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NAHBS 2012 – Chris King & Cielo

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Chris King has updated their Cielo cyclocross and 29er mountain bikes with curvier stays and a few other changes.

The ‘cross bike is a platform for their new I8 Chris King headset, which is their first headset that allows an 1-1/8″ to 1-1/4″ tapered steerer. In the future they could easily add an 1-1/4″ upper to go with their 1.5″ lower a la Giant’s OverDrive. No set release date other than to say it’ll be a bit as there’s not much demand for it. It fits into 44mm headtube standard, something you’ll find on both bikes right after the break…

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The Cielo cyclocross bike gets S-bend seat and chain stays for better mud clearance and a bit more compliance.

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Geometry tightens up, making it racier, something somewhat inspired by the old racing Porches Porsches. Those cars also inspired this pair paint scheme, one of three options.

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Comes with paint to matched ENVE forks, and it’s one of the few steel bikes approved for UCI races. They’re making the dropouts in house. Frame and fork is $2,495 with headset.

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Mountain Bike also evolves to get S-bend stays and a new paint scheme. Frame and headset is $1,895. White painted headset is a one off thing for the show, don’t even ask.

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They just opened a new paint room and all frames are now painted in house. They hired Ben Falcon from Seven Cycles to manage it.

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One thing that goes unnoticed is that King offers two different front hub shells with the option of running QR9/15mm on the smaller one and 15/20mm on the larger simply by swapping caps. The rear hubs are convertible to 142, making an investment in their hubs less risky given the constantly evolving standards landscape.

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John Willis
John Willis
12 years ago

“Geometry tightens up, making it racier, something somewhat inspired by the old racing Porches. Those cars also inspired this pair scheme, one of three options.”

What the f*** does this mean?

Sevo
Sevo
12 years ago

John-Back in the 1920’s when Sears was offering pre-fab home kits, many in Iowa often choose to with the lesser known “racing porch” option. These porches had swings on them that had a much tighter, racier movement to them vs the long throw option that was stock and that many in Minnesota preferred.

As the story goes, Chris King was on RAGBRAI one year and while waiting for a shower in Decorah, IA and drinking a beer with a local, he quickly noticed the swing had a much more nimble feel to it than the one at his grandmother’s in Winona, MN.

The arrow was inspired by the arrow which was painted on the arms on these swings to indicate to the largely Norwegian population of Iowa which way to hang the swing. Truly an uplifting story I feel can inspire us all to ride RAGBRAI.

evolvo13
evolvo13
12 years ago
craigsj
craigsj
12 years ago

Sometimes the most important details are in the comments. 🙂

Whooeeee thats purdy
Whooeeee thats purdy
12 years ago

The paint is amazing, great looking bike.

80
80
12 years ago

please just make the corrections. we don’t need to see the typos with strikethrough font.

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