illjustride

Hey folks. I'm sure this has been asked before. I'm getting a new set of wheels for my new gravel build. I wanted to ask about hubs. Would you invest in a set of Chris King hubs or just go with the Industry 9 hubs? Can anyone shed some light on these or have personal experience with them they can offer.

Koyote

Both good, Also consider White Industries, if you're looking at high-end hubs.

indyfabz

King is a pain to deal with if something goes wrong. Ask me how I know. My GF’s I9 hub had a problem from the start. They fixed it without hesitation.

Russ Roth

So what actually went wrong?

My experience is that you won't really go wrong with either one, I tend towards King myself and have bought between my wife and I 5 sets over the years and they all still work perfect. My most recent purchase though was White Industries to get Campy compatible with a thru axle. Can't speak to long term yet but they're pretty nice. The king r45 is a really light durable road/gravel hub. Ultimate durability if weight is less of an issue are the classics with stainless freehub body. I've had mine submerged in creeks, swamps and ditches and they're still on the same bearings.

TiHabanero

Before I discovered DT Swiss hubs, the Chris King hubs impressed me with the engineering and quality. Now that I have built many wheels for customers using DT Swiss hubs over the past 5 years, I am convinced they are the best hubs out there. Period. Simple in designed, light if you want, robust without question, and super easy to service by anyone at a shop, any user, and more importantly out in the field. In no way are CK hubs bad design or engineering, but they are overly complex to accomplish a simple task. White and Industry nine are also good hubs, but they do not meet the engineering and design quality of the DT Swiss hubs. Can't really go wrong with any of them, but one can do better with only one of them, and it is the DT Swiss.

Cyclist0108

I have Chris King and White Industries. I think I9 is probably closer to Chris King in terms of overall quality. As mentioned, the main PITA is that you need a proprietary tool to take the King hub apart. Having said that, I got mine in 2014 and abused the hell out of it and have never needed that tool (I just flush the old lube out and put in new stuff once a year). King's bearings are exceptionally high-quality. The effective engagement with I9 I think is higher, and louder. I have two sets of White Industries hubs. Both have been fine, and the nice thing is you don't need any weird or proprietary tools. I don't like them quite as much as Chris King, for some reason. They just don't "feel" quite as nice. This is deeply subjective I admit. Their bearings are bog-standard, so maybe that is it.

I should also add that Chris King really went the extra mile for me with my wheels, honoring a warranty that (a) had already expired and (b) probably didn't really apply, as my wife's bike fell on mine. I feel like I owe them another wheel purchase. Also, I was just commenting that their wheels never seem to come out of true. (I have nearly identical wheels with White Industry Hubs hand-built by a pro, and those require a slight true-up every couple of years. Nothing drastic, but by comparison the King wheels are absolutely perfect. Sadly, they don't seem to offer QR as an option for their built-up wheels now.)

Cyclist0108

My kid has DT Swiss, and I am very impressed with those, too. In addition, super nice people. They gave him a free upgrade at Sea Otter to the highest engagement option, and gave us a free maintenance demo and what is probably a lifetime supply of the grease. The ability to dislocate the freehub and cassette as one unit, with no drama, to maintain them is really quite remarkable engineering.

veganbikes

I am a big fan of White Industries, they make the absolute best single/dingle speed freewheels on the market and their hubs are of excellent quality at lower prices.If choosing between Chris King and I9 purely on hubs I might land with I9 because they still make a single speed hub for modern times. CK has stopped but in all honesty from what I have seen pretty much all the MUSA hubs are pretty great quality. I own WI, Paul, Phil Wood and have plans to get some I9 hubs (though my Paul Rhub has an I9 freehub) and I certainly have a couple CK headsets. I don't have any Hadley hubs nor any real time with them but I have heard nothing but good aside from them not having a website or easy contact.

Koyote

I’m happy to read your opinion. Last year I had some custom wheels built and went with the DT Swiss 350 hubs… They just seemed like a good mix of light weight, reliability, and smoothness. Not the best at anything, but a good blend of performance at a very reasonable price. I’m sure the 240s are even nicer, but quite a big step up in price.

aclinjury

fyi: DT Swiss 240 rolls with less friction then Chris King R45

indyfabz

It was a while back so I don't remember the details. Something wore prematurely in the rear hub. The owner of the shop that sold it to me had to fight with them tooth and nail for them to warranty it. He told me that people who work there think they are God because they work for Chris King. I'm not talking about some hack shop owner. In addition to owning his own shop, he builds custom ti frames. Twice won best MTB at NAHBS back in the 2000s.

Hiro11

Good hubs are worth the money if you ride a lot. In my experience it's hard to go wrong if you get a quality set of hubs. It's also hard to go right with the low end OEM hubs on many complete bikes, they are just garbage.

I've had a lot of luck with Shimano DA or Ultegra cup and cone hubs. I have White Industry hubs on one set of road wheels, they're great. I had an old set of i9s on a set of mountain bike wheels and they were problem free. I'll also throw in a plug for higher end Mavic hubs which I've found to be very reliable and any bike shop can easily service.

I've personally never used Chris Kings, although lots of friends of mine love them. I will say that Chris King's outrageous pricing, overly flashy aesthetics, proprietary tools and "dentist dream bike" branding actively irritate me.

Two other options: a mechanic I trust swears by DT Swiss 240s as the ultimate road hub. I can see the appeal, I really like the simplicity of that freehub, you can service them very easily, the manufacturing is top quality and it's easy to get parts for them. He also has told me that Kappius hubs are the ultimate bulletproof hub, but those look a little too proprietary / bike nerdy to me personally.

Russ Roth

Their hubs are just as expensive if not a little more then King though it'd be interesting to see their long term reliability. Their rims on the other hand look like they could really be a good value if they're really US made carbon rims for 500.00, still not cheap but a good value for US made and very much in line with where I think they belong.