Industry Nine vs. Chris King - The hub debate

I'm happy Industry 9s are so good.

All the gearwhore Homers who have to have the latest/greatest buy I9s, and sell their moderately used, perfectly fine Kings for cheap(ish). Scored a HD/20mm hubset, and am happy with them.

Can't go wrong with either...

I would argue with some of your results.

QUALITY :: Clearly a tie. BOTH are exceptional quality hubs, and far better then a mountain biker needs. THey are, to be blunt, art, in thier own way.


PERFORMENCE :: Again, debatable. Both have killer engagement, but I don't think its fair to compare the stiffness of the alloy spokes to the steel ones on the king. Of course the Alloy is going to be stiffer, but that means you are companiring the I9s as a WHEELSET, not hubs. Using steel spokes, but hubs would be equally stiff.

As well, if you can really tell the difference between the engagement in both hubs...well I'd be impressed. I have both here, and both are spectacular when you crank down.


RELIABILITY :: How the hell you gave this to King I will never know. Its common knowlege that you have to keep on top of king hubs, as they loosen up. Thats fine, although a bit annoying.

My I9's, other then a bit of truing, haven't needed a goddam thing. They just go and go and go and go....If that isn't reliable, I don't know what it. Rebuilding them, should it be required, is childs play too.


MAINTENTANCE :: I9s win here. Super easy to pull apart, like almost comically so. Kings, not so much. Not that the Kings are hard, but they aren't as easy as the I9s.

VERSATILITY :: Bit of a strange subject, but ok. Granted, the end caps on the i9s are brilliant. But having to use thier spokes limits versatility, no matter how you cut it. This should have been a tie, as I9s win on end cap brilliance, but lose on proprietary spokes.


BLING FACTOR :: Tie. Every bike nerd gets a hardon at King hubs, and every bike nerd flips out at I9s. They are clearly equal here.


CUSTOMER SERVICE :: Can't really comment. I just know that the I9 guys are the **** hands down, and take care of what you need. Similarly, King has (apparantly) excellent support up here in Canada.

PRICE :: Used to be up here that you could either get I9 wheels, or King hubs for the same price. Right now, both wheel sets are similarly priced, with I9 sneaking under by a bit. That said, you're int he US, so I can't really argue.


Couple of other things. How many people did you compare? How many wheelsets, and how many users had input? You seem to leave out a lot of stuff there, and have results that basically go against common experiences with these wheels.

That said, i am partial to I9 myself, due to the stiffer ride, ease of maintenance, and the impressively notch-resistant even-with-a-standard-cassette freehub body.

I've got Kings now on all my toys, including my 303.

I've run the I9's on other bikes.
Went back to King.

Something about the "angry bee" noise works for me.

Finally yesterday took in the rear hub on my workhorse Enduro after seven years of riding all over the south lands. Should have it back tomorrow, ready to party.

I9 is good stuff, but I am a King whore, balls to bones.

Regarding performance - I9 have less drag than Kings too I have the 6 degree I think, I haven't compared the 3 degree.

Also about the alloy vs. steels spokes - you can buy i9 steel spoke hubs now?

dropmachine.com said:

BLING FACTOR :: Tie. Every bike nerd gets a hardon at King hubs, and every bike nerd flips out at I9s. They are clearly equal here.

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Tie my butt! I don't get a hardon for king hubs. Or I9. I'd give this one to I9 just because they come in a wider range of colors. Not to mention you can get your spokes done to match. Or not match if you want.

I'm a CK fan, but the I9's with the aluminum pull spokes look great. From what I hear they need constant maintenance, and if you bust a spoke and don't have a spare that will kinda suck.

when it comes to rear hubs, i own a chris king and 3 hadleys.

i respect the engr in the CK ring drive system, but overall i prefer the hadleys over the CK's, for the usual reasons stated by so many on this board.

if CK's came with a Ti freehub body, and if the design had less drag, and if getting the bearing preload 'just right' was easier and was required less frequently, then I'd call it a draw.

so i think the premise of this thread is flawed.

NTTAWWT.

i haven't owned I9's. if and when I9 comes out with a steel-straight-pull wheelset, i will reconsider.

Brian HCM#1 said:

I'm a CK fan, but the I9's with the aluminum pull spokes look great. From what I hear they need constant maintenance, and if you bust a spoke and don't have a spare that will kinda suck.

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I've trued mine twice. Granted they are trail wheels, but still, that doesn't sound like constant maintenance to me. Perhaps the DH wheels will be different. That said, i don't know DH wheels that don't need a little love here and there.

Also, I9 sends spare spokes with each wheelset, and its easy enough to order more. just sucks if you didn't bring them with you.

Brian HCM#1 said:

I'm a CK fan, but the I9's with the aluminum pull spokes look great. From what I hear they need constant maintenance, and if you bust a spoke and don't have a spare that will kinda suck.

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I have been testing a I9 wheel with an in house rim and I'll say this... I have been looking for a low maintenance DH wheelset for 5 years. I have finally found it.

Since March I have probably ridden the above DH wheels 2-3 times a week at Windrock and at races and all I have had to do was re-tighten one spoke on the front wheel. The rear is still round and true as it came to me from I9. There is not a single ding in the rim. Can't say that for the Hadley-729 or MTX or Rhyno Lite wheels I have used in the past.

My i9 wheels have been low maintenance and have stayed true longer than my regular wheelsets of the past. The spokes seem slightly more likely to fail rather than flex/bend from sticks in spokes/crashes but its expected due to being Al and they are stiffer so its a good trade off.

I was truly lucky in that I got to use a set of I9's for 2 full seasons in '06 & '07. I'm not a lightweight, and as anybody who rode with me or handed me a spoke wrench at the US Open can attest, I am brutal on rims too. I usually have a minimum 3 rims on the rear and 2 on the front by season's end.

The I9's I ran, I got to use the 1 front rim for 2 full seasons. The edges of it were crushed, but it was completely true and round at the end of those 2 seasons. The rear, I had to replace the rear rim near the end of the season b/c the edges were crushed and it wouldn't hold a tire anymore. But the rim, though ugly, was not ovalized at all or out of true. Just unbelievable.

A couple other things need to be mentioned. I9 themselves swapped out the rims for me and only had to replace 2 spokes on the rear wheel to rebuild it. That's after a full season of a 190lb ox riding them. I've always had to replace the spokes but this time I didn't. That's a few pennies saved.

Lastly, I went from an '06 Demo w/ 135mm x 10mm rear to an '07 Sunday w/ 150mm x 12mm rear axle. Just a swap of a few parts.

Here's the final testimant. The guts of my rear hub weren't even production but one of their very first prototypes they set me up on with no guarantees. After year 2, with their permission I sold them. All they asked was that I pull out the old proto guts and let them put in stock guts. The proto stuff was still perfect inside, spinning free and clean of debris. Good stuff.

dropmachine.com said:

RELIABILITY :: How the hell you gave this to King I will never know. Its common knowlege that you have to keep on top of king hubs, as they loosen up. Thats fine, although a bit annoying.

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Careful complaining about this around here or the Chris King Mutual Backrub Club will tear you a new one for not properly reading the CK website or running the latest version of CK hubs and in general thinking there could possibly be another hub in the world more reliable than a Chris King. oster_oops:

dropmachine.com said:

I've trued mine twice. Granted they are trail wheels, but still, that doesn't sound like constant maintenance to me. Perhaps the DH wheels will be different. That said, i don't know DH wheels that don't need a little love here and there.

Also, I9 sends spare spokes with each wheelset, and its easy enough to order more. just sucks if you didn't bring them with you.

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Very true, they are nice hub/spokes no doubt about it. But it is a nice factor when you do break a spoke and left those spares a home, you can hit the LBS for a few spokes and just keep rolling.
Other than that, that's it

bdamschen said:

Careful complaining about this around here or the Chris King Mutual Backrub Club will tear you a new one for not properly reading the CK website or running the latest version of CK hubs and in general thinking there could possibly be another hub in the world more reliable than a Chris King. oster_oops:

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I love CK hubs, but also for the $ and dependability the Hope Pro hubs or any Hope hub for that matter are hard to beat.

Brian HCM#1 said:

Very true, they are nice hub/spokes no doubt about it. But it is a nice factor when you do break a spoke and left those spares a home, you can hit the LBS for a few spokes and just keep rolling.
Other than that, that's it

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You must have good LBS. I have never been able to find DH sized conventional spokes in town.

Brian HCM#1 said:

Very true, they are nice hub/spokes no doubt about it. But it is a nice factor when you do break a spoke and left those spares a home, you can hit the LBS for a few spokes and just keep rolling.
Other than that, that's it

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or...carry a spare spoke in your Camelbak for an I9 and replace the broken spoke without even having to take your tire off the rim or your wheel off the bike. Just pop the bead off one side and slip it right through and screw it into the hub. No taking the wheel off, the cassette or the rotor.

Or do like I did. Just snap the remaining piece of the broken spoke off and ride for the rest of the day and replace the spoke at the house.

I've my I9 for more than two years. There are a sweet wheel set for me and a very low in maintenance.

profro said:

You must have good LBS. I have never been able to find DH sized conventional spokes in town.

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Hehe, mine did, except they only had 32 instead of 36, so I had to wait a week for four spokes to get shipped :huh:

profro said:

You must have good LBS. I have never been able to find DH sized conventional spokes in town.

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I usually carry extras with me, but I've gone into several shops and that had what I needed. Might not be the right color or double butted, but enough to keep it going for the weekend.

profro said:

You must have good LBS. I have never been able to find DH sized conventional spokes in town.

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I was thinking the same thing

2 sets of I9s the other sat because I never needed it. I finally sold it due to sitting and lack of use!
I kept the set Ive been beating on for almost 2 years over the new set. They are stupid easy to tighten, assemble, maintain etc... If you ever need too! I havent so far but I did fiddle with them in my spare time checking them to see if they needed tightening and what the hell makes them keep going with no maintenance so far!
Ran Kings before I9s and as long as I9s keep this design and build quality I will not look to another HUB!

I would rather have a hadley hub over either of them.

Ive had CK, Hadley, and now I9. My CKs always needed to be retightened. Hadleys were great too. My I9s are only 10 months old but I have never had a single problem.

I9 for sure, they have sick engagement and from what i hear *king doesnt have a DH specific hub(at least pre-150mm)and the hub just has an option for better bearings. (heavy duty)

It's all aboot the Dt Swiss 440 eh.

Although chances are i would say the same thing if i had i9's.

.Pit Steelers. said:

It's all aboot the Dt Swiss 440 eh.

Although chances are i would say the same thing if i had i9's.

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how many engagement points does the dt 440 have?

i tried to count them and were just like 18 ..... :huh:

Whats your point? I see everyones idol running 440's Sam Hill? Yet he is beating people on wheels with 120 pts of engagment. With 18...It's the rider not the bike.

.Pit Steelers. said:

Whats your point? I see everyones idol running 440's Sam Hill? Yet he is beating people on wheels with 120 pts of engagment. With 18...It's the rider not the bike.

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The boy actually made sense.................. for once.

I think it all comes down to personal preference. King hubs do have a lot more drag but the sound of the I9's are like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Westy said:

I think it all comes down to personal preference. King hubs do have a lot more drag but the sound of the I9's are like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

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mine (with ceramic bearing :biggrin are greased quite nicely and are damn quite

I was checking out their website, really cool.

Brian HCM#1 said:

I was checking out their website, really cool.

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Whos?

RSutton1223 said:

I have heard a lot of people say that the spokes break more often but I don't see that at all. I think a lot of people assume they will.

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No I own King, DT swiss, XT, and i9 wheelsets, the stiffer Al spokes are more likely to fail speaking from personal experience not assumption. The trade off is the Al spokes are stiffer and you don't have to true your wheels as often.