I was originally planning on buying a wheelset from bicycle wheel warehouse - Pure XCR wheels or DT 4.2s along with BWW hubs. They got great reviews on MTBR, but none of them have been riding on the wheels/hubs only for a few months. I was talking with a buddy and he happen to have some tubeless rims and gave me the idea of buying some hubs to go with his rims. Now the question is Chris King or Hope? I've done research but would like to have something concrete to point me in either direction.
Either or. I'm currently using Hope 2s and they're great. I've used Kings with great success as well. It's not like we're talking low end hubs here.
I had the same dilemma a few months ago and the deciding factor was the money. I ended up with the Hope's and am totally happy with them. Either way you can't go wrong, but if it comes down to a budget issue, the Hopes are great.
:bang:I sponsor two guys , one who races pro and the other has more balls than brains. Well anyway both run Hopes cuz the nutty one snapped the king rear axle and almost lost some teeth. The hope pro II made it 80ft. out and 30 ft in the air, have pics to prove it.
Go to The Path and pickup and handle both hubs, play with them, feel differences in the craftsmanship, it will be apparent if the extra cost is worth it. I really don't pay much attention to front hubs a you can save some money there but rear hubs are important. Also, fun bolts on a Chris King rear hub makes for a very stiff setup. Dean
Well I am a newbie but I am building a bike. I want to build it right so I dont even think about upgrading in the future. Maybe have about 6 months of riding under my belt? I don't do anything crazy, but I ride the hell out of my hard tail rockhopper. It would be more XC than anything. Few jumps here and there, but nothing like 20 ft gaps and what not.
I've had a set of hopes and Kings for about the same amount of time. I blew the shell open on the hope once while climbing a mild switchback so I had to make use of the warranty. I got a whole new hub as a replacement and about six months later two of the four spring leaves in the hub went out.... Two faliures from Hope II hub in under a year... My Kings have seen more miles on them and work perfectly. I have a very non harsh style of riding also... Pure xc but tend to run the bike with kings harder since its a beefier bike... Just my 2 cents ...
I ran a set of CKs for nine years with minimal maintenance and never had a problem with them. I've done enough jumping on them to cause my cranks to go less than parallel and the hubs are still super smooth. Have no experience with the Hopes but IMO you can't go wrong with the Kings.
Try to find a used set of CK wheels and the cost won't be nearly as bad as building up a brand new and you can have the best of the best :cough: KINGS :cough: They'll be used but come'on, they're CKs.
All this talk about hubs and nobody has mentioned Sun Ringle. Bullet proof hubs if you ask me. I run them on two bikes and more than happy with them. Just saying.
Thanks for the info guys. I really appreciate it. I looked into a few other hubs - Hadley, Ringle, Industry Nine, BWW, Wood, and a few others. Seems most people are happy with their CKs. I think I am going to lean towards the CKs unless someone can convince me otherwise. Another easy $400-$500 for some hubs... Son of a.
I just ordered a new wheelset last week.. went with the CK's and Mavic 819 UST rims.. This will be my first high end hub wheelset.. its a lot of money but I'm hoping the hubs/freewheel is reliable and they stay straight..
Not to throw a monkey wrench into the decision making process but have you considered Hadley Hubs? They have high engagement like King and the ability to change axles (20mm/15mm/9mm/QR, etc.) like Hopes. You can get them in blingy colors as well. I currently have two wheelsets built up with Hope Hubs. I love the easy of maintainability, ability to easily swap axles and bling. In fact I love all Hope products. That being said, I miss the higher engagement hubs (king, hadley, i9, white industries trial FW). I have a set of I9's coming today to replace my Hope/Flow 29er wheelset. In your case I'd say go for Hadley's F&R or King rear, hope front. I just think that Hadley is the best of both worlds.
I spent months agonizing over the same issue. "Nameless" at the Path put it best, one is an investment that will most likely out last your bikes, the other may not be.
Hadley is local too, which gives you cool points. Their shop in Upland is immaculate, a fine example of precision manufacturing. My vote would be Hadley or King. My only experience with King is a headset that works like new after 5 years of near-daily winter biking in Michigan. Casing is rusty but it's smooth on the inside. I own Hadley hubs, too, but they're not old enough to speak of durability. No experience with Hope but they sound cool...
I did think about Hadley but since there is no freakin website, I can't do any research about the company itself. I found a guy who builds Hope wheelsets for around $450 but who knows. I might end up just going with BWW. Please remember that I am coming from Shimano LX or Alivio hubs (not sure, they are covered in dirt). Anything name brand WILL be a huge difference for me. Piranha, Tell me about it. I am already upgrading the brakes to Formulas and the ****in bike aint even done yet. A guy can hope right? Hahaha.
i still want to see the broken king rear axle from the 80'x30ft' Jump :?: I like Kings, they sound Neat so that would be my choice. Not to mention they have good engagement.
