Chris King has launched a new range of wheelsets that, for the first time, bear the brand’s name on the rims.
First debuted at Chris King’s open-house show back in November, we spotted the new GRD23 gravel wheels on the Saddleback (the brand’s distributor in the UK) stand at the 2022 Cycle Show.
Chris King has offered full wheelsets alongside its hubs for some time, but these have all been built around rims from ENVE, DT Swiss, Stan's and other brands.
Three wheelsets are currently available – the pictured 23mm-wide gravel wheelset and a 30mm-wide mountain bike wheelset in either 27.5in or 29in diameters.
All rims are hookless and constructed from FusionFiber, which is said to be a cutting-edge thermoplastic. Chris King claims this “has a wider range of compliance profiles” compared to conventional carbon composites.
The brand says this allows it to “tune the wheels to hit a sweet spot in road feel that we didn’t see being served by more performance-oriented carbon wheelsets”.
Manufactured in the USA, the rims are said to be fully recyclable. The rims also feature a powder-coat finish, rather than a typical clear coat, which is claimed to be more environmentally friendly.
The wheels are built around Chris King’s standard R45D hubs and laced with Sapim CX Ray spokes on the GRD23 gravel wheels. Boost Centerlock hubs and Sapim D-Lite spokes form the basis of the mountain bike wheels.
The Chris King MTN30 wheelset is priced at $2,550, with the GRD23 wheelset coming in at $2,650. International pricing is TBC.
