[guero]

Since Chris King is one of the slowest companies in the world in terms of brining new products to market I'm assuming there are no immediate plans on the part of CK to embrace the ceramic bearing revolution that seems to be upon us. But it got me thinking, could I replace the bearings in my CK Classics to a generic ceramic bearing?

The Achilles heal of these hubs is their drag, but if I replaced the stock CK cartridge bearings could I get around this? Only problem is I'm not sure of the dimensions of the properitary in-house CK bearings? Anyone know - and more importantly has anyone tried this?

g

 

[arboc!]

ck headsets are already pretty pricey. i cant even imagine how much one with ceramic bearings would cost.lthumbsdown:

 

[TheMontashu]

People would pay 1000$ for ceremic CK hubs and 250$ for the headsets, simply because of the name

 

[guero]

Does anyone know the bearing size for CK hubs?

I wanna see if I can do it myself

 

[lovebunny]

ck parts have gotten rediculous. so expensive its not worth it for me.

 

[skinny mike]

ck parts have gotten rediculous. so expensive its not worth it for me.

being green is not cheap.

 

[lovebunny]

being green is not cheap.

theres a point where you gotta consider the price of your services though

 

[EVRAC]

The Achilles heal of these hubs is their drag, but if I replaced the stock CK cartridge bearings could I get around this?
g

I've found the drag in these hubs mostly comes from the large bearing behind the freewheel. It's got a removable shield and rubber seal. That seal gets all gummed up, so clean everything in there. I use a little spray lube "super-lube" that's very thin and works with the seals. Use some ck ring drive oil on the freewheel.

Repeat every 6 months.

That tiny allen bolt is sure a joke.

 

[dropmachine]

being green is not cheap.

Come on, seriously you think that justifies the cost of thier stuff?

Them being a "green company" is just one of the silly excuses for the ridiculous pricetag they put on thier gear. I'll concede it does add some cost, but you are paying for the name and prestige, which adds more to the cost then anything else.

That said, I have two king headsets, and love them more the some family members.

 

[guero]

Thanks for the tip Evrac - I'll see if that makes a difference in the meantime.

I've emailed CK to see what they have to say about replacing the bearings with a ceramic cartridge - I'm sure it's pretty much blasphemy to suggest to CK that their product can be improved but we'll see what they have to say anyways...

 

[dhkid]

the drag isn't from the bearings at all. its from the ring drive itself. try using 10wt suspension fluid as lube instead(its recomemded by ck if you cant get ahold of their special ring lube). it should reduce the drag quite a bit.

the bearings in ck hubs are really really durable, they are ss so they dont rust, and i have seen ck hub which haven't been serviced for 3 years, it was literally full of mud, a quick clean up and re greasing and it worked like new.

 

[D_D]

If you just spin the axle then the bearings are going to be under very little load. Most of the friction will be coming from the lube and seals not the bearings.

 

[guero]

Well maybe I've got my hubs tightened down too hard. In reading the manual for DT's hubs they recommend having a small (02.mm) amount of play in the hubs prior to tightened into the drops - could this be the source of some drag or is DT using a completely different bearing system?

At this point after almost 1000km I still get lots of slack in the chain when pedalling backwards, but the hubs roll smoothly otherwise...thoughts?

 

[guero]

it's not a contamination issue - the hubs haven't seen water or mud since the last rebuild using the proper ring-drive lube

 

[Westy]

I'd say the majority of drag in the CK hubs is from the seals. When I've rebuilt mine and had the bearings out to clean and relube they run fast and smooth with the seals out. Put the seals back in and all that friction returns.

 

[kidwoo]

I don't see any reason to go ceramic on their headsets. I'm still using one that's 7 years old on my dj bike that was on two dh bikes previously.

As far as the hubs go, they just need to ditch that sh1tty design. Plenty of people make smooth running hubs you don't have to work on every 5 minutes and gawd knows those guys pay attention to tolerance details. A better retention system would go further than cermaic bearings.