Mike-the-Bike

I've recently built up a set of road wheels using the famous Chris King Classic "Loud-n-Proud" hubs, but there seems to be a problem. Don't get me wrong, they operate perfectly and feel very smooth, but after reading all the hype about the noise they make, I'm somewhat confused!! When I start a ride the rear hub makes nearly no noise at all while coasting, but as the ride progresses, it does get noisier and noisier (to what I assume it should sound like, but still nothing like the Hugi hub on my previous Rolf Vector Pros!).

Anybody have the same experience? I opened the hub up and noticed that there is a lot of grease inside which may be having an effect. The hubs have about 150km on them (still a way to go to get them optimal). What's up with the buzzing bee?

HAMMER MAN

my C/k hubs buzz constantly when in a coasting mode, otherwise spinning or hammering are very quiet.

Great hubs and a great investment

kleng

When servicing my dura-ace WH-7801 rear wheel, I put some extra grease in the free hub pawl area.
It looks like it hasn't effected the pawl engagement but the wheel is now silent, you don't hear the ratcheting noise at all.

freako

Some hubs are quiet and some are loud, neither is a representation of a poor hub. As Kleng stated, if you apply extra grease to the pawl area you can usually quiet most hubs if that's what you want to do.

Steev

I would guess that as the grease warms and loses some viscosity the pawls make more noise. If you apply extra grease around the pawls, you can expect them to not engage if you find yourself riding in cold weather.

freako

I've never had that issue and I've ridden in temps to below 20. If that was an issue just think of all the problems our cars would be having using 90 weight grease in rearends (those with rear wheel drive) and in steering joints in the winter months.

Cyclist0383

^^^

I've had it happen many times in temps colder than -20c. After a few minutes of riding the grease warms up and all is normal again.

Mike-the-Bike

Thanks for the reponses guys. As kleng suggested, I reckon its the abundant grease that keeping the hub silent at startup (for now).

It doesn't get cold enough here in Perth (min of 4 degC) so I haven't noticed any sort of problem with the engagement. Throughout the week it's been super smooth and instant.

Metaluna

Keep in mind that you can cause excessive wear by doing this, because when the pawls are sticky, you can have occasions where one of them doesn't engage, but the others do, thereby putting that much more load on the engaged pawls. Personally I would clean out the freehub and relube according to the manufacturers spec. In my experience, though, some manufacturers (Campagnolo) are pretty vague about how to lube the pawls. The first time I serviced my Record hubs, in my ignorance I covered the pawls pretty thoroughly with Lubrimatic marine grease, which is a very thick, tacky grease. After that the hub was eerily silent, but I had all kinds of problems with engagement. I ended up thoroughly cleaning everything and applying a very light coating of a lighter grease (Finish Line), after which the problems went away and the hub was noisier.

In fact, doesn't CK sell a special lube for its freehub? I've also read about people using Phil Tenacious Oil on the pawls.

HillRider

I don't know about CK but I've always lubed various Shimano freehub bodies (Dura Ace, Ultegra, 105 and several others in 7,8, 9 and 10-speed versions) with Tri-Flow and they are both quiet and very durable. In fact, one 9-speed Dura Ace rear hub lubed only with Tri-flow once a year is now 45,000 miles old and both quiet and completely reliable.

brownlandshark

King hubs aren't as loud as they have been hyped to be. They do have a higher pitched whine to them. The higher the rpm the louder they get, they are actually pretty quiet at lower speeds. Mine are new, less than 200 miles are getting a bit louder. Mine got rained on so I cleaned them out, re lubed with the king ring drive grease and they are a bit louder now. Your's should be fine with some more miles on them.

poopncow

A few geek notes:

1. CK uses a very different rachet system than other hubs or freewheels. instead of 2 or three little finger like pawls that wag to engage radial tooths, they use a set of toothed crowns (ring drive). It is very similar to the locking mechanism used on old threaded headsets. when coasting, the crowns/rings disengage axially. With this design all the teeth work as a unit, and there is no risk of 1 pawl sticking and causing undue stress to the others.

2. they are not that loud, and the lub to noise realtionship has already been discussed.

personally, it is not the loudness of the noise that attracts me, it is the frequency of the buzz....which also draws me to old regina freewheels....I'm a geek.

MattP.

Give it time. My CK's were pretty quiet to begin with, after a couple of months though, you'll be "Loud'n'Proud."