I've ridden a pair of 2011 Ksyrium Elites for a year. They spin up great and roll very nice. As far as a factory wheel goes I found them to be good value in terms of performance and weight for the money. I think mine scaled at 1550g. They are a big improvement over Aksiums and peer level wheels.

Rule #33 indeed. Shaved legs are 2 km/h faster. I have the data to prove it :)

What kind of stupid question is this? That's just like asking if Trek builds bikes.

I was following a guy a few days ago who had the hairiest legs I had ever seen on a h-o-m-o-sapien. I really think he probably had measurable drag from it.:lol:

I'm not sure I would buy most middle of the road wheel sets, especially if you already have wheels to train on. I'd go custom psi met, or used higher end (like my 1420 gram carbon Reynolds set in the classified area here for the same money you are looking to spend).

I think that is marketing BS, I mean we are talking about 1 lb of rotational weight total from a mid-entry-level wheel to a penultimate-high-level wheel.

Psychosomatic BS is a big deal in a sport where 90% of the wins are decided by who wants to HTFU and %w{train suffer breakaway et-al**

There is a difference between the Equipes and the Aksiums...........The Equipes are made in France, not China!

Yes, but you were following him. Which means your back hair was probably slowing you down. :)

I'm running three sets of Mavic on all three bikes I have. A set of Ksyrium SL on my Seven, and a set of Ksyrium Elites on the Litespeed and one on the Cannondale also. Been very durable as never needed truing as their problem free. No second guessing on these wheels!

They're both made in China. I own Equipes and it says China on them, I deal bikes for work, and there are Aksiums in my shop with that sticker.

My new bike came with Aksiums. I thought that was cool since most lower end bike seem to be poorly speced. I rode them for around 500 miles and then put on my custom Psimet wheels off my other bike for fun but using the stock tires that came on the Aksiums. Pretty big difference. The Psimet wheels are faster to spin up and ride over the cracks and chipseal better. Obviously not a straight comparison as I paid about double what the Aksiums would go for but pretty obvious it doesn't take much to improve on them. Not sure how the Ksyrium would compare and probably won't get a chance to try as I think my next set will be custom too.

Something you don't see a lot of anymore is 32 spoke box section rims clincher rims. I forget the exact specs but they were a little heavy and not very aerodynamic but they were just great rims. A little flexi on a low flange hub but predictable. Fun lively rims compared to the mid V stuff I ride on now.

Go back and read the entire post and the question is reasonable

What kind of a stupid request is that? That's like asking us to think before we type.

:fight:

I've only had one set of Mavics (Ksyrium Elite SL) which were great in every respect except that the rear hub squeaked under load. The LBS mechanic told me they have bushes (different to Fulcrum or Shimano for instance) which can cause this and require regular lube). Admittedly, they had some super high mileage on them and I am a pretty big guy (6'2", 220) but I did get them serviced and still couldn't get rid of it. I really like Mavic products in general and would consider them again but this was one experience I had.

Sorry, which is BS? The lb of rotational weight? I don't think Ksyrium elites are quite penultimate but I ride them and I like them. I feel I have gotten my monies worth and if everyone or no one else buys them it doesn't change my quiver of wheels.

Ksyrium Elites are great wheels. Consider the Ultegra WH-6700 set too. They're tubeless-ready, and weigh about the same as the Mavics.