The new Chris King MTN30 AL wheelset pairs the American brand’s famous hubs with aluminium rims to create a budget-friendly mountain bike wheelset.
This will likely come as welcome news to riders who want quality hubs and professionally built wheels, but can’t justify the cost of carbon rims.
In fact, Chris King claims its new trail and all-mountain wheelset will have a ride quality that's reminiscent of its carbon mountain bike wheels, despite costing around $1,000 less.
As a result, Chris King says the MTN30 AL offers reliability and serviceability, alongside responsible manufacturing processes.
Ride quality and durability
When designing the MTN30 AL, Chris King says it consulted bike shops and riders about what they wanted from an aluminium mountain bike wheelset.
Chris King’s wheel product manager, Greg Hudson, says: “We learned that ride quality and durability were the most important features.”
With hubs that are renowned for their quality, and backed by a lifetime warranty, Hudson says Chris King knows “how to make durable bike products”, so achieving durability didn’t feel like a problem.
“However, it took a lot of comparative ride testing in the field and impact testing in the lab to create a wheel that both meets our durability standards and delivers the premium ride quality we were after,” he says.
Hudson adds that Chris King was happy with its MTN30 carbon wheels, which it launched in 2022, and tried to bring as many design cues as possible to the alloy wheels.
“They’re highly responsive and give the rider the right amount of trail feedback. We really hit that sweet spot between muted and too harsh. The ride feels very smooth but also connected to the terrain,” Hudson says.
Chris King MTN30 AL specs and details
The MTN30 AL is built in-house at the Chris King factory in Portland, Oregon, using Sapim Race spokes and Chris King Boost Centerlock, Boost six-bolt, or Super Boost hubs.
The hubs will be available in all the usual Chris King colours.
Chris King says the aluminium rims are made in the USA. They have 32 spoke holes, an internal rim width of 30mm and the tubeless-compatible, hookless rim bead is said to increase sidewall protection.
The rim and decals have a subtle matt finish, letting the hub colour set the tone for your bike’s aesthetics.
The rims are backed with a two-year warranty on defects. The wheels also come with an affordable lifetime crash replacement programme for the original purchaser.
The wheels will be available in 29in or 27.5in sizes, or in a mullet configuration – which is a first for Chris King.
Lower cost, increased weight
The MTN30 AL costs from $1,250, which is roughly $1,000 less than Chris King’s MTN30 carbon wheelset.
Unsurprisingly, the MTN30 AL weighs more than Chris King’s carbon mountain bike wheels.
Chris King claims the 29in rims weigh 595g, which is 104g more than its 29in carbon mountain rim.
It says the complete wheel weight starts at 2,080g for a mullet configuration, which is just over 300g more than its 29in MTN30 carbon wheels.
