chris king hubs

speshsteve

these look a thing of beauty but come with an astronomical price tag. Anyone built up a wheelset with these at the heart....worth the money?

MattC59

Depends on your definition of "worth the money". Personally, I'd say yes, but they're still very expensive
There will be plenty along shortly to tell you yes and no.

dennisn

They make a hell of a racket when freewheeling. Way too expensive for my tastes.
I go with DA or Record hubs. No better hubs. And ya get a skewer included. And once again it's a none better skewer.

Unless this is a poser / showoff item I'd look elsewhere.

mrushton

They are lovely but as mentioned DA and Record are excellent. PMP are good (special lockring tho') and Phil Wood. Good value and high quality AND produced in the UK, White Industries,Hope and Goldtech

asprilla

White Industries aren't from the UK, unless there is a different California I've never heard of?

I've got CK R45s, Hope Pro 3 Monos, DA, White Industries and Royce hubs (as well as a lot of 105 hubs).

Am I glad I've got the R45s? Yes. Would I swap them for something else? No. Would. I buy them again? Maybe.

I bought them when I thought they were the best of the best but as I've learned more I've found that there are plenty of other hubs that are as good and some that are better, depending on your criteria. 105s offer good value and so I put them on the wheels I build myself but as far as 'premium' hubs go the only onesi own two pairs of are Royce and I'm about to order a second pair of Hopes, albeit a different variety. Make of that what you will.

At the moment NOS DA 7800 hubsets are under £200 on eBay, there is an awful lot of value to be had there.

anonmouse

Worth it for the noise alone. :P

FatTed

My R45s are not noisy at all, not like my CK mtb hubs

mroli

Is the freewheel "locking" when cold issue sorted with them?

asprilla

anonmouse wrote:

Worth it for the noise alone. :P

R45s aren't noisy, not compared to Hopes anyway.

I like buzzy hubs.

on-yer-bike

What is it about CK hubs that is worth paying the money for?

dennisn

on-yer-bike wrote:

What is it about CK hubs that is worth paying the money for?

Strictly as a poser / showoff item they are excellent. They are also excellent for marketing to unknowing people who believe that buying really expensive bike components will make them go faster. i.e. the upgrade crowd is in love with them.

asprilla

dennisn wrote:

on-yer-bike wrote:

What is it about CK hubs that is worth paying the money for?

Strictly as a poser / showoff item they are excellent. They are also excellent for marketing to unknowing people who believe that buying really expensive bike components will make them go faster. i.e. the upgrade crowd is in love with them.

Pretty much. I like them though.

mrushton

I meant Royce not White.

on-yer-bike

dennisn wrote:

on-yer-bike wrote:

What is it about CK hubs that is worth paying the money for?

Strictly as a poser / showoff item they are excellent. They are also excellent for marketing to unknowing people who believe that buying really expensive bike components will make them go faster. i.e. the upgrade crowd is in love with them.

Better sell mine then. Dont want to be seen as a poser/show off and stupid. Mine came attached to wheels that I bought for a good price.

giant_man

Well engineed hubs always come at a premium. Ones with 5 year warranties too. CK have both these qualities.

anonmouse

Asprilla wrote:

anonmouse wrote:

Worth it for the noise alone. :P

R45s aren't noisy, not compared to Hopes anyway.

I like buzzy hubs.

Hope's may be noisier but CK's just sound a little nicer.

ugo.santalucia

They are nice... they are not the best money can buy, hence a tad overpriced, but nice hubs they are

izza

Asprilla wrote:

dennisn wrote:

on-yer-bike wrote:

What is it about CK hubs that is worth paying the money for?

Strictly as a poser / showoff item they are excellent. They are also excellent for marketing to unknowing people who believe that buying really expensive bike components will make them go faster. i.e. the upgrade crowd is in love with them.

Pretty much. I like them though.

+1

Thoroughly enjoy the sound, pose value and the quality.

FatTed

Ugo
Which are the best in your opinion?

ugo.santalucia

FatTed wrote:

Ugo
Which are the best in your opinion?

Royce are extremely well built and very very durable... worth the investment. The older Dura Ace series with titanium freehub was very good. The older Campagnolo Record hubs were excellent. Dura Ace track hubs are phenomenal. PMP hubs are excellent
A notch down in price Ultegra hubs and Hope hubs are also very good for different reasons.

If Ck were at the same price point as Dura Ace, they would be probably a good deal... as they are, you are paying 50% too much IMO

mrushton

To be fair CK use a ring drive as opposed to a pawl system. Is it more expensive to engineer? My objection to PMP is the special lockring (requires a specific tool) they use altho' they are supposed to be changing to a standard lockring. I don't think most of us would notice a difference if we ran DA/Royce/Record, it comes down to taste and budget. I think Royce would be keepers tho'

ugo.santalucia

mrushton wrote:

To be fair CK use a ring drive as opposed to a pawl system. Is it more expensive to engineer? '

Well, the real question is "is it better?"
To be honest I have never had to have a look at an old pair of Chris King hubs... so no idea... that of CK is a recent obsession, you will hardly find any 10 years old set of hubs around to compare. I have seen some oldish Royce and they were as good as new with original bearings.

At some point somebody decided that Chris King components were much better than the others and that's how all began. Headsets in particular... I have had Campagnolo threaded and threadless headsets on all my bikes and they never needed attention or bearing replacement, so I don't know how a Chris King one can justify costing 2-3 times as much. Sometimes I getthe feeling you pay for the range of colours they offer

nicklouse

ugo.santalucia wrote:

At some point somebody decided that Chris King components were much better than the others and that's how all began. Headsets in particular... I have had Campagnolo threaded and threadless headsets on all my bikes and they never needed attention or bearing replacement, so I don't know how a Chris King one can justify costing 2-3 times as much. Sometimes I getthe feeling you pay for the range of colours they offer

CK headsets fail. and they have to be sent back to CK for repair. CK recently had to change their headset design as it did not work with longer travel forks that are now common pn MTBs the old design worn the fork steerers.

CK stuff would I buy any? nope suitable cartridge bearings are cheap as chips. and can be replace many time before you get to CK cost and by that time i bet you no longer have the bike.

CK have stated for years that they would never make an internal headset (with cups) but guess what they have had to make their own "standard" so fit the frames that are being made with internal headsets.

Hubs Like Ugo way over priced. Hope hubs seen too many of the newer design fail and after holding some they felt poor compared to my older ones.

shimano hubs with some servicing are very good but do seem to be a little short of grease from new.

TheStone

I've got chris king headset, bottom bracket and the hubs.

It's hard to say whether the headset and hubs are worth the money, but I think the bottom bracket probably is.
My previous Shimano and FSA ones lasted about a year. The CK is 3-4 years old and still perfect.

Thinking of putting one on the commuter/touring bike too.

dennisn

Very bad news for all you CK fans. Was flipping through a bike catalog this morning and saw that a new Shimano DA 9000 rear hub cost's 400 dollar's. CK's top o'the line rear hub was 398 dollars. This obviously means you must switch over to DA. It's obviously the better hub as it costs more. Don't even think about buying Campy record though. It was 300 dollars for BOTH front and rear. Must be real junk.