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Chris King backs ALL components with King Lifetime Warranty protection!

Written by Cory Benson Jul 18, 2019 2:10 p.m. ET

King Lifetime Warranty on Chris King headsets, hubs & BBs

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Pretty much everyone who has a Chris King headset or a set of Chris King hubs already knows that the colorful, American-made components are built to last. Now a new King Lifetime Warranty makes it official – offering true lifetime protection for the original owner of any newly bought King headset, hub, bottom bracket & house-built carbon wheels, including bearings, with a guarantee of free repair or service to get you riding again.

King Lifetime Warranty on Chris King headsets, hubs & BBs

Chris King components don’t come cheap, but their precision components really have always been built to last. And they have always been serviceable. My wife & I personally have at least four wheelsets with King hubs more than a decade old, plus some headsets more than twice that age, several of which have been reinstalled more than once, often outlasting their original bikes.

King Cycle Group have always strongly backed up the performance & durability of their bearings and machined aluminum products since they started crafting them back in 1976. A large part of that has been a mission towards environmental sustainability, but also just a commitment to high-quality products.

Now Chris King just made it official. All new headsets, hubs & BBs, plus wheelsets laced to Santa Cruz Reserve or Enve carbon rims (and all of their bearings inside) sold since Jan 1, 2019 are eligible for lifetime backing for the original owner. You have to prove you bought them with a receipt, so King recommends registering new products within 30 days or purchase.

Then, if you ever have any problem that keeps your King component from functioning properly, you submit a claim and Chris King will either direct you to a local dealer for service & repair, instruct you how to service simple adjustments, or have you send the part directly back to them to be repaired – all for free.

Sounds like now, you just have to pick which color ano headset, BB & hubset will look best on your bike!

ChrisKing.com

Cory Benson

4,156 articles

Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com.

Cory has been writing about mountain bikes, enduro, cyclocross, all-road, gravel bikes & bikepacking for over 25 years, even before the industry created some of these names. Prior to Bikerumor, Cory was a practicing Architect specializing in environmental sustainability, has designed bike shops & bike components, and worked as a bike shop mechanic.

Based in the Czech Republic for 15+ years, he is a technical mountain biker, adventurous gravel rider, and short & medium-haul bikepacker. Cory travels extensively across Europe riding bikes, meeting with key European product developers, industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new, and what’s coming next.

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carbonfodder

4 years ago

Oh great, so where does that leave me? I have a 1.125″ nothreadset that I bought in I don’t know, 1993 or something and it didn’t come with a lifetime warranty. It’s only outlasted a couple frames now, but that’s irrelevant. I think I deserve lifetime too. The gall of Chris King to give the noobs something they won’t give me. I might not buy another of their headsets for at least 25 years… oh wait, my headset is older than 25 years.
So much for my righteous indignation.

If ever there were a warranty that really just shows the truth of a product, this is it. Best bearing containers ever.

Roadstain

4 years ago

Reply to carbonfodder

You copied what i was going to say…..

blahblah1233445

4 years ago

Reply to carbonfodder

I have a cheap cup&cone headset from Cane Creek from 2003 in my commuter and also works perfectly. Some brands just know, what “reliable” means.

K-Pop is dangerous to your health

4 years ago

King better move operations more inland because the Mount Hood Faults and the Cascadia Subduction Zone in general could pose severe setbacks in fulfilling lifetime warranties.

Cheese

4 years ago

Reply to K-Pop is dangerous to your health

Inland where? To tornado alley?

K-Pop is dangerous to your health

4 years ago

Reply to Cheese

About 1/3 of the country sees little to zero tornado activity, so…. Should any of the Cascadian faults near Portland decide to get angry King’s proximity to the Willamette River puts them in terribly extreme flood danger.

Volsung

4 years ago

Reply to K-Pop is dangerous to your health

Tesla roofs have an infinity warranty so all they have to do is build the roof, walls, and floor out of it and they’ll be good.

SteC

4 years ago

Can CK headsets survive UK conditions then? I can destroy a ‘quality’ headset bearing in one season just by using it normally. Even with regular cleaning and checking. They must be made well to offer a warranty like this.

Bmx

4 years ago

Reply to SteC

Best thing you can do is ride fenders stops the salt getting near the bottom bearing.

VeloFreak

4 years ago

A warranty comes with a huge small print. What is a warranty? As far as I know, it covers manufacture defects, not use defects. A warranty doesn’t cover normal wear and tear because of use, maybe be this or other brand will cover that too, bearing wise, that is not a warranty though. This is a marketing stunt really, as enve and others are now offering this lifetime claim, would love to read that fine print, but then again, I bet hi price companies like king go beyond that fine print, for sure. Still, too hi price for a set of bearing holders really, and for heave and expensive j-bend hubs. Bring straight pull hubs king, bring it on, it’s almost 2020 now, 1979 is way behind us, unfortunately.

PFS

4 years ago

Reply to VeloFreak

One of the reasons that kind can offer products that really do last forever is because they don’t follow the dumb trends like straight pull spokes. And why would you want straight pull anyways, you need higher tensions which puts a lot of extra stress on the rim. J bend spokes touch where they cross which effectively moves the flange further out and creates a stiffer wheel at lower tensions.

Tim

4 years ago

Reply to PFS

I agree with PFS. If straigh pull were overwhelmingly superior as he claims, wouldn’t it have taken over the market, or at least achieved a bigger market share than it has now. Also, are King hubs heavy? I’m not a fan of their rear hubs, having owned three of them, all of which always had play in the bearings. But heavy they were not.

Anonymous Coward

4 years ago

Reply to VeloFreak

I have wheels with both spoke style and both can function fine.

The biggest benefit to straight pull spokes is for people who build a lot of wheels. They are much faster to build as lacing is much quicker. Their biggest disadvantage is the spokes spin when truing and it’s annoying as %^$^. Another disadvantage is if you flex a wheel enough to detension the spokes aero spokes end up spinning and facing the wrong direction. I’ve had both of these problems on numerous straight pull wheels mountain and road.

The biggest advantage of j bend is spoke availability and service ability.

If all else is equal I’ll pick j bends every time. I say this as somebody who builds most of my own wheels and rides my bikes into the ground.

The theory that you can tension straight pull spokes tighter is probably true, but in the real world there is no need for this. Once a wheel is brought to adequate tension extra tension doesn’t actually make the wheel stiffer. All more tension does is make the wheel able to take bigger hits without detensioning spokes. But in the real world this is usually when a wheel would buckle or taco anyways. The only wheels I’ve had issues with spokes detensioning while riding and not destroying the wheel are straight pull wheels and radial laced wheels.

Brad Sedola

4 years ago

I love their hubs. They do last forever with minimal servicing. Too bad they don’t make a 197mm hub since I’m a full time fat bike convert as of 3 years ago.

Mankul

4 years ago

What about having the advantage of tangential spoke/axle angle with straight pull spoke flanges? You can have better spoke angles with lower spoke count.