Submitted by
Goody
a Weekend Warrior
from Newburyport, ma
Date Reviewed: October 18, 2009
Strengths: Engagement is awesome. These hubs are the best.
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
I have King Hubs on my SS, Nomad and Blur LT. They are amazing. I had an issue with my older hub and my LBS sent the hub back to King and they rebuilt it and added the new style hub tightening for next to nothing...$20 is what is cost me. I do have the hub wrench for tightening the hub if it get's loose but that's rare. In the beginning break in period it was a half a dozen times. On the Singlespeed hub, haven't touched it and it's been perfect. King rocks. You get what you pay for
Bike Setup: Niner S.I.R King front and back on Stans ZTR, XTR crank, King Ti headset, Salsa carbon bar, Thompson Masterpiece and Thompson Stem, HOpe X2 brakes...sweet
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Submitted by
Widebody
a Cross Country Rider
from KCMO
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2009
Strengths: Great engagement
Weaknesses: Requires constant maintenance
Bottom Line:
Well, I love the engagement. But I have two sets of Kings and have to say they are a constant maintenance nightmare. I have both a singlespeed hub and one for my geared bike and both rear hubs are always coming loose. I've had the shop fix them a number of times (by several different mechanics), have done it myself and they last about three or four rides before they come loose.
People say Chris King has great customer service but I can't get them to answer polite emails asking what their suggestions are for fixing these problems.
I'm not sure there's another answer out there for this quick engagement that I love so much, but the maintenance hassles I've endured make me wish for something else.
Similar Products Used: Hugi/DT Swiss/Shimano/Phil Wood/American Classic
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Submitted by
freeride is fun
a Downhiller
from The Ranch, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: September 18, 2008
Strengths: Awesome hub! with 72 points of engagement this hub maximizes pedalling efficiency. very smooth. hooks up as soon as you pedal. not to mention it sounds cool too!
Weaknesses: none so far. plus its backed by a 5 year product warranty!
Bottom Line:
if you can get ade4al on this hub, definitely buy it!! i would recomend getting it if your are sick of stock hubs
Strengths: Pretty much everything a hub does, this does extremely well. Engagement, durability, customer service, very solid bolt on option, get better with age...
Weaknesses: None. Some say price, but I've been riding King hubs for over 5 years now. Spread that cost out over time and they are not expensive at all.
Bottom Line:
I have 3 sets of King hubs. One SS, and 2 geared. The 2 geared I bought used of this site quite a few years now.
No other bike product has given me more reliable, top notch performance than my Kings. Would buy again in a minute if needed.
Similar Products Used: Tried or owned Hadleys, I9s, Paul Words w/ ENOs. All were nice but I liked the Kings the best.
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Submitted by
Mike
a Cross Country Rider
from WB, MI, USA
Date Reviewed: April 26, 2008
Strengths: Durability and performance.
Weaknesses: Rear seems to loosen up, both on my brand new SS and on my older geared. SS right away. geared after about a 3/4 of a year.
Bottom Line:
Great product, but have developed some slop in the rear hub/cog after 8 rides. Is it common for this to loosen up so fast? My other bike (geared) also has F/R CK hubs and they are well worth the money if you have it and live by "you get what you pay for."
Weaknesses: Price. Special Tools needed for full service.
Bottom Line:
Not much of a techie. These hubs last. Ride all year long: East Coast US weather. Used the two 5mm allens to tighten them twice and that's it. The sound annoys most, but I love it when they scream! Gonna try building them up to some Stan's rims...right now they're laced to Sun Rhyno Lights (ouch!), and I'm craving weightlessness. Can't get LBS to stock them b/c they are so damn expensive.
Favorite Trail: Lake Leatherwood, Eureka Springs, AR
Duration Product Used: 3 months
Price Paid:
$500.00
Purchased At: Cahaba Cycles
Similar Products Used: Just XT hubs, Spinergy (good tight hubs)
Bike Setup: Indy Fab 29er SS with all the good stuff
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Submitted by
Maxim
a Cross Country Rider
from Urawa
Date Reviewed: September 15, 2006
Strengths: 72pt
Weaknesses: Price If you tell something they' like not to hear, chris king won't give you warranty Customer service 5 year kid level drilling job bearing rolling resistance
Bottom Line:
The one I purchased today was the worst hub. (king SS rear hub)
Spoke hole drilling was worse than chinese hub.
I mailed king and they rejected my mail address.
I've paid $400 and got the botch.
I complaint Ms Adrian Knapp about bearing price before and sounds like she put my address to black list.
You can try my e-mail address vengo_subito@hotmail.com and chris king rejects as malinformed address and other fake email pass.
Bike Setup: All of my bike were equipped with king hubs and won't in the future
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Submitted by
Who cares
a Cross Country Rider
from CA
Date Reviewed: August 6, 2006
Strengths: Great looking Quick engagement
Weaknesses: Bearings: one inside driveshell is even not sealed , easily eats mud and collapses. Bearing Price: Just one bearing costs $37 or $40 and it's not worth it. Drive lube run out quickly
Bottom Line:
It's all about bearings. If you have hub tool, check the bearing within drive shell and it must be eating lots of debris or almost dying. I'm not happy with other bearings too:NTN LLB type bearing has by far the better rolling ability and very well sealed. The price of the Japanese made NTN bearing is MRSP of about $6 and you could purchase about$3 each if you live in Japan. DT hugi 240 hub has weak hub flange but uses Japanese NTN too and rolls better than king.(cheap DT hub uses NTN of other country, such as taiwan etc)
Strengths: SS Hub with Disc Adapter:Typical Chris King Quality. This review is overdue, and I hope they're serving the friend I sold them to just as well. Never a problem with them. Used for EVERYTHING-DH/XC/SS, you name it. I love the sound, and the looks you get as other riders shout out: "Kkkkkiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggg!".
Weaknesses: I was a bit nervous about the adapter at first, but never had to worry about it. I incessantly cheched it, but it stayed put. The only reason I put them aside was to pot a set of ISo's I have back into use as my goto set. I do wish they'd go ahead and come out with the ISO-SS hub though.
Bottom Line:
They work. If you don't like the beehive sound, keep spinning.The quality is there. Your money's well spent.
Similar Products Used: Chris King Classic hubs-road and mountain, ISO hubset.
pics of a set: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=175818
Bike Setup: Check Here:http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=147976
post#7.
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Submitted by
Chuck Cypert
a Cross Country Rider
from Dallas, the metromess
Date Reviewed: March 17, 2006
Strengths: Beautiful finish, chi-chi color selection, reputation, easily adjusted, cogs easily swapped, weight, instant ON engagement.
Weaknesses: Cost, availability, warnings about not lacing the front radial.
Bottom Line:
They sound like a bee in a bucket but they are smooth and beautiful. You need to keep an eye on how much side-to-side play develops as they break in and keep them adjusted properly. I built two sets of wheels for this bike, the other is Phil Wood. Both are beautiful wheelsets but the Kings win on the issue of light weight but the durability remains to be seen, though I have no reason so far to expect any issues here. I don't see how you can go wrong, if you can afford these expensive SOBs.
Strengths: Wow. where do I start? Everything good you could want in a hub, well here it is. But I'll tell you know anyway. It's light, strong, sounds wicked, spins like nothing else, stays put (both the bearings and in the dropout), looks totally sick, and is the best design out there. Oh yeah, you also get the best warranty and customer service I've seen yet. And I'm a bike shop mechanic.
Weaknesses: You kidding?
Bottom Line:
I originally wanted just to get away from having to space out my cheap 8-speed hub, and get something that would easily handle hardcore urban assault and skatepark riding. But after looking at Spot, Atomlab, Surly, DMR, Phil Wood, Paul Components, Hadley, and DT Swiss SS hubs, I couldn't settle for anything less then a Chris King. Man am I happy. This thing is amazing just to hold in your hand. So I built it up and took it easy for a while, then rode it hard. It started to skip, and wouldn't stay adjusted right, the bearing adjustment clamp kept coming loose, creating play, which led to skipping. So after about a month, I sent it in to the awesome peeps at CK. They gave it the works. Overhaul with new main bearing and a new adjusting clamp. It came back sooner then I expected. I haven't had one problem since. Seriously, you're not just buying the best hub out there, you're paying for a top-dog company that cares for it's customers. I ride hard and break stuff (I just snapped my front axle), but this hub has held up good for about 4 months of solid abuse. Still doubt me? Email me and I'll show you.
Bike Setup: Specialized 05 P.3, Fox Vanilla R fork set to 100mm, Easton Monkeybar, EA70 post, Vice Stem, Holzfeller cranks, Specialized 06 Lo' Pro Mag pedals, Specialized SL BMX seat, ODI lock-ons, Avid 06 Juicy Seven 8" rear brake, cheap front wheel, Chris King Rear SS Disk rear hub with DT spokes, nipples and DT Swiss FR 6.1d rim, Maxxis Holy Rollers 2.4
Weaknesses: bearing seal, especially drive side bearing spec is king's own and couldn't purchase from@any other manufacturer Price sound? I waited 6 month after order.
Bottom Line:
I just write what to think about before you purchase King hub.(I put 3 king hubs on XC, road, trials bike.)
If you use King hub, you'd better better off 1.Don't ride in mud Drive side bearing eats mud easily; it's exposed and rubber seal is not labyrinth sealed like NTN bearing in Hugi hub. If you do, change wheels with Hugi hub or cheap shimano hub. After one winter season,I noticed drive side bearing got little rough for mud when servicing the hub.
2.Buy hub tool, drive lube and Dive side bearing. non drive side is OK.
I'd give this great hub 5 if they use SKF,NSK or NTN bearing, quick delivery and little reasonable price.
I'll try hadley in the recent future since hadley seems to use NTN bearing and 108pt engagement and $100 cheaper.
Submitted by
Chris
a Cross Country Rider
from Park City, UT
Date Reviewed: May 31, 2005
Strengths: All the above. Great hubs all around. If you've got the money you can't go wrong.
Weaknesses: I recently broke one of the axle bolts (fun bolts).
Bottom Line:
Great hub and so far has outlasted every Shimano or Bontrager hub I've ever owned. Virtually maintenance free and rock solid. Only problem is I recently broke one of the axle bolts (fun bolts) while cranking on it with an allen wrench. I think it just fatigued after a year of swapping out cogs. King took the bolts back immediately for warranty inspection. Excellent customer service.
This hub is great it gives you power when you need it,those fat nuts keep the hub secure in the dropouts.the color is superb and maintence is very easy.
Like the title says, I'm selling a set of PINK Chris King SS Hubs as well as a custom XTR SS Crankset with ceramic bottom bracket.
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