Chris King MTN30 AL Review: Made in USA Aluminum Rims – John Watson & Spencer Harding | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

After the master of metal, Necronomicog mocked the Chris King MTN30 carbon wheels as “poseur carbon,” the Portland, Oregon-based component and bearing manufacturer hit the drawing board hard, designing a completely new rim profile for its all-new MTN30 AL wheels. 😉

John’s been rallying these made-in-the-USA wheels for a few months now on his Cotic FlareMax and has a status report from the Sonoran Desert. Read on for some fun riding photos by Spencer Harding and some quick words by John…

MTN30 AL

The MTN30 AL is an alloy mountain wheel from Chris King with a 30 mm internal width. These wheels, which are a first for the brand, are designed to be durable, light-ish in weight, and forgiving on the trail. All while coming in at a dramatically lower price than Chris King’s carbon wheels. At the heart of the MTN30 AL is the Chris King hub, and with it comes reliability, serviceability, and US manufacturing.

The MTN30 AL features a precision-sleeved construction and a pronounced rim bead that improves sidewall protection from sharp rocks and bad lines. The rim and decals have a subtle, minimal branding with a matte finish, letting the hub color set the tone for the bike’s aesthetics. All MTN30 AL wheels have a 32-hole spoke count and a hookless bead for compatibility with today’s tubeless tires.

Chris King MTN30 AL Quick Hits

MAP pricing $1250
Available in 29”, 27.5”, and MX wheelset
Rim extrusions made in Arizona
Rim internal width 30 mm
Rim weight 29” 595g / 27.5” 565g
Built to order with Chris King boost and super boost Centerlock or 6-bolt
The rear hub is available in SRAM XD, Shimano HG, or Microspline
Available in all the Chris King hub color offerings
Lifetime warranty on hubs
2-year warranty on defects for the rims with an affordable lifetime crash replacement program for the original purchaser
Front and rear wheelset weight confirmed at 2105 grams (6 bolt hubs, brass nipples)

“Feel”

I’ve been trying to have more metal in my life and less carbon overall, making a few exceptions here or there. But in general, I like the idea of having aluminum rims on my trail bikes. Over the course of two years, I’ve been swapping wheels back and forth between my bikes to try to “feel” the slight changes in ride quality.

Simplifying this equation, I use the same tires on my mountain bikes and run the same PSI every ride. So these nuances can be minutely detectable, or in some cases, the feel is pronounced.

Climbing, these wheels didn’t feel sluggish or slow to spin up to speed, and descending, they weren’t super flexy or overly stiff. King hit a good spot in the middle ground in overall feel.

Swapping between “enduro” aluminum wheels on my Cotic FlareMAX to the King MTN30 AL, I immediately could feel the wheels’ subtle difference in ride quality, particularly in high-speed sections that end in tight-corner scenarios. Then again, when charging into rocky chutes. They feel slightly damped. Not as damped as some carbon wheels like the WeAreOne Triads, but damped nonetheless.

When people noticed the wheels on my bike and asked how they rode, I’d describe the ride quality as “damped like hitting a rock with a rubber mallet versus a soft poly mallet.”

When I review wheels, I like to turn the spice up a notch and not hold back with jumps, jibs, and lines. My intention is to not break or damage them, but I feel like it takes a lot to push wheels to where you can “feel” those differences. Some wheels take more than a few rides to jive with, but the MTB30 ALs fell right into the overall “feel” of the bike.

Durability

As a 190-pound human who likes to ride in primitive, chunky terrain, not smooth, high-speed flow bike park trails, my wheels can be an Achilles. Rocks come loose, fly into spokes, and bang against the sidewall. Since I removed my tire inserts last spring, I sometimes forget to air up more and will bottom out on a rock, but only occasionally.

I’ve found modern wheels to be very reliable overall, but durability – or the need to maintain them through re-tensioning spokes – can run the gamut. That’s why on my mountain bikes, I prefer to ride hand-built wheels with brass nipples to make maintenance even easier.

On that note, the MTN30 AL wheelsets are built in-house at the King factory in Oregon using Sapim Race spokes and brass nipples. As with all King hubs, I did have to re-tension the preload collar on each hub after a couple hundred miles. Yet, I have had zero issues with the spokes detensioning over the testing period of three months.

That’s not to say the matte black finish doesn’t have some rock rash marks here and there.

Made in the USA and More Affordable

Keeping it MUSA, I really like that the MTN30 AL rim extrusions are made in Arizona, and the King hubs are made in Portland, Oregon. The whole wheelset is built in-house at King where they make their hubs and bearings. This is vertical integration I can get behind. King’s reputation is often described as “expensive.” However, I was blown away to see the price point of only $1250. And King makes some of the most durable, long-lasting hubs on the market.

Considering a Chris King Mountain hubset costs $890, the wheelset is a hell of a deal.

Everyone has opinions about wheels. For me, the points outlined above indicate what I would consider a solid investment. Even if you do trash the rims (hey, it happens), the hubs are still going to last a lifetime. For an extra $360, you can support US manufacturing jobs in an industry that has seemingly moved in the complete opposite direction. And have some minimally-branded, no-nonsense wheels that withstand my big fat ass plopping around on them just fine…

Now. Serious question? Am I a heathen for wanting them to come in raw silver?