Li King (they/them) won the 2023 Single Speed Cyclocross World Championship Non-Binary race on a bike they built especially for the event.
King hasn’t retired with the SSCXWC ink, however, and has continued to race, crushing the muddy Rockville Cyclocross series on a tracklocross bike, winning the non-binary category at The Mid South gravel race with gears, and promoting local tracklocross racing in the lead-up to the 2024 Tracklocross Worlds (tracklocross season never ends, apparently).
King rides many different bikes, but we profile the newly-tattooed champion’s special bike that they rode to the title at the top of Empire Grade in Santa Cruz.
Li King’s 2023 SSCXWC-winning King Fabrications Singlespeed. © L. Slone / Cyclocross Magazine
Steel is Real
King hand builds custom TIG welded steel bikes at their small garage workshop King Fabrications, which they started at the beginning of 2023 in Berkeley, California. King honed their welding skills by working with Low Bikes in San Francisco for several years before deciding it was time to do their own thing. In the meantime, King is a top 10 player in the Northern California Tracklocross scene and decided that their tracklocross rig was not the perfect machine to compete in the 2023 SSCXWC. So they went to work on a new frame.
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King builds only steel frames right now, though they are also a certified aluminum welder. They mostly use Dedaccai and Columbus tubing, but sometimes other chrome-molybdenum tubes if they are looking for a specific diameter, shape or butt profile. King’s championship bike is mostly Dedaccai, with a pear-shaped butted down tube.
One Gear, but not Tracklocross Geometry
King told me that the geometry of their bike is fairly standard ‘cross geometry with a 57.5cm top tube. Compared to their tracklocross bike, the 72-degree headtube angle is steeper and the bottom bracket is lower with a 65cm drop on their championship bike. For tracklocross, King prefers to sit a bit more upright and has a slacker front end for more confidence in the unknown during cycling adventures. Also, for tracklocross, the bottom bracket is 10cm higher since you have to pedal through off-cambers, up and over lips, and over sometimes grossly uneven terrain. This is less of a problem when on a freewheeling bike.
Li King’s 2023 SSCXWC-winning King Fabrications Singlespeed. © L. Slone / Cyclocross Magazine
Frame Fixtures
King used track-ends for the 135mm spaced bolt-on axle rear wheel. This configuration is a tracklocross standard, and King chose this build so they could swap for a tracklocross wheel if desired.
I asked King about the curious choice of post-mount brakes. They said it was a matter of parts on hand, and also that they liked the post-mounted SRAM calipers. The rear post mount is on the left seatstay with a reinforcing truss between the caliper mount and the chainstay.
The seatstays mount a bit below the seat collar purely for aesthetics, according to King. The seatstays are almost parallel to the downtube reminiscent of the GT triple triangle. There is a double seatstay bridge, a detail that King likes to put on the ‘cross bikes. The straight-blade fork has a flat cast crown and plug-in fork ends for the bolt-on axle. There is plenty of tire clearance for mud and wide rubber.
Li King’s 2023 SSCXWC-winning King Fabrications Singlespeed. © L. Slone / Cyclocross Magazine
The rear brake hose runs internally through the down tube but exits at the bottom to run outside the bottom bracket and along the top of the chainstay. The front hose runs externally along the front of the fork leg. The twin bottle cage mounts have diamond-shaped reinforcing braze-ons. During SSCXWC 2023, King bypassed the hand-ups because they raced with a downtube bottle!
Li King’s 2023 SSCXWC-winning King Fabrications Singlespeed. © L. Slone / Cyclocross Magazine
The King Fabrication crown logo is brazed onto the head tube. King often paints frames themselves and this was the case for their SSCXWC bike. They have a powder coat booth and oven, and this example is a beautiful deep purple with an overlying pink fade that is crinkle-finished.
Li King’s 2023 SSCXWC-winning King Fabrications Singlespeed. © L. Slone / Cyclocross Magazine
Component and Gear Choice
King has an Easton EA90 crank with a 40-tooth chainring paired to an 18-tooth freewheel giving a 2.2:1 gear ratio, or 60-inch gear. King typically picks T47 bottom bracket shells for offroad drop bar bikes.
King rolled on custom wheels from @bigblackunicornupgrades that have Paul Components hubs at the core. Completing the wheel are 32 spokes with 3-cross lacing to an aluminum Velocity Aileron rim. The Aileron rim is 28mm deep with a 20mm internal width. At 465 grams for each rim, and with 32 3X spokes per wheel, this is likely a bombproof build.
Li King on a custom King Fabrications singlespeed cyclocross bike. © Lee Slone / Cyclocross Magazine
King’s choice is Maxxis 40mm Ravager tires front and rear. No UCI width restrictions here! They said the tire pressure is usually around 25 psi and it was no different for this course. King gravel/cyclocross bikes boast 42mm tire clearance, but since every frame is custom, bigger tire clearance is negotiable.
Li King’s 2023 SSCXWC-winning King Fabrications Singlespeed. © L. Slone / Cyclocross Magazine
Paul Components hubs are available with 6-bolt rotor mounting only, so the compatible SRAM 160mm centerline rotors are the one-piece variety.
Already mentioned are the SRAM post-mounted hydraulic calipers. A sharp eye notices King put SRAM hydraulic AXS levers on this singlespeed. King likes the shape and the levers were already sitting in the workshop. Zipp Service Course SL aluminum bar with a matching Zipp Service Course stem completes the cockpit controls. The seatpost is an aluminum FSA Gossamer SB20 one-bolt model with a Selle Italia SLR saddle on top.
King runs a color-matched Chris King headset and the Crank Brothers Candy pedals also follow the color scheme.
Li King’s 2023 SSCXWC-winning King Fabrications Singlespeed. © L. Slone / Cyclocross Magazine
Li King rides and races bikes in all disciplines, road, track, mountain, ‘cross, gravel, and of course tracklocross. If you want a custom-made steel bike with a World Championship pedigree, give King Fabrications a call. Given this experience, they can certainly give insight into the bike you’re looking for.
Frames run $1800 for a single-color powder coat.
More info: kingfabrications.net
