Are yours brand new? The OP's might have been moved from one wheel to another. After they get some miles, even difficult tires become fairly easy to mount.


Wow, you and/or your road conditions are pretty hard on wheels! (You probably put in a lot of miles, too.) My prior reply about the cxp33 was primarily in response to you using (and breaking) most of Mavic's alloy wheel/rims, so why not finish up the range with the cxp33?

Probably true, mine are brand new, and my first set of Contis.

What exactly does this mean? How do you see or feel wheel flex?

More of a feeling while rocking your bike side to side accelerating quickly from a stop. The wheels, mostly the rear, feel a little spongy. The flexing is to the side. This is going to happen on wheels with fewer spokes and can't be good for longevity.

Have a set on my LeMond. I weight 230. They've held up beautifully, which cannot be said of the stock wheels.

I ordered a set of the Ksyrium Equipes from Performance on Monday. They had dropped the price to $219, and a $20 "cyber Monday" discount. So $199 for the set. They arrived at the local store today. They are the 2008 model, silver, 1770g spec weight.

The online price is back up to $249 again.

I take my Equippes (And Elites) as work wheels (Couriering). They can handle ALOT of abuse, and they just seem to keep rolling....

It's amazing what a rim can do.
I have 32 spoke Open pros on DA hubs for everyday wheels on my Madone and they are fine.
I am 245 down from 275. I've never had troubles with 32 spoke rims except once.

I mostly ride MTB's and a while back got a powertap hub with a Stans 32 spoke Olympia rim. If I accelerated hard
on this wheel it felt like I was fishtailing on mud, it was so bad I thought I had a flat a few times, and it started going a little out of true.
I just couldn't true it perfectly no matter how I tried. I eventually bought a DT Swiss X430 and switched rims.

When I took the Stans rim off it had a 3" warp in it and I could twist it like a pretzel in my hands.
I could barely budge the DT swiss rim, and needless to say, there is no fishtailing feeling on hard acceleration.

Blackset Race 11 Wheel Set 1495g
$330 this is the wheel-set I am saving for.Really nice price for 1500g set.Most 1500g sets cost twice more.
Mavic at 1775g? over $200? might as well add another 100 and get significantly lighter wheels

As stated by "LarryMelman", the Equipes on sale at Performance & Nashbar are previous generation sets.

I am no weight weenie (the only time my bike weight really matters is when I am carrying it up and down the stairs to the basement), but:

My new bike came with the >= 2011 Equipes, which are spec'ed at 1690g for the pair. The front is claimed at 770g - I took the tire, tube, and skewer off, but couldn't be bothered to remove the rim strip or spoke magnet before I put it on my scale. It showed just over 771g, so it would appear that my F weighs less than spec.

I did notice some flex in the rear - rubbing on the brake pads while hill climbing after I unintentionally went CX on my road bike and got the braking surfaces muddy (which made the rub audible). I do not think I am discerning enough to have noticed the flex otherwise.

Just fine.... They are decent everyday wheels.

BUT! Are they better?

Don't know personally.It was recommended forum guys here.

from a reviewer.
Summary:
I've now done 1.25 seasons on these fine wheels. They arrived perfectly true and stress-relived and they have remained that way. They have endured pot holes, dirt roads, railroad tracks and many hard hill sprints. Mine are an earlier set as the progress has gone from Blackset Race to BSR-10 and now to BSR-11. I understand the newer ones have a slightly heavier rim than mine to increase brake track longevity.
These are the best deal going for mailorder wheelsets of Asian sourced parts. They are perfect for those who prefer value over blingy decals and slick magazine ads.
BWW builds their wheels in California; they are not assembled in the Orient. They use the finest European spokes - DT, or in the case of my wheels, the top-rated Sapim CX-Ray aero spokes.
You can find many wheelsets that are similar but they will always be heavier and more expensive. Plus they will be heavier with LESS spokes too. BWW will never sacrifice wheelset strength for the sake of trendy low spoke numbers. You will spend up around $1000 (and above) before you find wheels of comparable weight and strength.

Strengths:
Exceptional value. Compare them with others' weights and prices and you will see.
https://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/wh...6_2490crx.aspx

Curious as to how many people have actually weighed their own Ksyriums and Aksiums. I bought a set of the Bonktown Aksiums and they are 1900gm, not 1735 as listed. I also noticed over at weightweenies that Mavic seems to be a chronic understater in actual vs listed weight.

I'm not that concerned about weight personally but many people here seem to be buying them to replace 'heavy' OEM wheels.

My Ksyrium Elites generally come in at 20g over the 1550g spec.

However, 165g is a HUGE difference IMO! Damn!
Are you comparing a previous year model to current specs maybe?

I dunno. Bonktown is run by Backcountry/Departmentofgoods and here is their listing:

https://www.departmentofgoods.com/mav...elset-clincher

If you check the Mavics at https://weightweenies.starbike.com/li...ype=roadwheels you will see this might not be the first time they made a 'mistake' approaching 100gm. For my purpose (which is my wife's bike) and the price ($135) I don't care. But I know people buy Aksiums and Ksyrium Elites thinking for a few bucks they can drop weight by replacing their OEM shimano wheels and I'm just not sure that's always true.

Those on BT look like 2009 Aksiums which were rated at 1855g.
Either way, $135. is a steal for better than CXP22 Mavics.

I'm happy enough with them. I bought them because the shimano wheels with the hub nipples on my wife's bike are a pain to true but they seem to need it more than any other wheel that I have experience with. I was actually planning on building her a set when somebody posted the bonktown deal here and like a monkey on crack I ordered a set. I still might send them back though because for some reason I am just not a Mavic guy.

I was surprised to learn that the Mavic freehubs should be taken apart and cleaned every 1500 miles. Is this kind of maintenance a Mavic-only thing?

@ monkey on crack

You'll probably get more $ by selling them on Craigslist than returning them.