Mavic bashing is all too common and I for one have been on the train for many years. Their skinny rims, poor aerodynamics and high prices are a downside. But after riding countless high end commercial and hand built alloy and carbon wheels I can't help but think those ksyrium elites I had 4 years ago were probably the best crit wheels I ever had. All the deep wheels and wide wheels and light wheels, well their marketing hype didn't translate that well to on the road performance. Maybe these wheels were better suited for something else, TT's or climbing or FOR SHOW???

What I really want in a crit wheel is something that just jumps out of the corners and won't cost an arm and a leg to replace. I plan on using them as my everyday wheels as well but that won't be nearly as abusive as my time racing will be.I have I have determined that only an alloy wheel with a light rim but is still somehow incredibly stiff can provide me with the feeling I so desire. For example my 1290gram stan's notubes (340gram rims) didn't hold up on the stiffness end. And my new dura ace 9000 c50s are really stiff but have 600+ gram rims.

So following these desires please talk me out of a set of ksyriums, better yet show me something better.

PS I'm a shop guy so mavic and other brand names are deeply discounted vs handbuilts (small discount) and direct to consumer(no discount)