I live Chris King hubs however they are nowhere near as ‘fit and forget’ as their headsets are.

For that reason I’m out.

No, indeed they are not fit and forget! Just because they cost lots it doesn’t mean they are fit and forget (and unfortunately many fall in to the trap of thinking more expensive parts are fit and forget). You also have to read (and do!) what the instructions say ie use the right lube and torque the axles up to the correct amount. However, doing all of this and taking them apart at least once a year ensures a long and happy life.

I also have a pair of Hope SP3 wheels. Yes they’re good, but I still don’t rate the hubs as highly as the Kings, and the sealing on the freehub is no where near as good.

I’ve got three sets. Two sets have done over ten years service with minimal servicing. I’ve had only one snapped axle in that time, otherwise all bearings, driveshells, ringdrive, etc all original.

I think its different strokes for different folks

I know Njee didn’t rate his tunes but I’ve had no issues with mine despite being raced through some pretty awful winter races. Conversely I was doing a set of bearings a race when I used my American classics and gave up in the end.

I’ve just bought a set of Industry9 wheels and ruined them in one race. To be fair they were fully submerged a number of times, no hub is going to stand that lap after lap. All hubs need a bit of looking after. Some more than others. King stuff is decent but nothing is fit and forget, or ‘jetwash’ proof. Either buy something cheaper (like Hope) and replace them often, or buy King and keep on top of the servicing

i can see why there so expensve now

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Chris-Kings-vision-Products-2012.html

I know Njee didn’t rate his tunes but I’ve had no issues with mine despite being raced through some pretty awful winter races.

True, but to be fair, the issues I had were more to do with the lack of transparency when I bought them, rather than the product itself.

I can live with freehub bodies disintegrating after less than a year (they were bloody light after all) it was the revelation that that required a full wheel rebuild and the hub to be sent away for weeks that I found hard to stomach!

Had I known that I’d have bought the standard Kong, and probably been more happy. I think the Superscharf ones are user serviceable now anyway.

I’ve got the Ti body on mine and so far so good. I’m still amazed that you can pay so much money for a hub and it still comes with an alloy freehub body that cuts up like it does. Hope, Shimano and the original Tune all did this.

That King article is pretty interesting, it does seem like they’ve got a pretty cool niche in the market where they can afford to charge what they like and people still lust after their products. Regardless of how good DT/Tune/AN Other hubs are, King still seem to be the ones that people really want and recognise. Genius stroke having the hub sound as a downloadable ringtone from their site too.

Mine was nothing to do with the cassette, it broke up, into lots of little pieces! The ti freehub body adds weight, and to be honest the fact you have to buy it separately (costing more than the alu one) is ridiculous.

I don’t mind cassettes biting into the freehub body, it’s essentially cosmetic, no way I’d buy a ti or steel freehub body to negate it.