I bought a new set of wheels recently and they came with Chris King r45 hubs. When I put them on my bike they seemed really sluggish, especially when accelerating to speed. I know there is a break in period for them, but how long does it take before they start riding normally? Thanks
There’s a lot of different information around this. Some people say they don’t need breaking in they work perfectly straight away, others say it can take 50+ hours of riding. Personally mine felt perfect straight away and there’s no noticeable difference now (other than possibly slightly louder as the grease has broken down). One of my friends is anal as fuck about his wheels and stripped out all the factory grease and prepared it to his liking, I kind of highly doubt it makes much difference though…
It was noticeable though, I’ve ridden plenty of different hubs and these were certainly dragging
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Have you over tightened the bearings?
Nope, bike shop set them up for me
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How can you tell your hubs are dragging? CK’s do make more noise(by design) than any other hub when coasting.
Nope, bike shop set them up for me
Did they over tighten the hub?
I doubt it, the owner has been in the business for years and sells CK hubs almost exclusively. He swears by them
They’re actually almost silent, which leads me to believe all of the bearing haven’t set yet
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There’s a lot of different information around this. Some people say they don’t need breaking in they work perfectly straight away, others say it can take 50+ hours of riding. Personally mine felt perfect straight away and there’s no noticeable difference now (other than possibly slightly louder as the grease has broken down). One of my friends is anal as fuck about his wheels and stripped out all the factory grease and prepared it to his liking, I kind of highly doubt it makes much difference though…
You pay an arm and a leg for a pair of hubs and you have to ride them for over 50 hrs (that’s at least a month of solid riding for most people) before they are broken in? Learn something every day…
The CK hubs…well, let just say you “know” when you are coasting…(and locusts can hear it and want to mate with the hub I think).
If it is near silent…my way way way left field guess. Improper lube (too thick) under the freehub shell.
Years ago the only real variance between the high end hubs and the middle range hubs were seals…more so, lack of them on the higher end (and thus less friction).
Years ago the only real variance between the high end hubs and the middle range hubs were seals…more so, lack of them on the higher end (and thus less friction).
I’m not really sure what that implies; they have less friction but also less durable? (I assume the seal is supposed to keep out water and muck?) Or that they are built smarter and therefore more costly but also do not require sealing?
I will admit I am probably somewhat of a philistine when it comes to hubs, I ride basic Novatec hubs (well, the rear is a Powertap) and I’ve never actually serviced them other than regreasing the freehub in say 25k km’s.
Correct. There was an oft used term “sticksoin” (implying friction). They sure did get dirty fast 
The Ultegra and Dura Ace BB…in the hand the DA spun much better…but, had no “double labyrinth seals”…and gunk would just go right in (and most of us rode Ultegra stuff for that reason - for the long haul).