Maxipedia
Retro Guru
I'm not very sure how many people relate to the following or my cheesy way of putting things into words, but it feels as natural to share the content of this letter to you just like it felt a must to write it in the first place. I will also apologize in advance to those who worry they'll get diabetes after the first three paragraphs. 
Dear guys at King!
I don't know what took me so long, but I finally write to you.
This is Max from Romania, bike rider, bike fanatic, bike race organizer, MTB journalist, retro lover, parts hunter, classifieds scavenger and owner of 27 bikes that can't be justified by common sense.
In all these years since I ride, fix, eat, shit, sleep and dream bicycles, many things have come and gone, but only a few stood strong in my appreciation. I remember being amazed at what they said about the NoThreadSet in the magazines when I was a kid and lusted for one, but the truth was that I could barely afford an Alivio bike.
The first King headset I saw in the flesh was at some little shop in Germany; it went through various forks and a few frames and it still had original white grease, still untouched. At some point I got my hands on a black classic one that I soon traded for a turquoise, to better match the rest of my bike. The fact that I had it from some people who were legendary in our local biking community was a bonus. The year was 2003 and the headset was from 1996. As you guess, it still had original grease. This headset was a fixture on the bike I used most, but at some point I moved it to a more retro build for fashion reasons. I still miss it, but the fact that I still own it somehow comforts me, though. In the last couple years I hunted for other King parts and almost snagged a hubset that I wish since a while now, but in the end it didn't happen. It'll come someday...
Every time I go to Eurobike, I know I will find some beautifully suspended King parts in the Cosmic Sports booth that look like aligned planets and my habit is to get that 50 mm lens, to slam it to the lowest F-stop in order to get that nice bokeh around my "planet", press the shutter for a few times and walk away with a smile. It brings in a moment of peace in my hectic day and I think I never published a Eurobike article without a photo of a King headset or a hub. It's just a must...
Today I bought a classic Patriot headset from a friend in another city. It was funny, because he kept trying to explain to me why it was color-mixed and that he had TWO headsets that he blended in order to get that and how he sold the other one. In my mind I was like "please cut the crap, you would've needed THREE headsets to achieve that, it's a special", but I smiled, kept acting stupid and shut my mouth. Did I mention the damn NoThreadSet has original white grease in it? All this made my day and it made me finally write these mandatory words to you.
Thinking about recent years, I guess I never waste a chance to tell people about King and their way of doing things, how you make your own bearings and why, what's happening with that leftover aluminium, or campaigns like Wheels 4 Life or the pink anodized parts. It feels natural. Every time I get to the "Endtroducing" part in Dirt Mag and read the question "What's your favorite bike product of all time" I immediately think "King headset", then I think it's to cliche and after struggling to find anything better in my mind, I give up and settle with myself for "King headset". Damn!
I guess I need to apologize, because I'm not a very likely customer for brandnew King parts, but trust me, I'll still look them up and I'll get them in VGC! You know why? Because hunting for parts can be a ton of fun and keeps you motivated.
As a bike journalist, I guess it's not very professional to write fanboy letters just like this, but frankly I don't care. Few things nowadays can hype up your enthusiasm like that and there are even fewer faultless parts out there. I wish there were more companies like this with products like that, but the truth is most of them have "planned obsolescence" as their most relevant feature.
Thank you for being here for us and doing what you do, the way you do it, Chris King! You're dreams come true for a lot of people. But you knew that already.
I bow to you!
Mx
I bow to you Retrobikers as well! Thanks for your patience!
Mx
Dear guys at King!
I don't know what took me so long, but I finally write to you.
This is Max from Romania, bike rider, bike fanatic, bike race organizer, MTB journalist, retro lover, parts hunter, classifieds scavenger and owner of 27 bikes that can't be justified by common sense.
In all these years since I ride, fix, eat, shit, sleep and dream bicycles, many things have come and gone, but only a few stood strong in my appreciation. I remember being amazed at what they said about the NoThreadSet in the magazines when I was a kid and lusted for one, but the truth was that I could barely afford an Alivio bike.
The first King headset I saw in the flesh was at some little shop in Germany; it went through various forks and a few frames and it still had original white grease, still untouched. At some point I got my hands on a black classic one that I soon traded for a turquoise, to better match the rest of my bike. The fact that I had it from some people who were legendary in our local biking community was a bonus. The year was 2003 and the headset was from 1996. As you guess, it still had original grease. This headset was a fixture on the bike I used most, but at some point I moved it to a more retro build for fashion reasons. I still miss it, but the fact that I still own it somehow comforts me, though. In the last couple years I hunted for other King parts and almost snagged a hubset that I wish since a while now, but in the end it didn't happen. It'll come someday...
Every time I go to Eurobike, I know I will find some beautifully suspended King parts in the Cosmic Sports booth that look like aligned planets and my habit is to get that 50 mm lens, to slam it to the lowest F-stop in order to get that nice bokeh around my "planet", press the shutter for a few times and walk away with a smile. It brings in a moment of peace in my hectic day and I think I never published a Eurobike article without a photo of a King headset or a hub. It's just a must...
Today I bought a classic Patriot headset from a friend in another city. It was funny, because he kept trying to explain to me why it was color-mixed and that he had TWO headsets that he blended in order to get that and how he sold the other one. In my mind I was like "please cut the crap, you would've needed THREE headsets to achieve that, it's a special", but I smiled, kept acting stupid and shut my mouth. Did I mention the damn NoThreadSet has original white grease in it? All this made my day and it made me finally write these mandatory words to you.
Thinking about recent years, I guess I never waste a chance to tell people about King and their way of doing things, how you make your own bearings and why, what's happening with that leftover aluminium, or campaigns like Wheels 4 Life or the pink anodized parts. It feels natural. Every time I get to the "Endtroducing" part in Dirt Mag and read the question "What's your favorite bike product of all time" I immediately think "King headset", then I think it's to cliche and after struggling to find anything better in my mind, I give up and settle with myself for "King headset". Damn!
I guess I need to apologize, because I'm not a very likely customer for brandnew King parts, but trust me, I'll still look them up and I'll get them in VGC! You know why? Because hunting for parts can be a ton of fun and keeps you motivated.
As a bike journalist, I guess it's not very professional to write fanboy letters just like this, but frankly I don't care. Few things nowadays can hype up your enthusiasm like that and there are even fewer faultless parts out there. I wish there were more companies like this with products like that, but the truth is most of them have "planned obsolescence" as their most relevant feature.
Thank you for being here for us and doing what you do, the way you do it, Chris King! You're dreams come true for a lot of people. But you knew that already.
I bow to you!
Mx
I bow to you Retrobikers as well! Thanks for your patience!
Mx
