I really enjoyed listening to Mr. King. You can tell his breadth and depth of knowledge is vast and he explains things in a thoughtful and easy to understand manor.
One of the best manufacturers in the whole industry. Well designed, made in the same country as the design: two great features of any organisation. Deserves every success.
+Nathan Brown The energy loss due to that sound is completely irrelevant, especially compared to the energy loss because you're not pedaling. And indeed it's a great way to alert other people who can't figure out the difference between sidewalks and bike lanes.
My wife came across a 83'-84' PK ripper 20" while shopping local thrift stores in my area, she knew my love of classic bmx ( im 53 ) and called me at work! Long story short... it had the 1st gen flight cranks with the single, also had a P.P.P. SKINNY stem ( petes precision products ), chris king headset and BB from im guessing, mid to late 80's , original, Z rims, with snake belly tires, a original haro 2 number plate, and the infamous UNI seat w/ well faded padded seat cover!!! Oh, and one cook bros front hub....price...$75.00 us. With markdown came to $66.00us. Oh yea,it had kkt lightning pedals. This was in 2017, the headset and BB were as solid and awesome as the day they were installed!!! I ended up trading it for a J. M.C. Darrell young with the BROWNING Two speed shift sytem, people over 50 will know...
Thanks, Jon, for this chat with Chris and it just continues to astound me that so many of our cycling luminaries got their start or cut their teeth in Northern California back in the day. I really enjoy the stories of the early years and I appreciate what all those crafty people did to advance the technology of our bikes. And a big nod of thanks to those kids in Southern California in the early Sixties for modifying their bikes with high-rise handlebars and elongated bicycle polo saddles and pretending they were riding motorcycle choppers. Schwinn took a look at that and came up with the Sting-Ray. Such a circle of love.
Chris King are expensive, but they are so worth it. I bought a hope pressfit BB last year and the bearings went within 6 months. My 10 year old thread fit bb is still going strong with the origional bearings. I generally keep my bikes for 5 years or so, and I know that fitting Chris King bearings will save me time and money and effort over that time. Its just a shame standards have changed and my older 142 and 100mm hubs wont fit on my new boost bike, otherwise they would be straight on.
Chris King is legend. Everybody that is interested in bicycles must have at least 1 Chris King product. Having the idea of producing the best products possible and giving lifetime warranty, it's the best thing to do. Ok, Chris King products might seem expensive at first sight, but the lifetime warranty is a no-brainer to buy these products. Lifetime warranty makes it inexpensive again. There is nothing better. And used Chris King products can be resold easily.
This is a great interview of Chris. Saw an interview of him about 5yrs ago at a bike show and he was not in a good mood. Glad to see him in good spirits.
Oh it's kind of fun hearing Chris King talk while I'm staring at my 20 yo Chris King hub wondering how to rebuild it.... great products worth every penny.
Wow, really enjoyed this one! Must be like meeting one of your heroes. Fantastic to have information like this straight from the horse's mouth (not calling you a horse Chris). A very interesting insight. Thank you very much for bringing this to us. The power of RU-vid, you ain't gonna' be seeing this sort of thing on the TV! Happy riding! Or should I say "ride on" (I just spent a week in Watopia, my wife thinks I've been doing the garden). All the best, Tim
A very candid and fascinating discussion. I have always appreciated Chris King Bling but the prices make most of it borderline unattainable. I got a nice set of hubs from a certain UK company that also have that swarm of bees sound and didn't have to take out a loan. Maybe someday I will splurge on a headset. Nice job Jon!
The cut at 14:47 seems to cut him off before he tells us what the problem was with the titanium rings on the R45 hubs. What was the problem? Other than that, great interview.
If I could hazard a guess, it would probably be wear-related. There's a reason why titanium cogs on a cassette don't find themselves trickling down from Dura-Ace to, say, Ultegra or 105. The engagement ring is a very similar item in terms of wear and duty, so most likely steel stood up better to wear than titanium did.
TypeVertigo is correct. The titanium drive and driven rings did not last as long. It was partly due to titanium being difficult to keep lubricated properly and partly because titanium is a "gummy" material. In the end we found that the performance and longevity was better with other materials.
Great answer, but why was the answer edited out of the video? This guy was so interesting to listen to I really would have liked to hear more from him But I really don't know anything about his products or how much better they are than anything else.
Awsome interview!! Been using king head sets for years. They are the absolute best. The t47 sounds like a great idea. Threaded bottom brackets have always been the best way!! The rest is all pretty much crap!!
Hambini has a problem,not with ceramic bearings themselves, but the fact that most of them are much harder than steel and mounted steel races. So this sort of setup always wears faster causing friction when the entire idea is lower rolling resistance.
There aren't many Chris King hubs here in Japan, but I heard 1 for the first time screaming down the hill going the opposite direction a couple of days ago. I thought at the time that it must be a Chris King hub. Sounded lovely.
After destroying my fourth mountain tandem hub, I was considering what hub would withstand high off-road tandem torque loads (Think Slickrock Trail with two riders, low gearing, no front wheel lift, and no rear wheel spin.). I luckily had the chance to discuss my issue with not only Willie Hügi at Interbike, but the man himself, Chris King. However, at this time, he was still using the aluminum spline drive engagement ratchet. After going through three Hügi steel star ratchets, I was VERY wary of a hub using aluminum engagement ratchets. I ended up going with Phil Wood (which I split in half on Slickrock, so the saga continued. However, Phil Wood replaced the hub no charge, so they're golden.*) because I just couldn't imagine the aluminum ratchets (even with spline drive engagement) would withstand my stoker's and my HUGE thighs!!! Fast forward a few years and I notice Chris King switched over to stainless steel spline drive ratchets.... Ha! I KNEW Al wasn't a good idea! See Chris, I TOLD you so! And another cool anecdote... I ordered a used King hub service tool online and the seller included a bunch of extra bits & ring drive lube. Very nice of him! Well, included in the box was an old aluminum spline drive ratchet! It's totally worn out, but this Ebay seller could never have known how cool it was that he sent that, given my conversation with Chris King over a decade ago. Anyway, thought I would share. *Ha, and get this: when I was a little twerp just getting into road bikes, my Dad's partner was Phil Wood's doctor! Dammit, I could have met Phil Wood, THE Phil Wood! Oh well, I was too young to know at the time how cool that would have been.
5:30: most friction is because of seals. Ofcourse 'dry' bearings have less friction, but that isn't the main friction! 6:19: what makes a stiff wheel: stiff rims or stiff hubs? Errr. Wrong kind of question as the spokes determine most of the stiffness! Luckily Chris King adresses this well.
Ah wow you wait to hit him with the biggest question on the Bottom Bracket question at the end. He he was a very interesting interview to see a guy who has so much technical knowledge there who could probably talk for an hour or so. Would have watched every minute of that! Would love to see interviews with the guys from Hope or Brookes. Ideally a trip to talk with Campagnolo?!
"I'm not trying to sell bottom brackets" he says sitting in his booth selling bottom brackets... :) jk, i have a CK BB awaiting install on my bike right now :)
I have been using Chris KING headsets, BBs and HUBS on all my Mountain and Road bike builds for the last 15 years. Love em, but would the SALES be as strong if Chris's SURNAME was say.... RAMSBOTTON hahahahahahaha
The King's answers were sharp and illuminating. Good show. Contrary to some, I believe the editing was pretty well done; kept the discussion moving so you could cover a lot of ground.
18 years on, CK mtb and road headsets are spot-on, original steel bearings, re-lube every year or so if I think about it, compared to every other Headset which have worn, corroded, developed play, ovalized the headtube, and in one new bike circa 1990, actually exploded into pieces after 25 miles (warrantied by brand, OEM versions of the famous S brand were flawed). CK has lasted because like a few rare start-ups in this and other industries, strongly idiocyncratic ideals combined with a genius for designing entirely new solutions to old problems, or simplifying /lightening /sealing / toughening weak areas of parts production make for industry-wide advances. Surviving financially has always been harder for many brilliant engineers; niche boutique bike markets may help support small folks, but quality takes real know-how, and is expensive, and the go fund me approach is not really looking like much more than a way to fund designer concepts because owning a one-off jacket is way different from owning a one-off derailleur or wheelset.
About 13:35 - the louder sound is a safety feature, as well, when riding in a large group ride that is close-together. It helps to know the rider ahead of me, or perhaps the next rider up ahead of him, started to free-wheel.
Thanks GCN for picking my qestion on 7:50 Sorry i wasnt too clear.. so CK says they got a kit that can convert my old 135mm mtb hub to fit a 130mm road bike!!! So I could bring back an old hub to life
Alan Zarczynski Save that hub for a disc road bike which already has 135mm spacing. Squeezing a 135mm hub into a 130mm dropout isn’t recommended unless you have a steel bike that can be cold-set. You’d also have poorer bracing angles on the non-drive-side.
Hi Alan, We can convert hubs to a lot of different specs. With modern bikes I'll need a few more details. Can you tell me the first three digits of the serial number on the hub? And for the bike that you would like to put it on is it a 130mm with rim brakes? Last, what cassette would you like to use? Your mountain hub can fit 10s road and 11s mountain cassettes.
13:35 Two pins (pawls) on a Shimano Hub. Oil only. I have never listened to a hamburger burn for this long. Saint Canning's. Not even a squint of disbelief...
I think Chris King wanted to say BSA BB standard, but since he's trying to sell the solution to the BB30 bikes out there that can have threads cut into them to accept his BB, he said T47. Myself, I'm avoiding any bike that is not BSA standard. No metal bike takes advantage of any press-fit designs because metal tubing is always optimal power/weight at smaller diameters..
Andrew Frink And so would I. It would increase the perceived efficiency of cycling, just imagine a perfectly silent bike on a perfectly silent road. Contemplative heaven.
