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Is is bad that I see this and I immediately want to replace a component group from a current bike of mine? For the first time (ever?) Chris King is offering Sour Apple anodized components. Yes, that’s NoThreadSets, InSets, ISOs, R45s, BMX, Wheels, Bottom Brackets, Coffee Tampers and Accessories.
If you’re interested, place orders between September 1st, 2014 and May 1st, 2015.
Shipping begins October 1st, 2014.
See more at Chris King.
Yowwwwwch! I’ve always loved those Royce Racing Gold hubs but I’ve never seen them so well documented on a bike before. These Firefly photos are oooozing with gold bokeh. See more at the Firefly Flickr!
Have a set of Chris King ISO or ISO DH hubs that you want to run on your XX1 system? I know I do and up until today, there hasn’t been an option. This morning Chris King announced their new ISO XD hub for SRAM’s XX1. The best part is, there’s also a conversion kit available for existing ISO hubs…
Check out more at Chris King and see the press-release below!
Chris King’s in-house wheelsets have begun rolling out the doors of their Portland facilities just in time for the holidays. This year, if you buy a cyclist anything, buy them some King! Check out the full offerings at Chris King. I have the R45 / Hed Belgium wheels on two of my bikes and I swear by them!
Unknown has a pre-order going for this limited run of “oil slick” track hubs. The hubs will ship out October 21st. Get yours here!
Love Chris King hubs? Want to streamline your new wheel process? Chris King now offers complete wheels. Check out a full list below!
From now until February 2014, Paul Components are offering up a different colored anodizing batch of all your favorite components each month, beginning with orange in August. They’ll also do custom anodizing for you at a flat rate of $75 per color. So if you can’t wait for green, or purple, you can place an order to get it sooner. Head over to Paul Components for more information!
If you’re a drop-bar disc brake kinda guy, the best option for a road or cross hubset is now available from Chris King.
“Our high performance R45 Disc hubs are built to meet the requirements of the world’s most demanding road and cyclocross riders with the long-term performance, durability, and serviceability that you expect from Chris King components. We equip our R45 Discs with the same race proven 45 point RingDrive engagement system and exceedingly smooth in-house made bearings that were raced through punishing conditions by US National team rider Danny Summerhill during the 2012 Cyclocross World Championships in Louisville.”
Oh and that Cross Racer Disc from Cielo looks pretty fun too!
Each year, I love watching people’s faces as they enter the Chris King compound and although the metaphor “like a kid in a candy shop” is somewhat dated, it’s application here is quite fitting. I can’t even walk into their booth without picking up at least a headset (purple!). This year at NAHBS, the Portland based frame builders and component manufacturers brought all kinds of eye candy. My favorite project bike was the champagne and purple Sportif Racer but people were tapping the top tubes and squeezing the brakes of the Cross Racer and Overlander (which I totally didn’t get a good photo of).
At this point, you’re probably not even reading the copy anymore, so check out the gallery for more goodness!
For everyone that pisses and moans about “always missing out on the cool stuff”, this one’s for you. Ben’s Cycle now has every single purple anodized Chris King component in stock. Head forth and swoop up the purple.
Usually when you see Campagnolo Pista hubs with drillium, chances are, they came from the Paramount facilities in the 70’s, complete with Paramount track bikes. Rumor has it that they misdrilled them too large for spoke holes and had to re-drill them, giving the flange a nice, light, facelift.*
While the technological advancements (i.e. weight) of hub designs have improved since then, there’s still that nostalgic allure of a classic Italian component with little circles cut out of it. As others have noted “nothing is lighter than a hole“. Drillium Revival are the minds behind this masterpiece hubset pictured here. Their holes were drilled intentionally and will be gracing one of Chris Bishop‘s 2013 NAHBS bikes.
Oh and they didn’t stop with the hubs. They kind of went all out! See more drilled, milled, profiled and polished Campagnolo Pista at the Bishop Flickr.
*source: Cicli Devotion
These Spike Parts track hubs remind me of the old Zipp hubs and that’s a good thing. They look damn sharp. Check out more at the Spike Parts Flickr!
This just in from Chris King:
“We are pleased to start the new year with the release of our 11-speed compatible R45 road racing hubs. Our R45s will seamlessly interface with Shimano’s new 11-speed drivetrain and are available giving our customers the ability to add legendary Chris King performance to their 2013 builds.”
If you’re looking for an 11-speed hub option, those are for you!
Now these look sharp! The only product I’ve seen in person from French component company Victoire Cycles was the early prototype Supersprint hub collaboration with Bishop Bikes and they looked just as good in person. New for 2013 are the HTF threaded rear hubs, for those who prefer traditional hub threading over the splined interface of the HTF splined.
See the full 2013 Victoire line here.
UK-based blog, Headset Press visited the shop of British manufacturer, Royce in the summer of 2012 and just posted up a great story on this small company. Check it out here!
In an interesting spin on the typical “made in the USA” editorials, Bloomberg Businessweek visited Chris King in Portland where they found that there is a huge demand for US-made products overseas. Check out the article here.
The wait is over. Paul Components have just announced their new RHub‘s availability. These beautiful, American-made hubs have been floating around their tradeshow booth for about two years now. If you’ve ever owned Paul track hubs, you can attest to their quality and finish. It’s real tempting to pick up a set now, just for the hell of it!
Check out more details at PAUL.
Photo by Michael Graves
I’ve seen Curtis Odom hubs popping up all over the internet lately. Even Dan from Shifter Bikes recently built up a set. But don’t be fooled by the vintage aesthetic, these hubs are high tech. Case in point: the new Magneto Bearings (shown here with the cup reversed to show bearing). Right now, these bearings are offered as an upgrade to the standard track hubs, but cassette hub bearings are on their way. See more photos at the Curtis Odom Flickr.
Stay on top of everything Curtis Odom at his Facebook.
