What's the Fastest Hub? (DT Swiss VS. Chris King VS…)

In this video we will ve comparing four big name hubs - Chris King, DT Swiss, Extralite, White Industries - on the exact same 45mm carbon wheel from Creative Carbon wheels. We'll be getting a mechanics point of view, testing the hubs up a climb and a descent, finishing off with my general thoughts on each hub after riding on them for six months.

#Carbon #wheel #hub

HUBS discussed:

[NeonGrayEdits]

An impressive amount of work. Nice job 👍🏻.

[neilashton]

Chris King all day, every day. A work of art and sustainable as they support them forever. Not the lightest but best craftsmanship by far.

[gsmd]

DT Swiss has always been my favorite. Easy to maintain.

[lancestephenson]

Nicely done mat. DT is one of those 'Less boutique" seeming hubs that is so class and good because of simple design and immaculate engineering. CK have always been a dream hub, until you own them and have to drop them in a shop for some love, whereas the others are far more user friendly.

[_cpdchua]

I can only imagine the effort you put into making these videos. Really nice content!

[damionmiller]

Awesome video! I’d love to see an ONYX hub in your comparison. Zero noise, zero drag, w/ instant engagement… Bing, Bang, BOOOM!!!

[nickwoods]

Nice work Cam! DT Swiss simplicity and reliability all the way 👍🏻

[Barnapkin]

I just started cycling a few years ago. I bought my first road bike off of FB marketplace. Got a 5 yr old Specialized Venge Expert that had 2 sets of wheels. The second set has white industries hubs. The bike and wheels were in good shape to my untrained eyes. Buying an upper mid-spec used bike in good shape is better than a low-end new bike in my opinion. While truing my wheels, I noticed the rear hub had some damage. I looked for a replacement online. Every shop I saw was sold out. I reached out to white industries. They asked for a picture of the damage. Upon review they said that model hub was no longer made and offered me their current clp at cost. I did inform them that I was not the original owner. To me that customer focus is incredible these days.

I'm a White Industries fan for life. Last summer I bought a Scott addict Gravel, and replaced the wheelset with Astral carbon wheels with WI huBs. I can coast past my friends on dowhills. Well worth the $$$.

[cresalmeda]

Timing is everything- if you are a cyclist that just bring your bike to lbs for maintenance then you can pick any hubs you like. But if you are a cyclist who is a diy guy then you pick the DT Swiss, excellent product and so easy to service.

[AlistairLattimore]

It might be a bit of work, but since you have the wheels built up - it’d be mad to send them to Bicycle Rolling Resistance to put through his test rig to remove any difference from wind/etc!

[JustinDoesTriathlon]

I'm with you. Just give me long life bearings, ease of maintenance, standard parts, and some decent engagement.

[ktube]

I've been killing 2 sets of CLD hubs, bad weather, etc, and they are solid hubs. And, since I have 2 sets of them built up to different rims, when I swap from bike to bike, I have to do zero touching of the calipers, the rotors do not touch or rub, so they are consistent. That's a huge plus in this day and age of road disc.

[migster]

Strawhat cowboy dude wearing flannel character: "ah you had to slave making a whole video on this ay, had you? You couldn't have just told us you're a DTSwiss fanboy, ay? Don't appreciate fine American craftsmanship, ay, do you?" Jokes aside, great video as always and yeah, DTSwiss are simple and they work.

[wiseoldman]

Thanks for the hard work pulling this together! Perhaps a standard cup and cone hub like a dura ace as a benchmark. Be interesting to see the difference besides weight. The racers I rode with switched out to oil lubrication on race day, and the difference was pretty dramatic. We recently cleaned out the bearings on my sons skateboard and lubed with Prolink. The difference was dramatic. Think Hambini talked about the lub as being a big factor as well. Might be an interesting topic, same wheel and test with various lubs to see the difference. Thanks again!

[somnumna]

A hub I have ridden for 5 years (rim brake) is the Tune. I have 240s and Chris King as well.
The Tune really sit in between these two from my experience. They are actually my favorite

[williamboike]

I'm using HED Ardennes SL wheels on my Pinarello. Both bike and wheels are about 12 years old.The wheels perform as new. The Hubs are marked HED. Incidentally, I bought my first serious road frame from Steve Hed when he was first starting.

[SergioGarcian_n]

Even the cheapest but still quality hubs (Think low end cup and cone Shimano) are fast enough that you will not be able to measure a difference between them and the best of the best, that's how good a bearing system can be.

[SeanHogan_frijole]

I run White Industries over CKs for several reasons, 1. Cost and 2. They sound different to CKs which are so common for high end bikes in Singapore or anywhere that i wanted mine to stand out.

[MrSzwarz]

DT Swiss is so good, sensibly priced, qualiyty, and durable plus simple to service.

[rrluthi]

I love my extralite hubs. I put the MTB version on my road bike b/c more engagement & 6 bolt rotor interface.