Like many other brands, Chris King Precision Components is being impacted by the closure of its rim supplier, CSS Composites. The maker of the FusionFiber rims used by Chris King has closed its doors, which left wheel brands scrambling to figure out how to offer support to their existing and future customers. Yesterday, the brand announced that owners of the Chris King wheels will still be covered under King’s lifetime warranty.
NOBL Wheels will be stepping in to manage rim replacement for any Chris King FusionFiber wheel in need of warranty service.
Chris King’s Press Release
“To Our Industry Friends, Partners, and Riders,
You may be aware that our rim partner, CSS Composites, has recently gone out of business. CSS developed the FusionFiber rims we built into our own brand of road, gravel, and mountain bike wheels. FusionFiber was a technology we were excited about and a company who shared our ideals for sustainable manufacturing. We are heartbroken for the people who lost their jobs and the vision that won’t now be realized. We never like seeing a US manufacturer closing their doors.
Unfortunately, we received no advance notice of CSS’s struggles or subsequent closure.
The most important thing for our riders to know is that there is nothing wrong with the wheels they’re riding, quite the opposite. We expect every wheel we’ve built to give its rider years and years of riding. We also want to reassure them that, despite CSS no longer being able to supply us with FusionFiber rims, all lifetime warranties are still in effect. The good folks at NOBL Wheels are stepping in to manage rim replacement for any Chris King FusionFiber wheel in need of warranty service.
King-branded, FusionFiber rims (ARD44, GRD23, and MTN30) are discontinued for the foreseeable future.
For original owners making a warranty claim under the King warranty agreement, we will replace any defective rim with an equivalent NOBL rim. The rim itself and the wheel rebuild will have no cost to the customer. A second, matching wheel will also be available at a deeply discounted cost, if the rider wants one, and it can be delivered with the warranty wheel.
What is most important to us is taking care of our customers the best we can in light of CSS going out of business. In a perfect world, we would have been able to plan for this situation in advance, but given the realities of CSS’s situation, we are grateful to NOBL for working through the logistics with us on an accelerated schedule. They have been fantastic to work with, and being located here in the Pacific Northwest, we should be able to get replacement rims quickly when needed. We’re glad to be partnering with them. They already build wheels with our hubs, so it’s a good fit. Customers should be confident with our solution to this industry surprise.
The NOBL rims available for replacement are the TR36 (mountain), HR25 (gravel), and HR45 (road), and the warranty process is simple. Customers with proof of original purchase will email info@chrisking.com for a Return Authorization (RA) number, then box and ship the damaged wheel back to us, where our wheel team will remove the broken rim and rebuild with the new rim (building a matching front or rear if requested), service the hubs, and then return to the customer. The rebuilt wheel will then be cared for under the NOBL warranty. International customers will work through the distributor for their market, which we understand may add some complications for shipping and return that we don’t yet know about.
Legions of Loyal Riders
We would like to thank everyone, from our distribution partners to our shop friends to our legions of loyal riders for their patience with this unexpected situation. We’re confident that anyone who invested in Chris King Wheels will be happy with their riding experience going forward, and that’s what really matters.
Sincerely,
Kirby Bedsaul
President/General Manager
Chris King Precision Components”
