For those with Chris King R45 hubs

[dbnm]

How often do you need to rebuild the hubs and can it be done by anyone or just CK?

[Cicli]

Annually. I have the tools. You can service the freehub without the tool though.

[moobikes]

CK tool is not needed to do routine cleaning and lubing. You can do all the bearings and main drive mech in 60 - 90 min.
Clean and lube intervals depend on riding conditions. Refer to the CK manual.
It's not hard to do and if you have experience with cup and cone bearings it'll be very familiar.

[parallelfish]

Special tool required only if bearings require removal. Normal service (general cleaning and relubing of bearings) is performed with standard hex wrenches. Easy to do.

[dbnm]

Thanks. I heard a story today about only CK being able to do it and I thought it sounded a little off.

[oldpotatoe]

How often do you need to rebuild the hubs and can it be done by anyone or just CK?

To do a complete OVH, find you need a bearing(proprietary)you really need the tool kit. Decent bike shop ought to have them.

How often? Depends. Really wet, crappy, muddy, dirty, maybe every 6 months. Phoenix? Maybe once every 3-4 years.

[11.4]

In the wet Pacific NW, riding year-round daily training rides in rain, lots of road moss, leaf mulch, sand, dirt, I'd put about 7500 miles a year on one pair of hubs. I opened them up every year (exposing the bearings and free hub drive, removing seals, lubing, and reassembling) and never really needed to. There's usually a little grime inside at that point, but could easily have gone a second year without feeling bad about them. This one pair I had since the R45 first came out, and it has never needed more than flushing with TriFlow aerosol and relubrication. A cross pair, same thing. In the Classic line, I had hubs for 15 years, lubricated them two or three times in that whole time, and never had a problem. Say what you will, they are pretty bulletproof compared to any other hub I've ever owned. They are worth the regular care, but don't need it, and there's a point where excess care just leads to torn seals, inadvertently adding grit where it wasn't before, inaccurate adjustment which does tear them down pretty quickly, and so on. As Tater said, if you aren't riding in the wet, salt, sand, muck a lot, they can practically go a lifetime. These days with the way equipment is changing, I'd be replacing a pair of wheels before I'd be worrying about a pair of hubs if the hubs were Chris King.

[dbnm]

I am a roadie in New Mexico. We have lots of dust and the occasional sand storm but nothing major. I won't be riding in the wet more than once a year, if that.

Thanks for all of the info.

[11.4]

I am a roadie in New Mexico. We have lots of dust and the occasional sand storm but nothing major. I won't be riding in the wet more than once a year, if that.

Thanks for all of the info.

Don't power wash your wheels and you may never have to clean them. Just wipe off the outside of the hubs. These hubs barely even dry out inside because the seals are so good. Practically speaking, I'd clean them once every year or so. It only takes two Allen keys and ten minutes to open the hubs up, and if everything looks good, you don't have to remove the seals on the bearing sets themselves. Just flush out the free hub with TriFlow aerosol, re-lube (or just use the TriFlow for that) and reassemble.