Chris King R45 (Swift hubs) and DT Swiss 1.1

I am looking for a set of handbuilt wheels for my Cervelo RS and have started looking at hubs. The new Chris King road hubs (R45) have caught my eye (durability, quality, local, bling...). I was thinking of having the R45 hubs and DT Swiss 1.1 rims. Does anyone have any experience with those hubs or rims? Suggestions? I usually ride about 100-120 miles per week (weather permitting) and I am looking for a lighter, more reliable wheelset than my Shimano RS-10's. Thanks for your comments and ideas. Craig

 

Use DT hubs. CK hubs, altho really nice, are about 10x the complexity, very expensive to overhaul. DT to double eyelet 1.1(now called RR 465 Double). 'Double' eyelet is 32h only. 28h is single eyelet-OK for the front.

 

FWIW. I agree that if you want a lightweight rear hub that you should select a DT 240 hub ... there are an outrageous number of pawls (24) inside the Chris King mechanism ... consequently, the 72 surrounding, engagement teeth are necessarily smaller than the typical teeth in hubs which use a similar pawl mechanism.

Other than a DT hub, depending on your bike's drivetrain, I think you should select either almost any Shimano hub (which I presume your bike's wheel is compatible with) or a Campagnolo hub (whose hubs are almost as light as DT & CK hubs).

If you want a noisy hub when you are not pedaling, then you can get a pre-240 DT (aka HUGI) hub OR stick a playing card in your spokes.

 

Those rims are okay. Likewise, you can find great rims from Kinlin and Velocity that may be less expensive.

As for hubs, DT240s hubs are excellent, although some people (not me) think their flanges are a bit narrowly spaced and build a slightly less stiff wheel. I had a set of wheels built on DT240s hubs, and they were just dandy (I'm 175 lbs).

Another hub to consider is the White Industries H2 (front), H3 (rear) hubs. They're excellent hubs that are every bit as good as the DT hubs but a bit cheaper.