Wheels with Chris King or Hadley Hubs

I got Chris King/Flow setup from Chad at Red Barn and am happy so far.

Yep, Chad at RedBarn

Dropout33 said:

Yep, Chad at RedBarn

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He seems to be the cheapest. Looking at about $750 for a King setup, from him.

Is having them built locally not an option? When I'm shelling out money for an expensive set up, I go local.

ncfisherman said:

He seems to be the cheapest. Looking at about $750 for a King setup, from him.

Is having them built locally not an option? When I'm shelling out money for an expensive set up, I go local.

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Personally I tried going local with my wheel build and they couldn't even come close to a price match. The op is probably having the same issues.

good thing you don't live in canada. going rate for a king rear hub alone is about $650.

saturnine said:

good thing you don't live in canada. going rate for a king rear hub alone is about $650.

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Which is why I get my stuff from Chad at Red Barn. He ships USPS so you don't get bent over by UPS or FedEx.

Although a properly built wheel can go for years without a truing, others may need to be trued a few times within months of the build. Unless you know you're getting a great wheel build at a lot price (rare), I think it would be better to spend a bit more for a known quality build - even better if the quality build is done locally. When it comes to wheels, I strongly believe in staying local (although I keep it very local by doing my own).

If you're still in the market for kings, I recently had a set built by Larry Mettler @ Mountainhigh cyclery for the same $ as the quoted chad build. "But" included in my build are stan's flow rims, hub colored matching nipples & butted spokes. He is highly regarded on this site as well...

cambria has the following king wheelset for $578 (with their 20% off coupon that is on their home page)

CHRIS KING ISO DISC MAVIC XC717 MOUNTAIN BIKE WHEELSET

http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=80831&page=CHRIS+KING+ISO+DISC+MAVIC+XC717+MOUNTAIN+BIKE+WHEELSET

Chad builds a MEAN wheel. I am fat and like rocks, don't choose good lines and my 5.1s laced to Hopes needed truing 2x in 3+ years...once I broke 2 spokes and rode it another 20 miles..the shop was amazed at how well they had held up.

When my Hope Pro II bit the dust, Chad helped me get onto a King HD with another 5.1 and built it up.