• This topic has 18 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by SamB.
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  • Chris King (Specifically Road) Hubs Worth It?
  • tenacious_doug
    Free Member

    Building up my new road bike and getting some handbuilt wheels from Wheelsmith, currently with their own brand hubs (The Race 23 set, highly recommended from many!). I’ve had a bit of cash from redundancy at work, which could be saved or I could use to whack some King hubs on my build. It adds £400 to the cost, is it worth it? I’m thinking they will last me a lifetime, will they really? Bit conscious that it will make the wheels pricier than the frame (which is one of the new Genesis Equilibrium 853’s) but I wouldn’t intend to put this money towards anything else on the bike as I am happy enough with my build elsewhere, if it isn’t spent on the hubs it will just go into a savings account!
    Is there good experiences of King hubs from the forum?

    mboy
    Free Member

    What wheels have you ordered currently? What rims and how many spokes etc…

    Personally (and I know several people who would back me up on this too) I wouldn’t bother with Chris King hubs, they’re annoyingly loud and they’re not all they’re cracked up to be. I’d go for the cheaper, lighter and more reliable option of DT Swiss 240S hubs instead. You’ll find that top end wheels from the likes of Bontrager, Roval, Lightweight and many others all use DT Swiss hubs at the centre of their builds for good reason. The ratchet drive system for the freehub is mega reliable and they’re so easy to service, they take standard sized bearings and parts are readily available from your LBS too (Madison distribute them). Kings are more temperamental, take proprietary bearings, and require very expensive special tools to look after them.

    Joe
    Full Member

    dt240s are the hubs of kings.

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    Clong
    Free Member

    No experience of roads hubs, but i run king hubs on two mountain bikes. I broke a bearing due to operator error when i serviced one of them (service tool incorrectly seated) and the single speed froze at -12 due to lack of servicing (not serviced in 4 years, freehub had water inside) Clearing the water out solved this and there was no damage done to the internals, which i can’t say for any other hubs this has happened too . They are no louder than hope XC’s i use on other bikes, a lot quieter then Pro 2.

    Originally, I bought Kings simply because i always wanted a pair and i think they are lovely pieces of kit, but part of the fun for me is servicing them, they are works of art inside. But as has been said, the tool ain’t cheap.

    Don’t know whether they would last a life time, does anything? The single speed hub in the same design as other King hubs, and that’s still running smooth despite being ridden only in winter on the Southdowns. It just gets hosed down at the end of the ride and i haven’t replaced anything in it.

    njee20
    Free Member

    The weight is near as dammit the same on the R45/240 hubs – 3g in the pair. The King MTB hubs are much heavier.

    I’d still have DT240s though myself, add the 36t star ratchets for quicker pickup and another 10g saved.

    Dales_rider
    Free Member

    Lots better out there at £500 for the hubs alone what with rims and the spokes you’re looking at top side of a decent pair of Mavic wheels.

    atlaz
    Free Member

    Big fan of DT Swiss. In my experience most of the people who buy CK hubs are not only buying them for the performance and the fact they’ll last a long time, they’re also buying them because they want CK specifically.

    Dales_rider
    Free Member

    Plus dont forget that the price of the Chris king hub is over inflated due to import etc.

    eg. Front hub is only $180 in the states and thats £120 at todays low exchange rate not the inflated £150. So you are spending £30 for no performance increase.

    mst
    Free Member

    I’ve got one of the MTB hubs. Had it serviced once in ~10 years.

    No complaints here.

    tenacious_doug
    Free Member

    Thanks all for the input. To be clear, this is very much a King lust thing, I’ve owned and loved DT hubs in the past but I want King and not DT hubs on this build! And I am not interested in factory wheelsets like Mavics, regardless of what I could get for the same price.
    What I’m hearing is that perhaps the experience many have had is that the performance isn’t quite up to the price, I could live with them being great if a little pricey, but hearing simply good and pricey. May just save myself £400 and go with something much more functional.

    FuzzyWuzzy
    Full Member

    Yeah unless you really want King hubs to scratch an itch/for the look then you’re better off saving your money.

    tenacious_doug
    Free Member

    I do, but it’s not itchy enough to outweigh the less than outstanding feedback on them!

    Dales_rider
    Free Member

    tenacious_doug – Member

    Thanks all for the input. To be clear, this is very much a King lust thing, May just save myself £400 and go with something much more functional.

    Not many people on road bikes lust for CK to be honest, from a good wheel set point of view I’d love some Dura ace C35 but for the time being I’ll stick with My Ksyrium Elites and maybe just maybe buy some R-Sys SLR wheels in the summer sales.

    njee20
    Free Member

    I think a lot of people base their prejudices on the MTB hubs.

    I’d sooner have R45s than the MTB ones – they roll better and weigh significantly less, even so.

    MarinNo8
    Free Member

    Last year I decided to buy myself a nice set of road wheels as a present to myself after Esplin junior no2 was born. I choose Chris King R45 ceramic hubs on Open Pro rims to go on my titanium Lemond Victore. The guys at my lbs, Skyline Cycles, did suggest alternatives such as DT240 ect and to be honest they would have been a fantastic option. In fact pre built wheelsets from the likes of Mavic, Easton ect would also done the job. The reason for choosing the Kings was simply the fact that I have always wanted some for years and an opportunity arose. They are certainly more individual and very pleasing on the eye. I can’t obviously comment on the longevity as they are less than 7 months old but what I can say is that every time I look at them a little bit inside of me swoons!

    edit- Having read the the recent posts above the ‘lust’ reason and not wanting pre built wheelsets rings true. I went from Mavic Krsyium to Kings and I can’t say I regret it.

    Dales_rider
    Free Member

    Marin No 8 – Member

    Last year I decided to buy myself a nice set of road wheels as a present to myself after Esplin junior no2 was born. I choose Chris King R45 ceramic hubs on Open Pro rims

    A good rim I run them on my winter bike laced to Hope Pro 3 hubs love the noise 🙂 However no where as stiff as the Ksyriums. + side is they absorb the bumps and lumps on our “Modern Roads”

    MarinNo8
    Free Member

    Marin No 8 – Member
    Last year I decided to buy myself a nice set of road wheels as a present to myself after Esplin junior no2 was born. I choose Chris King R45 ceramic hubs on Open Pro rims

    A good rim I run them on my winter bike laced to Hope Pro 3 hubs love the noise However no where as stiff as the Ksyriums. + side is they absorb the bumps and lumps on our “Modern Roads”

    I must confess I haven’t really noticed the difference in stiffness but I’m sure that you’re right. They are lovely to ride on especially like you said on our roads.

    Dales_rider
    Free Member

    Marin No 8 – Member

    I must confess I haven’t really noticed the difference in stiffness but I’m sure that you’re right. They are lovely to ride on especially like you said on our roads.

    I notice it with the front when out the saddle, it does flex and touch the brake pads, that said it will be the bike I’ll be on this sunday for our clubs

    Hell [ish] of the North [Leeds] ride

    Hope with the 25 c tyres they will suit.

    SamB
    Free Member

    I’ve had a pair of King R45s on Stans’ Alpha 340s for the last six months or so. Lovely bit of kit, not too whirry and roll really nicely. Total built up weight is ~1400g so reasonably light (that’s with 32 spokes an end). No mechanical issues as yet!

    Can’t comment on DT240s as I’ve never used them 🙂

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