Chris King adds Micro Spline freehub bodies for road hubs

Written by Tyler Benedict Jan 03, 2024 10:47 a.m. ET

chris king micro spline freehub body shown on a wheel

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Been wanting to give your gravel bike a mullet drivetrain with Shimano components? Now you can add Chris King’s R45D hubs into that mix, too.

Chris King’s R45D road hubs now have a Micro Spline freehub body option, available on standalone hubs and complete wheels.

chris king micro spline freehub body shown with cassette attached

Available in Black or Silver, they’re compatible with all Center Lock R45D versions. They’ll also fit 2nd generation 6-bolt hubs with serial numbers starting with 6910. They fit Shimano’s mountain bike cassettes, which can be mixed with the new 12-speed GRX gravel components to create a wider-range 1x drivetrain on gravel bikes.

Existing Chris King hub owners can retrofit with the complete axle-and-freehub body combo for $250 with stainless steel bearings or $310 with ceramic bearings. 12×142 thru axles only.

ChrisKing.com

Tyler Benedict

11,140 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com. He has been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel to killer riding locations throughout North America.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler loves family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part to make his bikes faster and lighter.

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solarider

1 month ago

I love my Chris King hubs, but also have quite a few DT Swiss in the collection. Changing a DT costs $50 vs $250 for Chris King. As much as I love King’s quality and philosophy, the cost of swapping freehub standards is quite restrictive since involves so much of the internals and axles.

Anonymous

1 month ago

Reply to solarider

I think the point is that some people already have some wheels built up with CK hubs, and this lets them drop in a replacement without needing to build up new wheels. It’s expensive yes, but it’s a lot less expensive than building up new high end wheels. It seems restrictive as just a % of the cost of a hub, but it’s hardly restrictive if you can afford a $3000 wheelset and the alternative is buying another $3000 wheelset.

Solarider

1 month ago

Reply to Anonymous

My point is that other brands (notably DT) do it cheaper and easier. I can swap the freehub on my DT hubs with no tools, by hand and for $50. King require that I replace the axle, the engagement ring and the freehub, which is quite involved and expensive by comparison. I have never really understood why Chris Ming can’t at least standardise their axles. I have a box of probably 20 of them over time, all of which are only subtly different. It have been changed every time I have changed freehub standard on various Chris King hubs. And don’t get me started on their lack of Campagnolo freehub!!!!