Chris King / Stan's Flow EX Wheelset - Review
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| Chris King / Stan's Flow EX Wheelset - Review Late last fall, Chris King announced that they would be offering complete wheelsets, allowing customers to choose their preferred aluminum rim from Stan's or carbon rim from ENVE and have them laced up to the company's own ISO hubs. Wheels using aluminum rims are laced up by machine and then tensioned and trued by hand, while carbon rimmed wheels are built completely by hand, all of which takes place in-house at Chris King's Portland, Oregon, facility. Once they meet Chris King's standards, the wheels are then delivered a customer's shop of choice within 14 days after the order is placed. The hubs come with a five year warranty, and the complete wheelset comes with a one time, two year crash replacement program, where replacement rims are offered for 50% of MSRP. We chose to have our wheelset built up with a pair of 27.5” Stan's Flow EX rims, with the goal of creating a strong, durable wheelset at a reasonable weight, one that could handle everything from trail riding to DH laps. | Details • Weight (27.5"): front: 930g, rear: 1055g, total: 1985g • Sapim spokes, alloy nipples • 3 cross, 32 hole lacing • Intended use: all-mountain, enduro, DH • 5 year hub warranty, 2 year crash replacement • Price: $1050 USD |
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 (Top) Disassembling the ISO hubs to swap axles or perform routine maintenance only requires a 2.5mm allen key.(Bottom) Chris King's Ring Drive has 72 points of simultaneous engagement to ensure there's minimal lag when stepping down on the pedals. |
Chris King ISO Hubs
Chris King is well respected in the industry for creating headsets, hubs, and bottom brackets that are designed to last years, not months, a reputation that comes from the company's focus on maintaining extremely tight tolerances and a high level of quality control. All of their manufacturing is done in the United States, and they have gone to great lengths to ensure that their business practices are as environmentally friendly as possible, even going so far as running their machines on soy oil.
The ISO disc hubs are CNC machined from aluminum and use Chris King's Ring Drive system for 72 points of simultaneous engagement. At the core of the system, the helical splines on the drive shell pull a spring loaded drive ring into the driven ring, which means that the harder you crank the greater the engagement force, in theory eliminating the possibility of any slipping or skipping. The buzzing noise that's the hallmark of a Chris King hub is caused by the teeth of the two rings ratcheting over each other. All of the hub bearings are made in-house to exacting tolerances at Chris King's Portland, Oregon, facility, and use a removable split ring over a rubber seal to keep contaminants out while still allowing them to be serviced. Basic service can be performed with just an allen key and a flat head screwdriver, although a full rebuild does require Chris King's own hub tool.
Different axles are available depending on the desired standard, with everything from a 135mm bolt-on option to a 12x142mm thru-axle available. XD drivers are also now available for riders using a SRAM 1x11 drivetrain.
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| Low and wide, the Flow EX rims are a good match for 2.3 - 2.5 inch tires. The spoke holes do not have eyelets by design - Stan's says that the benefits of eyelets are minimal, and that with proper lubrication the same tension and strength can be achieved with their non-eyeleted rim. |
Stan's Flow EX Rims
Stan's was an early adopter of the 'wider is better' rim design philosophy, and fittingly the aluminum Flow EX rims have an internal width of 25.5mm, with a total height of only 17.8mm. The rims use the company's Bead Socket Technology (BST) design, which uses a lower sidewall height combined with the wider rim width in order to allow tires to spread out into a rounder profile than what would be possible with a traditional rim shape. The lower sidewall height is also claimed to help reduce the chances of a pinch flat when running tubes, since it takes a greater force for the tire and tube to be compressed all the way down against the sidewall.
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| The ISO hub's bearing are made in-house by Chris King, and can be accessed by removing the small small snap ring and dust seal that covers them. |
Setup
Using Stan's tubeless rim tape and valve stems the Flow EXs easily accommodated any tubeless ready tire we mounted onto them, and we never had to resort to an air compressor to get a tire sealed and seated. Swapping out axles, say from a 20mm to 15mm thru axle, is an easy procedure as well, only requiring a 2.5mm allen key to accomplish.
Ride Report
Our wheelset has seen six months of hard usage, including weathering the rain, snow, and mud that come with a Pacific Northwest winter. Other than an initial tightening up of the adjustment ring after a couple of rides, and then truing the rear wheel once to get rid of a small wobble caused by a hard landing somewhere around the three month mark, we haven't had to touch them at all. Chris King does recommend servicing the hubs at least once every six months, a procedure that takes less than thirty minutes, even working at a leisurely pace. We pulled the hubs apart to see how the grit and mud had treated them, and were impressed with how little grime had made its way inside. The blue rubber seal in the drive shell had done its job, preventing debris from working its way further into the hub. A few quick blasts from the air compressor and a fresh dose of lube and the wheels were ready for another six months of use and abuse.
Out on the trails, the ISO hub's engagement is extremely quick, with a very positive feel – there's none of the popping or skipping that can arise under heavy loads with less refined designs. The buzzing sound that emits from the hub's Ring Drive mechanism when it freewheels was a little distracting for the first couple of rides, but it eventually became just another background noise. There wasn't any undue flexing during hard cornering or landings, and even when running low pressures the tires stayed securely on the rims despite the tacky trails' best efforts to rip them off. Whether it was rocketing down technical downhill runs, or being called into duty for long trail rides, this wheelset never missed a beat, a stalwart setup that proved itself on countless adventures. After being taken on every manner of ride, the rims are dent free, with only a few minor cosmetic scratches to show for the six months spent pinballing through roots and rocks.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | For a rock solid option that's capable of withstanding multiple seasons of hard riding, the Stan's Flow EX / Chris King combo is a tough one to beat. There's no reliance on proprietary spokes or strange hub designs, just a classic, 3 cross, 32 hole lacing pattern that will have bike mechanics nodding their heads in approval. Sure, there are lighter and less expensive options, but running a set of ultra-reliable hubs laced to wide and strong rims greatly reduces the chances that you'll end up stranded in the middle of nowhere staring at a sub-par freehub body that's been reduced to a pile of shattered pawls and deformed springs. For everything from all-mountain riding to DH racing, this is a wheelset that can get the job done, mile after mile, and won't have you second guessing your wheel choice every time you launch off a drop or go barreling into a rock garden.- Mike Kazimer |
www.chrisking.com
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This here cost me 999 Euro. I bought new SLX brakes, built the wheels new (MTX39 on Novatec hubs with DT Comp),cockpit(BLKMRKT + PRO FRS),new cranks, pedals.... all but frame and shock is new. Found the fork in perfect condition (lucky I guess)
www.pinkbike.com/photo/11158023
However, I popped two vector rc's both on small jumps after a couple of months of use. (The second one was a warranty replacement of the first, which came as standard spec on a brand new bike)
Luckily, it was all free on warranty both times but in the end there was a mutuel agreement between me and the shop I bought the bike from to change it to a van rc.
Both times it took 6 weeks from dropping it off in the shop to picking it up which was in not opinion far too long. I'm not blaming this solely on x fusion (It would have been faster for me to go straight through to them) but I was copied in to emails and updated with info from the shop all the time and x fusion were being a pain in the a*** about it.
Some may say its "cosmetic" but unfortunately it goes beyond that, and the advice to use "spider style cassettes" does not help because several of the smaller cogs on most modern cassettes tend be individual items held in place by the splines and the lockring
On my road bike I'm onto my 3rd Hope RS Mono freehub body in less than 2 years, because once the notching gets too deep the cassette will not stay 100% tight and shifts slightly under pedalling loads, causing a really irritating creaking / clicking.
Hope have been great with support, but it should not happen on any premium hub product, whether Hope, King or DT Swiss (see it on those too..)
From what I have read, the guy who owns and runs "American Classic" came up with the elegant solution of small slivers of steel on the leading edges of his aluminium freehubs, which has eliminated the notching but as he patented this innovation no one else will able to offer this any time soon
Hadley Racing Hubs is another top-notch choice for hubs, super quality machining work, fantastic support (once you find their phone #) and much easier to work on than the King ring drive. They spin forever too, no drag at all.
thanks for the info. I am aware the Hope also do their freehub body in steel, but its expensive and has a high weight penalty (often the reason many riders are choosing premium hubs with aluminium bodies!)
Hope used to do their older hubs before the Pro II series with titanium alloy body which rarely saw any issues with gouging / notching but it was dropped due to rising cots of titanium
@tinfoil
agreed, have seen this on Easton bodies too. The "official" advice from many companies is that its just "cosmetic" and may only may affect cassette removal - but it often manifests as creaking, clicking and gear noise as the cassette lockring cannot prevent the cogs rotating under load, it also starts to interfere with the gear shifting ramp pattern (worked out by Shimano, etc. to the minute degrees) as the cogs get out of alignment
Typically in my workshops (I am a workshop manager) we'd grab the cassette with a rag to hold it as a chain whip gets in the way, and then carefully tap / rotate each loose cog with a flat screwdriver and mallet to jump it off the notches / gouges.
Once removed we'd then "dress" the gouges with a HSS file to remove burrs, working both the outside edges and running the file up the leading edges. Body then smeared with Shimano Anti-Seize and cassette fitted to 40nm. However, this does not solve the problem, and it seems to get worse over time.
I've suffered this on my mountain bikes, but its on the road bike its more problematic but typically you are using smaller ratio cassettes (i.e. 11-25t) and putting much higher loads into the drivetrain because of the gearing ratios. Also, on the smooth road you really notice any "creaks" and "clicks" compared to MTB where there is lots of terrain noise on the bike
Check this out, my last body off my road bike: ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb10360053/p4pb10360053.jpg
thanks for the info. the Hope SS if i remember correctly will only take 5 cassette cogs so it can't be used with modern 10 speed transmissions
would be nice to see Hope offer the titanium option as an expensive upgrade!
Hope+Flow Ex almost a year for me, and it's only need 1 truing albeit rocky tracks around here..
If you really want to have fun with crappy freewheel bodies, look at the sintered-metal (powdered metal) parts on WTB and American Classic hubs before they figured out what was going wrong and added the steel inserts... ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb5858372/p4pb5858372.jpg
This morning at work I received a brand new freehub body from Hope, but the stainless steel multi-speed version, due to my ongoing track record of ruining their aluminium bodies.
It's not light by any means, its actually seriously heavy at 161 grammes, considering the complete Mono RS hub with aluminium body is only 268 g!
www.hopetech.com/product/mono-rs-rear-hub
But its not going to notch, and it means I can put what will now be a bombproof wheelset (Mono RS hubs with Mavic Open rims) onto my commuting bike
great work Hope, thanks for the customer support!
A couple honest questions, not troll bait... Would appreciate honest, informed answers from people who know:
I've also considering these rims with Hope hubs, but have heard their pawls are slow to engage. Is this true?
I've read that the width on the Flow EX make it harder for non-UST tires (such as Specialized's 2-Bliss or other lighter "tubeless ready" tires) to seat when running tubeless. Anyone have this experience?
Thank you.
I bought set of Bulbs almost 7 years ago. Number of bearings later they are still amazing. The ratchet ring failed on a few occasions but Hope replaced it every time. For free. Every time. The hubs were in their workshop about a dozen of times- bearings, freehub bodies, ratchet rings, dust caps, etc. replacement- all for free just because they're Hope. I haven't considered buying anything else for years- just because of that.
I have them laced to EX721s so I will not take it any further to stay on topic.
Ermmm. What? Shallower rim-well yes. Reduced height sidewalls no.
I have a pair of red non disk king hubs that have turned pink over the last 12+ years, they are still going strong and have outlasted numerous bikes, including trials bikes and dirt jumpers.
The only concern I have is with the rims not having eyelets, I've always understood they help prevent the nipples from pulling through the rim, something I seem to manage to do on every non eyeleted rim I've used. I'd like to think I've gotten smoother over the years, or maybe the suspension has just gotten better...
That made me wonder, what is the reason for so many people to choose specifically for this rim?
About the only rims that are (maybe) cheaper that I'd buy would be WTB.
Or are these just being a hype now?
For example the Dartmoor Rocket would be high on my to buy list for riding in the mountains (€25): 26bikes.com/shop/parts/rims_and_rim_tapes/all_mountain/prod/dart_rocket
Other than that pretty much every company has plenty of choice between €30 and €60. Even companies like Mavic and Nukeproof.
Just check out one of the European online shops, what they have to offer for what prices, and you'll see that the Stans Flow rims cost double (€98 = $134 USD).
Linky here: 26bikes.com/shop/parts/rims_and_rim_tapes?&filter[sort]=2&filter%5B9%5D=26%22
I would much rather spend the money on better hubs (and have on 2 sets of Hadleys) than have my axle snap in the rear hub!
And Hopes freehub just doesn't even come close!!
(((What about light bicycle? ??)))
@Fix-the-Spade Ah really? ok, well that'll suck if it starts slipping but so far all is groovy!
I'd actually buy a Stans rim over a Mavic any day, though I'm considering Nextie for my next wheelset.
el oh el