Every Chris King wheelset is hand built in Wide Open's specialist workshop by a craftsman wheelbuilder. Our expertise and precise control over the build process ensure that every wheel we produce delivers the ultimate in performance and reliability.
The GRD23 is not like other wheels in many respects. It’s an all-road wheel that offers you a bit more compliance than other carbon all-road wheels. Having said that, it’s not soft. It’s not noodly. It’s just a bit friendlier to your bones when you ride it on all the stuff you ride.
The GRD23 rim is made of FusionFiber™, a cutting edge thermoplastic that incorporates long-chain polymers. Without diving into the science, FusionFiber™ has a wider range of compliance profiles, and that means we could tune this wheel to hit a sweet spot in road feel that we didn’t see being served by more performance-oriented carbon wheelsets that focus on using resin to create unforgiving stiffness.
Unlike other carbon rims, the GRD23 rim is recyclable. If you manage to break it somehow, we’ll take it back and make it into something new.
Another reason you want this wheelset is that it’s built around our R45D Centerlock hubs, the culmination of over 45 years of bearing experience and more than 20 years of hub building experience. It features a redesigned RingDrive™ system with 45 teeth for lower drag and near instant simultaneous engagement, a lightweight hub body, and our legendary made-in-house bearings.
Finally, our bearings, both steel and ceramic, have heat-treated, surgical grade steel races that are machined simultaneously to ensure perfect matching. The quality and speed of our bearings is what you will feel on every ride. As Chris King bearing tracks burnish they actually get faster. A little bit of regular love (i.e. servicing) will keep this hub rolling for years upon years of demanding use.
And of course, this wheelset comes with the legendary angry-bee sound.
- Built in-house in our purpose built wheel building workshop
- Chris R45D Centerlock 24-hole front hub
- Chris R45D Centerlock 24-hole rear hub
- Tape and Valve Kit included with this wheelset
- King Lifetime Warranty
SPECIFICATIONS
DIAMETER: 700c
RIM DEPTH: 24mm
INNER RIM WIDTH: 23mm
HOLE COUNT: 24h/24h
HUB: Chris King R45D Centerlock
SPOKES: Sapim CX-Ray
NIPPLES: Black Alloy
DRIVETRAIN: HG11, XDR
RECOMMENDED TIRE WIDTH: 32-45c
WEIGHT: 1468g
THE GOOD, THE BETTER AND THE EVEN BETTER THAN THAT
THE GOOD - MANUFACTURED IN THE U S OF A
It’s good to make stuff you want to ride, and wheelsets are the most exciting thing we’ve worked on in a long time. It’s good that we found a US-based, rim partner who understands our vision for products that perform well and last forever with minimal impact on the planet. It’s also good they cost less than most of the other high-end wheels on the market.
THE BETTER - LIFETIME WARRANTY
It's better we tested multiple layup options to get the exact ride-feel we wanted. It’s better that we were able to find a sweet spot in the high-end wheel game that adds some comfort back into the mix, without sacrificing handling or durability. And it's really better that; based on all the good stuff above, we can warranty them for life so you can focus on riding.
EVEN BETTER THAN THAT - FULLY RECYCLABLE
These wheels will last forever, and in the event they do break, we have a recycling path for them that will keep them out of the landfill. You should take for granted that a Chris King wheel is going to ride great and look great, but that it also dramatically reduces the environmental impact that most carbon fiber wheels have is even better than that. It’s maybe even the best.
AND some extra bullets that our friends at CSS want to make sure you knew about the manufacturing of our rims:
- ZERO waste or scrap
- ZERO carbon dust
- ZERO emissions
- Uses 1/3 electricity per part compared to traditional composite parts
- 50% increase in damping properties
- 100% Recyclable
