milton banana

I have a 2011 Cannondale Synapse carbon road bike. This bike came with Mavic Aksium wheels which I have been considering an upgrade. A store that will remain nameless has a great deal on the Mavic Kysrium Pro Exaliath for about half off. Another store had another deal for a Shimano WH9000 C24 Dura Ace. I decided on the Mavics and went into the store with cash in hand. Two store employees proceeded to tell me they tried these wheels and took them off citing they were way to harsh and uncomfortable. They steered me toward an in house build with DT Swiss or Chris King hubs with my choice of rims. My cycling friends insist I should go with the Mavics. Who is right?

dabac

I'm not overly fond of Mavic wheels.
Proprietary spokes, not impressively light. A slight rumor of cracking at the nipple seat.

But with that said, it takes an extreme difference in build before structural changes becomes noticeable over changes in tire pressure and tires.

smarkinson

Kinlin XR31 rims, cx-ray spokes, the hub of your choice. Just as good as Zipp 303 apparently.

November Bicycles: Race smart. - November Bicycles Blog - Wind Tunnel Testing the Al33, XR31T(FSW3), and other alloys

noodle soup

No way would I ever recommend Mavic wheelsets to person that I like.

lsberrios1 

Why?

zymphad

Really bad freehubs? Seen video showing even new Mavic wheels have loose freehubs, cassettes are loose. Also lots of threads complaining their freehubs freeze, or fail, overall poor quality. I'm just guessing.

lsberrios1 

Interesting. I have two pairs of mavics, one ksyrium Pro SL carbon and one pair of aksiums. So far so good. The Ksyriums do flex a little under power (600-700w) but that is to be expected when a 165lb rider rides a sub 1200g wheelset, the askiums are solid.

I have flex issues with all my wheels except the giant slr 1 climber set. The Enve Ses were noticeably flexy. On the Enve the cassette ate through the freehub body so now I have to throw away the body and cassette...

zymphad

That sucks. I don't have that issue with my cheap Vision/Shimano wheels.

noodle soup

1 freehub bodies have a higher than normal tendency to grenade under power
2 Most of their wheels use proprietary spokes
3 customer support blows

BTW, you should mention why your Enve wheel flexes so much(Powertap hub).

garysol1 

I have owned Ksyriums and put many tens of thousands of miles on them with no problems at all but with that said I see more Mavic wheels come into our shop with the already mentioned freehub issues, cracked rims at the nipple hole and no support for older wheels. God forbid you break a spoke when you are out on the road and assume you can walk into your friendly bike shop and get a replacement.

Jiggle

Mavics were great....15 years ago. Now they are really overpriced for what you get. The exception is CCU.

rpenmanparker 

I wouldn't buy Mavic wheels for the aforementioned reasons. The store build has good parts, but you need to know whether the builder is competent or not. In general I don't trust store mechanics to build wheels.

OP, keep in mind, you can't upgrade wheels if you don't know what you want that is different than what you have. An upgraded wheel is one that provides you some improvement that you are seeking. It is imperative prior to buying new wheels to know what you are trying to acquire: lighter, more aero, both, more durable, better looking, etc. If there is nothing specific that you want and your wheels aren't worn out or trashed, then you are in the lucky category of not "needing" new wheels.

Marcus_Ti

Listen to your LBS. You get much more for your money with handbuilts than with any boutique wheel. A set of Archetype rims laced to Bitex hubs with DT spokes would come in at $500USD or so and be as life-proof as wheels get while being fairly light and easily fixed anywhere.


You pop a spoke or have a pawl die....you happy paying 3X as much and having to waits 2-3 weeks for parts? That is the joy of boutique wheels.

Banzai

The notion of uncomfortable wheels makes me laugh. If wheels are properly tensioned and structurally sound, the difference in vertical deflection between any given wheelsets is the thickness of a single piece of paper.

Anything else is a function of tire selection, or impressions created by nothing more than auditory/acoustic feedback.

Silvercivic27

Exalith sucks.
C24s all day long, even though Shimano pissed me off with the latest wheel debacle.

zymphad

It has become evident that tires, not wheels that will determine your ride.

I would find out what the widest width tires your bike can take and go from there. Wider tires have now been proven in both lab and real world to have lower rolling resistance, puncture resistance, more compliant ride (lower PSI) and in many instances, more aero.
- The aero benefits seem to be dependent on your wheels though. Really wide tires from Zipp and ENVE are most aero with 28mm tires.
- I haven't done the tests, but, I would think on my 23.5mm wide wheels, 25mm tires are better than 28mm tires. I believe Zipp and ENVE are now making 25mm and wider wheels for 28mm tires.

AlmostTrick

This. It's called upgrade-itis.

Save your money OP, or maybe just buy some new riding apparel and still save money.

FeltF2Tarmac

Thought about a wheel builder like Boyd or November. I just bought a set of November FSW3's and these are a really nice set of wheels. Kinlin rims with Novatec hubs and Sapim CX ray and Sprint spokes come in at $575. Not sure what your budget is but seems like an over abundance of choices no matter what the price point. As far as comfort goes I find tire pressure and tire choice play more into that than wheels would.

vinuneuro

What do you make of the build quality of wheelsets from WheelBuilder? They have top notch components available to spec with.

rpenmanparker 

Wheelbuilder and Pro Wheelbuilder are both respectable.

noodle soup

+1

I prefer PWB, but only because I have dealt with the owner many times when he owned a LBS.

bruce19

I have been using Mavic Aksiums on my Masi road bike and Ksyrium Elites on my Guru road bike. Over a period of about 5 yrs. they have been true and bullet-proof. Can't speak to other wheels. But, I am happy with my Mavics.

noodle soup

there are always many folks that have this experience, but I've seen a far greater failure rate with Mavic wheelsets, than with any other major wheelset manufacturer.

zymphad

Eh, I would still just go with, regardless if it's custom or not, the widest wheels you can get that fit your bike and fit the widest tires you can. That's going to result in the best ride. Whether the rim is ENVE, H Son, or hubs are DT Swiss or Bitex isn't going to matter much.

noodle soup

and you know this from personal experience, or just from what you've heard?