick up

Downsides: NOT maintainance free – you need to keep a constant check on the side to side wobble
can be draggy if the roller bearing gets dirty/is packed with thicker grease than it should be
If you want to home service the tools are expensive or you need a high end bike shop near by.

I always used to run Kings on DT Swiss EX 5.1d’s. Play always developed in the rear hub.

I currently have a pair of SRAM X9 hubs on Stans Flow rins and they are every bit as good with a lot less maintenance.

Strong wheel build
Light (imo) (1500g wheelset with stans 355)

They’re heavier than plenty of far cheaper options. That’s a downside. They don’t have particularly big flanges, so no reason to be stiffer/stronger than any other hub. So that leaves good bearing life (personally mine seized, but at least you can service them) and sounding nice.

Superbly finished hubs but quality doesn’t come cheap and as I paid less than £300 new for mine recently I’m more than happy 🙂 Pick up is excellent and the sound they make is cool and not as noisy as my Hopes. I’ve owned Tunes, DT 240’s, Goldtecs and various Shimano offerings and I’d definitely buy some more CK’s any day.

I cant see beyond DT – they are amazing. Running number of sets of hopes as well and cant fault them for the cash.

1500g with Stans 355 is pretty obese, you should be looking at 1200g for a wheel set with those rims!

They are decent quality hubs bought by people with more money than sense.

The people who have them will rave about them, but then they obviously have to to justify spending so much on a set of hubs without looking a bit silly.

There are better hubs out there, but CK’s are still decent (as with all the stuff they make) but far to expensive.

the only hubs Ive seen that have frozen solid on a cold winter ride, and had to be freed up with a stream of body-heated fluid. 😯

New advertising slogan-

“Chris King hubs, at this price they take the p1ss”

Best hubs i’ve ever had, had them 6 years only replaced bearings in the rear. They’ve been down the fort bill track many many times and survived. They’ve been serviced less than once a year by myself. yes the rear can go loose when you first get it but once it’s bedded in you won’t have a problem. Maybe not the lightest but who cares when they last as long as they do, I hammer my bikes and they’ve just gone on and on, last DT swiss I had i destroyed in 9 months. Didn’t have to do anything to my Chris Kings for 3 years, if your not bothered about weight and want something that just works I’d get them.

Hi.

Have lived with CK hubs for over five years now and can say they are superb but over priced as most people say. But that is probably import duty as well?

As for living with them, they do need looking after and basic maintaince is quite easy, only needed the wheel locknut which is under £20. Yes, the hubs need tightening every now and again, but once again simple.

The only main problem I had was the freehub bodies stripping as these are ali. Been through two of these and recently upgraded to the stainless steel version at over £100! The freehub body also can get damaged if a cassette is not fastened tightly enough!

I must say the importers at Bromley Bikes are fantastic and always willing to help with any problems.

Riding with them for the first time has a feeling of having an extra gear as they are smooth, engage very quickly and the noise is simply a marmite thing.

I got blue ones which still look fantastic today.

I used to swear by Hope hubs but they constantly let me down, so paying the extra was worth it, but has it been cheaper in the long run, doubtful……

Tempted now?

had a rear for about 5 years now. the finish still looks beautiful and the fast engagement is nice on any difficult terrain. i’ve lubed the ring drive a few times and adjusted play out a few times, both easy jobs. only downside for me is the retail price, i paid £190 and i’m happy with it. i have a dt240 with 36t engagement, also a very nice hub but it cost me more than the king. i also have an american classic, nice hub but i like the other 2 better, mainly for the faster pick up.

Play always developed in the rear hub

It will unless they are adjusted correctly. Can’t blame a hub for fists of ham and fingers of butter.

1500g with Stans 355 is pretty obese, you should be looking at 1200g for a wheel set with those rims!

Hardly, unless you use Extralite Ultrahubs and Pillar ti spokes, but Kings still aren’t light!

It will unless they are adjusted correctly. Can’t blame a hub for fists of ham and fingers of butter.

That’s the problem though! DT240s (for example) cost less, weigh less, don’t need any adjustment and they roll better. I’d accept having to very regularly (IME) tweak the Kings if they were silly light or they rolled fantastically, or they were cheaper than alternatives. But they’re not!

12 years on and still with the original bearings. For me, enough said (and they’re still super smooth).

Yes they’re expensive, but they just keep on going. I like the fact you can strip down the bearings if needs be, amongst other things.

Yes, that is a plus, and I’ll certainly concede that. Mine did seize a couple of times, but it is good you can disassemble and clean them out.