Chris King vs Industry Nine Hubs

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Chris King vs Industry Nine Hubs
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flag MTB314
Posted: Nov 7, 2020 at 14:28 Quote
Hey all,
I'm sure this question has been debated for eternity but I can't find any recent threads so here goes.
I am planning to do a wheel upgrade soon. I currently have the stock Sram/wtb wheels that are stock on low end Santa Cruz bikes (I ride a Highball). I am looking at We Are One Factions for the rims because of the fact that they're made in Canada and competitively priced. Any thoughts on these are welcome.
On to the hubs...
Both companies make great hubs and colors aren't really an issue for me. I just want a durable hub that I don't have to fiddle with to much.
My thought process is that i9 hydras are nice because they don't have any preload adjusting necessary which is good because I'm terrible at preloading bearings. I also like that it's cheap to replace bearings because there's no expensive proprietary tool necessary but I'm not so much a fan of the fact that you have to replace the whole bearing rather than just service it.
For Chris King, I'm looking at the ISO boost hubs. I love their environmental commitments and know people who have hubs that are 15+ years old and running fine. I don't love that they need a proprietary tool and their service instructions aren't as clear as i9's. I'm also worried that I'll need new bearings anyway if the balls themselves become corroded or something like that though I'm not sure of the likelihood of that.
Any thoughts one way or the other would be much appreciated and sorry if this is a repeat thread.
Thanks
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Nov 7, 2020 at 15:54 Quote
Chris King are nice just because of the heritage and quality of finish, but they are damn heavy, still not instant engagement like Onyx or any faster than I9 and require expensive proprietary tools, also the design means that even if they do last years and years their construction means that the drive ring eventually wears out. I don't see any reason to buy kings for performance reasons, only for the name and build quality. Personally I went from Onyx instant engagement to Carbon ti's and went from a 450g hub to a 180g hub that actually seems to spin even more free than the supposedly frictionless onyx.
flag CPB
O+ FL
Posted: Nov 7, 2020 at 15:55 Quote
I've got i9 Hydras and I really like them. Like you said they are very easily serviceable and use standard tools. The engagement of a Hydra is really the closest thing to instant that I think is possible in a pawled hub. In a King, you only get 72 points vs. the 690 points from Industry Nine. For more money than a Hydra, I would really like to see more P.O.E. but that means more drag too. Really though, neither hub will let you down. They are both made extremely well and will last for a long time. But, if it were me, I would go for the Hydra because of the higher engagement and more serviceability.
flag Frank191
O+
Posted: Nov 7, 2020 at 17:22 Quote
Kings will last longer and the engagement is fast enough. Both are good but if you are going to keep them forever than kings for the win.
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Nov 7, 2020 at 18:28 Quote
Kings = 72 poe and 350 grams for over $400, no thanks. Only reason for accepting a heavy hub is for fast engagement, if it offers more weight and less poe than a Hope Trials hub then what exactly us the point buying it. I understand they are good quality but what do you have to gain or save by getting one when to service them, replace parts and buy proprietary tools costs way more than any perceived long term durability gains. It's like having a Lamborghini for an mtb, fast and purposeful, then fitting it with heavy ass luxury rolls royce parts just because they are rolls royce, even though the performance is most likely going to be worse in every way. The hub is a functional part of a bike, not only a piece of jewelery. Of more concern than surface cosmetic finish should be poe, weight, straightpull vs j bend, bracing angle, rolling friction, cost to maintain ect. It's like making a Ford Fiesta out of Titanium and gold then saying it's good quality and better than a Ferrari that is only made out of alloy and plastic, the extra 'quality' of king has no real practical use in reality, I9, DT Swiss, Carbon Ti ect are already more than high enough quality but with better performance.
flag MTB314
Posted: Nov 7, 2020 at 19:00 Quote
Thanks for all your feedback. I was leaning i9 and I think this has sealed the deal. With the pace that bike technology is advancing these days, I'm not sure that it's worth betting on things to be the same forever and the king bearing tool is crazy expensive.
flag jimmytang1
Posted: Nov 7, 2020 at 20:15 Quote
MTB314 wrote:
Hey all,
I'm sure this question has been debated for eternity but I can't find any recent threads so here goes.
I am planning to do a wheel upgrade soon. I currently have the stock Sram/wtb wheels that are stock on low end Santa Cruz bikes (I ride a Highball). I am looking at We Are One Factions for the rims because of the fact that they're made in Canada and competitively priced. Any thoughts on these are welcome.
On to the hubs...
Both companies make great hubs and colors aren't really an issue for me. I just want a durable hub that I don't have to fiddle with to much.
My thought process is that i9 hydras are nice because they don't have any preload adjusting necessary which is good because I'm terrible at preloading bearings. I also like that it's cheap to replace bearings because there's no expensive proprietary tool necessary but I'm not so much a fan of the fact that you have to replace the whole bearing rather than just service it.
For Chris King, I'm looking at the ISO boost hubs. I love their environmental commitments and know people who have hubs that are 15+ years old and running fine. I don't love that they need a proprietary tool and their service instructions aren't as clear as i9's. I'm also worried that I'll need new bearings anyway if the balls themselves become corroded or something like that though I'm not sure of the likelihood of that.
Any thoughts one way or the other would be much appreciated and sorry if this is a repeat thread.
Thanks

After hours and hours of online research, I recently purchased a set of custom made NOBL TR32 wheels with hydra hubs and sapim race spokes for my XC bike. I'm happy to share my thoughts.

After looking at every carbon wheel that I could find, I ended up choosing NOBL with We Are One being my second choice. NOBL is also a Canadian company and also has a lifetime warranty. I'm not going to go into all the details behind my choice but you should check them out for yourself.

Regardless of what rim you decide on, I would highly recommend purchasing the wheels from Custom Wheel Builder in Colorado Springs, CO. They have a great website with plenty of choices for rims, hubs, spokes, and colors and were very responsive and great to work with. They quoted me a 4-week build time and sure enough they were on my front porch on day 30. All manufacturer warranties remain intact. I just checked their pricing for the We Are One Factions with hydra hubs and sapim race spokes and it came to $1475.00. That includes delivery and they don't charge tax. The same wheels directly from We Are One are $1640.00 plus delivery plus tax so there's quite a savings to be had.

I've had my NOBLs for a week now, put about 60 miles on them, and couldn't be happier. They have a beautiful finish and I'm pleased with the ride. I've previously owned 2 sets of wheels with I9 torch hubs and thought they were great hubs, but the hydras are way better - quieter, smoother, and engage quicker.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Hope they're helpful.
flag Frank191
O+
Posted: Nov 8, 2020 at 7:01 Quote
Danzzz88 wrote:
Kings = 72 poe and 350 grams for over $400, no thanks. Only reason for accepting a heavy hub is for fast engagement, if it offers more weight and less poe than a Hope Trials hub then what exactly us the point buying it. I understand they are good quality but what do you have to gain or save by getting one when to service them, replace parts and buy proprietary tools costs way more than any perceived long term durability gains. It's like having a Lamborghini for an mtb, fast and purposeful, then fitting it with heavy ass luxury rolls royce parts just because they are rolls royce, even though the performance is most likely going to be worse in every way. The hub is a functional part of a bike, not only a piece of jewelery. Of more concern than surface cosmetic finish should be poe, weight, straightpull vs j bend, bracing angle, rolling friction, cost to maintain ect. It's like making a Ford Fiesta out of Titanium and gold then saying it's good quality and better than a Ferrari that is only made out of alloy and plastic, the extra 'quality' of king has no real practical use in reality, I9, DT Swiss, Carbon Ti ect are already more than high enough quality but with better performance.

CK ISO boost shimano hub is 317g with the steel driver.

Hydra boost is 300 with alloy driver.

Look at NOBL’s site where they weigh them all...
flag Mntneer
O+
Posted: Nov 8, 2020 at 20:03 Quote
jimmytang1 wrote:
MTB314 wrote:
Hey all,
I'm sure this question has been debated for eternity but I can't find any recent threads so here goes.
I am planning to do a wheel upgrade soon. I currently have the stock Sram/wtb wheels that are stock on low end Santa Cruz bikes (I ride a Highball). I am looking at We Are One Factions for the rims because of the fact that they're made in Canada and competitively priced. Any thoughts on these are welcome.
On to the hubs...
Both companies make great hubs and colors aren't really an issue for me. I just want a durable hub that I don't have to fiddle with to much.
My thought process is that i9 hydras are nice because they don't have any preload adjusting necessary which is good because I'm terrible at preloading bearings. I also like that it's cheap to replace bearings because there's no expensive proprietary tool necessary but I'm not so much a fan of the fact that you have to replace the whole bearing rather than just service it.
For Chris King, I'm looking at the ISO boost hubs. I love their environmental commitments and know people who have hubs that are 15+ years old and running fine. I don't love that they need a proprietary tool and their service instructions aren't as clear as i9's. I'm also worried that I'll need new bearings anyway if the balls themselves become corroded or something like that though I'm not sure of the likelihood of that.
Any thoughts one way or the other would be much appreciated and sorry if this is a repeat thread.
Thanks

After hours and hours of online research, I recently purchased a set of custom made NOBL TR32 wheels with hydra hubs and sapim race spokes for my XC bike. I'm happy to share my thoughts.

After looking at every carbon wheel that I could find, I ended up choosing NOBL with We Are One being my second choice. NOBL is also a Canadian company and also has a lifetime warranty. I'm not going to go into all the details behind my choice but you should check them out for yourself.

Regardless of what rim you decide on, I would highly recommend purchasing the wheels from Custom Wheel Builder in Colorado Springs, CO. They have a great website with plenty of choices for rims, hubs, spokes, and colors and were very responsive and great to work with. They quoted me a 4-week build time and sure enough they were on my front porch on day 30. All manufacturer warranties remain intact. I just checked their pricing for the We Are One Factions with hydra hubs and sapim race spokes and it came to $1475.00. That includes delivery and they don't charge tax. The same wheels directly from We Are One are $1640.00 plus delivery plus tax so there's quite a savings to be had.

I've had my NOBLs for a week now, put about 60 miles on them, and couldn't be happier. They have a beautiful finish and I'm pleased with the ride. I've previously owned 2 sets of wheels with I9 torch hubs and thought they were great hubs, but the hydras are way better - quieter, smoother, and engage quicker.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Hope they're helpful.

Custom wheel builder is great and all, but I got a discounted set of tr37’s on hydras from nobl and they were delivered 8 days after purchase. Even without the discount, their price is cheaper than custom wheel builder.

Great wheels nonetheless
flag jimmytang1
Posted: Nov 11, 2020 at 18:08 Quote
Mntneer wrote:
jimmytang1 wrote:
MTB314 wrote:
Hey all,
I'm sure this question has been debated for eternity but I can't find any recent threads so here goes.
I am planning to do a wheel upgrade soon. I currently have the stock Sram/wtb wheels that are stock on low end Santa Cruz bikes (I ride a Highball). I am looking at We Are One Factions for the rims because of the fact that they're made in Canada and competitively priced. Any thoughts on these are welcome.
On to the hubs...
Both companies make great hubs and colors aren't really an issue for me. I just want a durable hub that I don't have to fiddle with to much.
My thought process is that i9 hydras are nice because they don't have any preload adjusting necessary which is good because I'm terrible at preloading bearings. I also like that it's cheap to replace bearings because there's no expensive proprietary tool necessary but I'm not so much a fan of the fact that you have to replace the whole bearing rather than just service it.
For Chris King, I'm looking at the ISO boost hubs. I love their environmental commitments and know people who have hubs that are 15+ years old and running fine. I don't love that they need a proprietary tool and their service instructions aren't as clear as i9's. I'm also worried that I'll need new bearings anyway if the balls themselves become corroded or something like that though I'm not sure of the likelihood of that.
Any thoughts one way or the other would be much appreciated and sorry if this is a repeat thread.
Thanks

After hours and hours of online research, I recently purchased a set of custom made NOBL TR32 wheels with hydra hubs and sapim race spokes for my XC bike. I'm happy to share my thoughts.

After looking at every carbon wheel that I could find, I ended up choosing NOBL with We Are One being my second choice. NOBL is also a Canadian company and also has a lifetime warranty. I'm not going to go into all the details behind my choice but you should check them out for yourself.

Regardless of what rim you decide on, I would highly recommend purchasing the wheels from Custom Wheel Builder in Colorado Springs, CO. They have a great website with plenty of choices for rims, hubs, spokes, and colors and were very responsive and great to work with. They quoted me a 4-week build time and sure enough they were on my front porch on day 30. All manufacturer warranties remain intact. I just checked their pricing for the We Are One Factions with hydra hubs and sapim race spokes and it came to $1475.00. That includes delivery and they don't charge tax. The same wheels directly from We Are One are $1640.00 plus delivery plus tax so there's quite a savings to be had.

I've had my NOBLs for a week now, put about 60 miles on them, and couldn't be happier. They have a beautiful finish and I'm pleased with the ride. I've previously owned 2 sets of wheels with I9 torch hubs and thought they were great hubs, but the hydras are way better - quieter, smoother, and engage quicker.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Hope they're helpful.

Custom wheel builder is great and all, but I got a discounted set of tr37’s on hydras from nobl and they were delivered 8 days after purchase. Even without the discount, their price is cheaper than custom wheel builder.

Great wheels nonetheless

Sounds like a difference in timing. Six weeks ago when I was researching my wheel purchase, the TR32 hydras were $1500 direct from NOBL plus $25 for microspline plus $30 for shipping for a total of $1555 (not sure if they charged tax). I contacted NOBL to inquire about a discount and they politely informed me that there were no discounts being offered at that time. They also informed me that the lead time was 4 weeks as the hydra hubs (microspline, centerlock) and TR32 rims were out of stock. I paid $1453 landed on my front porch for the same wheels from Custom Wheel Builder.

I wholeheartedly concur - they are great wheels.
flag englertracing
O+
Posted: Nov 11, 2020 at 21:18 Quote
I9 is pissing on your leg with trash enduro bearings and no preload adjustment

A one trick pony everyone has fallen for.
I've experienced 144 poe, 216 poe and 690,
No difference from 144 to 216 even less difference 216 to 690


Check a project 321 quieter and less friction than an i9, comes with Japanese bearings not enduro Chi com trash, and adjustable preload
flag rahrider
O+
Posted: Nov 11, 2020 at 21:46 Quote
I would look at king again. I have a king hub that has transfered between 5 bikes over more than a decade. I am 220lbs and ride hard. It has been on a hardtail the entire time. I have yet to replace the bearings - they are that good. I dont even worry about servicing it every year anymore as it just keeps going....

The i9 has crap bearings that will wear out. You will likely have to replace them every year or two. How much will that cost? Take the money you save on bearings and just let your shop overhaul your king hub every year or two. Saves you the hassle of tearing apart your hub and you can get on with riding a quality product that will never let you down. Also, doesn't anyone else worry about the hydra Pawls wearing? My understanding is that only one engages at first and the rest engage through flex. Sounds like a recipe for failure.
flag Explodo
Posted: Nov 12, 2020 at 13:12 Quote
rahrider wrote:
I would look at king again. I have a king hub that has transfered between 5 bikes over more than a decade. I am 220lbs and ride hard. It has been on a hardtail the entire time. I have yet to replace the bearings - they are that good. I dont even worry about servicing it every year anymore as it just keeps going....

The i9 has crap bearings that will wear out. You will likely have to replace them every year or two. How much will that cost? Take the money you save on bearings and just let your shop overhaul your king hub every year or two. Saves you the hassle of tearing apart your hub and you can get on with riding a quality product that will never let you down. Also, doesn't anyone else worry about the hydra Pawls wearing? My understanding is that only one engages at first and the rest engage through flex. Sounds like a recipe for failure.

I concur. You buy Chris King hubs because you plan on keeping them. You don't need the custom tools unless you get really unlucky somehow...because they don't really need maintenance. I've taken them apart to add some ring drive lube, but I've never seen anything but perfection inside. At this point I just don't bother with doing anything to them.

I have some I9s because they came on a bike my wife bought me and they're really nice too. Only time will tell if they last as long as CK.

I started using CK exclusively 20 years ago. The only problem I've ever had during that period, is that 15 or so years ago I snapped a preload ring, but they don't use that design anymore.
flag englertracing
O+
Posted: Nov 12, 2020 at 20:32 Quote
rahrider wrote:
The i9 has crap bearings that will wear out. You will likely have to replace them every year or two. How much will that cost? Take the money you save on bearings and just let your shop overhaul your king hub every year or two. Saves you the hassle of tearing apart your hub and you can get on with riding a quality product that will never let you down. Also, doesn't anyone else worry about the hydra Pawls wearing? My understanding is that only one engages at first and the rest engage through flex. Sounds like a recipe for failure.


Dude nobody wants to believe it.
I replace the bearings in my i9 2 to 3 times a year.
I live in California and I dont wash my bikes....

Replaced the bearings in my hadleys....
Guess
Not even once in 9 years......
flag DugS
O+
Posted: Nov 12, 2020 at 20:55 Quote
I recommend the i9 1/1 hubs as they are cheaper than the hydras and have been holding up to me at 210 from the shower, and I ride pretty hard and aggressive 3+ times a week on the wet coast of BC (rain & mud). Currently 9 months old and no issues, bearings feel good.
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