Search Term – Change
Yeah, bearing races. They might seem insignificant to you, but Chris King is the only manufacturer of headsets that makes their own bearings and races in house. Truth*. This past week, they celebrated their 1,000,000th bearing race. Head over to the Chris King blog for more!
*if it’s not true, I’d like to see details!
Year after year, one race promises a good time and delivers. The SSCXWC is often riddled with controversy and inclement weather, luckily this year, the latter only applied. After a successful qualifier at the Bilenky Junkyard Cross course, the racers took to the main event at another location. This year’s course was part taped, part off-road through hobo trails and singletrack. To top it off, it started snowing at the onset of the chaos. Out came the kegs, the grills and the party hats. When the dust settled, two champions reigned supreme, Adam Craig and Vicki Barclay. That’s two in a row for Craig…
Chris King’s Dylan VanWeelden is quite handy with his camera. From shooting for the Chris King blog and various products, to covering events, Dylan has his lens tuned into the Buzz. Check out a selection of his photos in the Gallery!
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!
All I can say is: THIS! The kindred spirits at Chris King visited living legend / frame builder Paul Sadoff at Rock Lobster recently and it’s one of the most spirited shop visits I’ve ever read. Go check it out at the Chris King Blog!
Love Chris King hubs? Want to streamline your new wheel process? Chris King now offers complete wheels. Check out a full list below!
This goes without saying but Chris King appreciates made in the USA products and in Portland, they’ve got a few like-minded companies to look to. A few miles outside of Portland lies the Benchmade facilities. Now, if you know knives, you know Benchmade and if you really want to get to know the brand better, head over to Chris King for an inside look at just how like-minded Benchmade is…
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!
Finally! I’ve been using my Chris King ceramic PF30 BB on my Argonaut and all I’ve wanted is to be able to put one on my Bishop as well. These things are legit and if the word of a raconteur isn’t good enough for you, they’ve been raced exclusively by United Healthcare.
100% made in the USA, with a 5-year warranty, available for 24mm or 30mm PF shells, fully servicable bearings, available in ceramic or stainless and of course, in all the colors of the Chris King rainbow!
Here’s the press-release from Chris King:
“Introducing Chris King Press Fit 30 and Press Fit 24 Bottom Brackets. Equipped with our legendary in-house made angular contact bearings, compatible with our precision grease injection system and backed by an industry leading 5-year warranty, this is the only Press Fit bottom bracket you will need to install in your frame.
We have created our Press Fit Bottom Brackets to uphold the Chris King standard of precision craftsmanship and high-performance function. Based on our phenomenally successful Threaded Bottom Bracket system, our Press Fit Bottom Brackets will give your customers the same performance, serviceability, and dependability that they have come to expect from every Chris King product. With a range of additional conversion kits we are proud to offer a Chris King solution to your Press Fit needs.”
The time of disposable PF30 BBs is now gone. Pick one up today from Chris King!
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.
Here come the parties!
“Are you going to be in Denver for NAHBS this coming weekend? If not you should book your tickets, hop a train, rent a car, hire a mule, ride a bike, or just start running because we going to have great booth with all of our newest Chris King and Cielo offerings on display at the convention center. As if that wasn’t enough we would like to invite you to an amazing party that we are throwing Friday evening at Salvagetti’s Annex where chef extraodinaire Chris DiMinno from Portland’s renowned restaurant Clyde Common will be serving a delectable array of sliders, New Belgium will be providing an array of intoxicating suds, and all of our pals will be talking shop, telling stories, and having a good laugh.”
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!
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.
This just in from Chris King:
“We are ecstatic to be offering a handpicked selection of our most popular products in a moody dark purple. These components will be released for a short time and in limited quantities so make sure to place your order with your local Chris King dealer by December 10th.”
You know I’ve gotta get my hands on this stuff ASAP!
This is just the beginning of a project I’m documenting with Chris King and Argonaut Cycles. We’ll start off with something extra special, the Chris King I8 headset. Here’s the latest from Chris King:
“The Chris King I8 headset was developed for 1-1/8″ to 1-1/4″ tapered steerer tubes that are quickly becoming the standard for performance oriented road and cyclocross bicycles. We worked with locally produced Argonaut Cycles to develop a headset with seamless visual design that will elegantly interface with the head tubes found on modern carbon bicycles. In doing so we invested the I8 with the same precision performance and durability that is built into each and every Chris King component.
Carbon frames are most definitely here to stay and we wanted to make sure that our riders had the option of a Chris King headset for their future dream bike. A headset that avoids the deleterious wear effects that occur with the use of integrated headset designs.”
I can’t wait to share more of this exciting project with you! Expect much more to come… For now, head to the Argonaut Facebook and await updates!
If you’re like me, every time a purple Chris King headset pops up on eBay, you watch it, patiently. Most of the time, the auctions close out too high, or it’s for a 1″ threadless. So imagine my surprise when Chris King handed off a purple 1 1/8″ Sotto Voce headset to me last week. These are a very limited run and can only be picked up at their Eurobike 2012 booth.
Here’s more information:
“We have something special up our sleeve for Eurobike 2012. Come to the Crema Cycles outdoor booth at this years show and visit the Chris King product bar where we will be hand-assembling components before your very eyes.
Chris himself might be the one to put the finishing touches on your hub, headset, or bottom bracket. As if this weren’t reason enough to pay us a visit we will be offering a limited amount of purple anodized shells and cups. These purple parts are exclusive to this years show and are sure to go fast. In addition to purple we will also be offering black and red options.
GET THEM AT EUROBIKE #FG-A5/5″
Who knows, maybe if there’s enough interest, we’ll see the return of the purple!
Photos by Jeremy Dunn
I’ve really come to admire photos that are taken while riding, much moreso than staged photo shoots. So it’s nice to see Jeremy’s photos and accompanying write-up of the 2012 Chris King Gourmet Century on the Rapha blog. That shot of Cindy is too good!
I think everyone can agree that this looks like a great time. Thanks for sharing Chris King!
