Chris King MTB Front ISO 6 Bolt Disc Hub
The Chris King MTB hub is what people mean when they say a hub should outlast the bike. The Chris King MTB is the hub we point serious trail riders to when they ask what will still be running in ten years.
We only sell the Chris King MTB hub inside a wheel we build. Choose your rim, spokes and nipples in the configurator and the wheel ships from our shop in Georgia laced, tensioned and trued by hand.
Design and construction
RingDrive is the heart of it. The Chris King MTB hubshell is machined from aluminum bar and the flanges are canted toward the rim so the spoke leaves the hub in a straight line, which builds a stronger wheel with more even tension.
King's bearings are made in-house from heat-treated, surgical-grade steel, races machined in matched pairs so they wear together. They are adjustable for preload, rebuildable and, famously, get smoother as they run in. The seals are the labyrinth type that King has used for decades; they shrug off pressure washing better than most.
A front hub is a bearing carrier with flanges, and that is the whole job of the front Chris King MTB hub: two sealed bearings on a stiff axle, end caps for your fork's standard, and flanges spaced to give the spokes a good bracing angle on the rotor side. There is nothing to engage and nothing to swap. Everything written about freehubs and engagement applies to the rear hub only; what you get up front is the same shell quality and the same seals without any of the moving parts.
How it rides
Ride quality on a Chris King MTB hub is mostly about what you stop noticing.
Weight is competitive rather than featherlight.
A front wheel is where you feel a hub least and a build most. With no drive torque to carry, the front Chris King MTB hub can be laced two-cross or even radial on the non-rotor side on a rim-brake bike, which makes a lighter, more direct-feeling wheel; on a disc bike we lace both sides crossed so the rotor's braking torque has spokes to pull against. Either way the front wheel is the one that steers, and a stiff, true front wheel is most of what makes a bike feel precise.
Specifications
| Position | Front |
|---|---|
| Axle options | Thru Axle 15x110mm Boost Front, Thru Axle 20x110mm Boost Front |
| Drillings | 28h, 32h |
| Spoke head | J-bend |
| Brake | 6-bolt disc |
| Left flange diameter | 57.4 mm |
| Right flange diameter | 57.4 mm |
| Left center-to-flange | 27.3 mm |
| Right center-to-flange | 36.3 mm |
| Spoke hole diameter | 2.6 mm |
| Weight | 176g |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Finishes | 3d violet, black, black matte black punch, gold matte 50th, jade matte, mango matte, midnight matte, red, silver, turquoise matte |
This version
This version is the 6-bolt hub in Thru Axle 15x110mm Boost, Thru Axle 20x110mm Boost, drilled for 28h, 32h, about 176g, in 3d violet, black, black matte black punch, gold matte 50th,. Those are the only things that differ between the versions of the Chris King MTB hub; the shell, bearings and seals are the same.
This is the 6-bolt Chris King MTB hub: the rotor bolts to a flange with six T25 bolts, which is the mount most mountain and gravel rotors still use and the easiest to find a rotor for on the road. If you run centerlock rotors, choose the centerlock version of the same hub instead.
Sizes, fit and compatibility
The Chris King MTB hub, the Chris King MTB Front ISO 6 Bolt Disc Hub, is listed here in the drillings shown on this page, in Boost spacing (15x110 front, 12x148 rear). Rotor mount is centerlock or 6-bolt depending on the version you pick.
The Chris King MTB hub builds beautifully onto DT Swiss, Stan's, Race Face, WTB, Reserve, ENVE, We Are One and Nox rims. The MTB hub is J-bend only; we usually recommend double-butted spokes with brass nipples for trail wheels.
Build it into a wheel
This hub is live in our Custom Wheel Program for gravel and road disc, track and road single-speed, tandem and e-bike, mountain bike, MTB single-speed and fat bike builds. Start a build with the Chris King MTB Front ISO 6 Bolt Disc Hub and the configurator opens with this exact hub pinned at the top of the Chris King list — you choose the rest of the parts and it validates every combination as you go.
How Chris King tests its hubs
Chris King states it "has been domestically producing bicycle components of the highest quality since 1976" and is "the manufacturer, not just a design house, holistically locating all operations under one roof here in Portland, OR." Its hubs use bearings made in-house: sealed angular-contact bearings with "heat-treated, surgical grade steel races" machined simultaneously "to ensure perfectly matched inner and outer races"; Chris King states "Every single Chris King bearing is inspected and assembled by hand." A March 2024 factory visit reported the bearings are made from 440c stainless steel in more than thirty production steps. Chris King publishes no ISO 4210, salt-spray or bearing-cycle test figures.
Warranty and service: the King Lifetime Warranty states "Hubs, Headsets, and Bottom Brackets, including the bearings, are warranted for the lifetime of the original purchaser"; it is non-transferable and excludes misuse, crash or impact, lack of routine maintenance and normal wear. Chris King's hub manual states hubs "should be maintained every 6-12 months in normal and dry conditions" and "every 3 months in wet or muddy conditions" using Chris King Silver Grease; the company says its bearings "wear in and not wear out".
Chris King's videos
Certifications
- Made in USA (Portland, Oregon) — Chris King states it has been domestically producing bicycle components since 1976 with all operations under one roof in Portland, OR (source)
- King Lifetime Warranty — Hubs, headsets and bottom brackets including bearings warranted for the lifetime of the original purchaser; non-transferable (source)
- B Corp certification (2020, since lapsed) — Certified B Corporation in April 2020 (first US bicycle component maker); company later withdrew from recertification (source)
Sources on Chris King's site:
Everything in this section is published by Chris King. ProWheelBuilder is the wheel builder, not the tester, and the hub reaches us as the maker ships it.
Building it at ProWheelBuilder
Chris King manufactures the MTB hub in Portland. ProWheelBuilder is an independent wheel builder in Georgia, not the manufacturer, and we build Chris King MTB wheels to the rider: measured ERD, spokes cut to length, staged tensioning with a gauge, stress relief, and final truing before it ships. We set the bearing preload with King's adjusting clamp as the last step.
The configurator recommends a spoke count from your bike type and weight, shows only parts that fit this hub's drillings, and prices the wheel live.
Warranty
Chris King's warranty. Chris King warrants hubs, headsets and bottom brackets, bearings included, for the lifetime of the original purchaser on items sold new since 1 January 2019. Proof of purchase is required, and King recommends registering within 30 days.
ProWheelBuilder. Our one-year wheel warranty applies to any wheel we build around this part, alongside whatever the manufacturer offers. Inside that year, broken spokes are replaced no matter how they broke, and the wheel labor is ours - truing, re-tensioning or a full rebuild. A rim or hub failure that the maker covers, we claim for you and see through; one the maker declines, we answer with an eligible replacement at 25% off current retail. Shipping both ways is yours, and components you supply yourself fall outside this cover.
Full terms are on our Policies & Warranty page.
MTB Front ISO 6 Bolt Disc Hub questions
Will my rotors fit this hub?
This is the 6-bolt version: any ISO 6-bolt rotor bolts straight on with six T25 bolts, which is still the most common and the easiest rotor to replace anywhere. Centerlock rotors do not fit it - for those, take the centerlock version of the same hub, listed separately.
Is ProWheelBuilder the manufacturer of the Chris King MTB Front ISO 6 Bolt Disc Hub?
No. The hub is made by Chris King; we are the wheel builder in Georgia who laces it into a finished wheel to your spec and stands behind the build.
Which axle spacing does it fit?
Thru Axle 15x110mm Boost Front or Thru Axle 20x110mm Boost Front. Measure between the inside faces of your dropouts if you are unsure, or text us.
Does it need special spokes?
No. It takes standard J-bend spokes, which the configurator offers in every gauge and finish we stock.
How long will the wheel take?
Build time comes down to parts availability rather than bench time. The estimated ship date is shown in the configurator before you check out.
Not sure? Text or leave a voicemail on 470-253-0929 or email info@prowheelbuilder.com — you will be talking to the people who build the wheels.
