Mavic Ksyrium comments

[mateus]

Dear all,
i am an Italian Boys.
In italy the "must" for Wheels is Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL bat i have a curiosity !
What type of wheels set is typical used from europe or/and american people ?.
And Which are the differences compared the Mavic Ksyrium ?.

For me Italian businnes is very "particular" because exclude before much possibilty, for example is not easy to find stores for buy wheels mounting kit (spokes, hubs and so).

BR

[drjones96]

Well, everyone seems to have different taste in wheels in America it seems. Mavic Ksyriums are a very solid choice for wheels in my opinion. As far as weight goes they are a bit heavy but very strongly built. They have a shallow box section rim so they can't be that aerodynamic. But they have a realatively low spoke count so that probably makes up for the not-so-aerodynamic rim.
There are a lot of advocate on this forum for all types of wheels. Everyone will be sure to give you their opinion about what the best wheel is. It all comes down to your personal riding style and preferences. If you spend a lot of time climbing big hills you may want a superlight wheel...no aerodynamics required. If you spend a lot of time on the flats you may not care as much about weight as aerodynamics.

I recently purchased a set of Rolf Prima Vigor's. 1455g (about 100g less than Ksyriums), 14F/16R Bladed Spokes with paired spoke technology, 34mm aero profile rim. I did not come to this decision easily. I considered my riding habbits and the type of terrain I ride on which is extremely diverse (Rolling hills with sparadic flats and large hills in the mix). I also had to consider durability and, sadly, cost.

I considered the following wheels:

American Classic Sprint 350's (Custom build with Sapim CX-Ray Spokes)
American Classic CR-420's (Custom build with Sapim CX-Ray Spokes)
Rolf Prima Elan & Elan Aero
Rolf Prima Vigor

The Sprint 350 and Elan wheels are both extremely light weight wheels but neither had the Aero properties that I desired. The Rolf Vigor and CR-420 have the same rim. I found a set of Rolf Vigor's on Ebay brand new in the box....$575 on a set of wheels that retail for around $900. It wasn't a difficult decision at that price.

That's my take on my wheel preferences.

[Stolichnaya]

If you are a heavier or larger rider (or even not) the choices from Velomax are solid. I have seen several pairs of teammates' American Classic wheels fold like tacos during the past season. I currently ride a pair of Velomax Orion II tubulars and they are strong and light @1,350 gms for the wheelset. This is the lightest I will go on wheels as I weigh around 90 kg. After two seasons the wheels are still true. The Velomaxs also have visibly less resistance in the hubs than the Mavics.

[drjones96]

My wife's bike has Velomax Orion II Clinchers. Seem's like a tough set of wheels. Not the lightest but I dig 'em.

I weigh about 150 lbs (67kg) so i'm not as concerned about folding wheels. I may have decided on something other than Vigors if I were heavier. I probably would have gone the Ksyrium route or looked into Velomax wheels because of the reputation for toughness and durability.

[Weisse Luft]

Mavic Ksyriums are not an aero choice even though the spokes are bladed and of low count. The spokes are quite thick even considering their bladed nature, offering more air drag than a straight 15 gauge.

Considering the rim, the shaving done between the spokes adds a little drag but the real concern is the nipple inserts. Huge drag penalty here.

Now on the spokes. Its doubtful aluminum spokes will have any lasting durability. Sure, the wheel will last for a few years but I doubt the spokes will even come close to good DT 14/15's.

The only place where these wheels excel is in the style department.

[drjones96]

Well....he is Italian....style probably matters a great deal to him

[Pedä]

hi, in italy you have to use srong wheels... everywhere are holes in the street...

i´m from germany, but my cycling club goes to italy (toscana/ follonica) every year... the streets are a very bad. so i use my ksyrium wheels in italy. in germany i use tune olympic gold.

you can see the tune at www.tune.de

if you dont want to save each gramms use alu rims... in italy it is better, sorry

[Extralight]

High end wheels are mostly about personal preference with almost every wheel I've heard of being both good and bad depending on who you talk to. I live in Minnesota, USA and we have pretty bad roads because of our winter weather freezing and thawing the roads. I've damaged all kind of wheels but it isn't because of constant bad roads but because of a bad hole in the road that I accidently went through. I personal have had two set of Kysriums (the early version and the newer cutout version). I love this wheels for one reason....very stiff. The aluminium bladed spokes produce a very stiff yet light wheel. I had Helieums before and hated them because they were too flexy, my preference is a stiff wheel no matter who the manufactuer is. Thus, I hate super thin DP spokes like Revolutions. I just think that small diameter, low spoke count wheels create flex and higher probability for failure but I've also have friends (200lbs) that have ridden Rolf type wheels for 10,000 miles without failure. I also have a pair of Zipp 404 wheels that I absolutely love....the stiff carbon rim and shorter spokes due to the 58mm rim height also make this wheel stiff.

Enjoy shopping for your new wheels.....whatever you choose I'm sure you'll be happy!

[spytech]

We have bad roads here in NYC also, i would take a 32 spoke laced with DTswiss Revolution spokes any day before i take anther ksyrium SL again. the 32 spoke wheel felt alot stiffer and produced a stronger rim. very hard to get a ksyrium spoke, i finally found a bike shop (1 hour away from me) that carries them. they charged me $9 for one spoke. the only reason i am buying the spoke is to relace the wheel and get rid of them.

i am now looking into Spada stiletto wheel 28 spokes front and rear; with rear stella hub (i would go 32 spokes rear but they only have 28h max). the rear stella hub has 48 point engagements and 5/8" Steel pawls. anyone with exp. with these hubs i welcome your opinion, they are my next option.

i was looking into DTswiss 240, but engagement is slow only 18 points and 2 pawls, some people in other forums have made claims of slip in engagement. i get slip sometimes on my ksyriums sl hub, i do not like it, cause thats how i messed up a spoke. it was my fault for looking down but i am not happy with mavic.

[divve]

There shouldn't be slip in either DT or Mavic hubs. It's important to use the correct type of lubricant. For DT I can only recommend their repackaged moly grease and for the Mavic hubs 80W90 gear oil or their own stuff. Apply lightly in all instances.

[spytech]

There shouldn't be slip in either DT or Mavic hubs. It's important to use the correct type of lubricant. For DT I can only recommend their repackaged moly grease and for the Mavic hubs 80W90 gear oil or their own stuff. Apply lightly in all instances.

well on other forums, some people have talked about an occasional slip on the DT 240's and i have first hand exp. with mavic ksyriums sl slipping. i don think theirs a need to grease them up when they are 1 - 3 month old.

plus for the same price i paid for the kysriums, i feel i can get a better wheel thats lighter. dont you agree?

[divve]

well on other forums, some people have talked about an occasional slip on the DT 240's and i have first hand exp. with mavic ksyriums sl slipping. i don think theirs a need to grease them up when they are 1 - 3 month old.

I only can speak from my own experience. I have three wheel sets with FTS-L hubs and a hand-built DT 240 set. Although not highly impressed by their quality, I do all my own maintenance and haven't experienced any slippage problems.

Just because wheels are new doesn't necessarily mean they're prepped properly from the factory. I have seen hubs that came practically dry from the shop. If you ride a decent mileage, it would be very likely those hubs would have ran into problems with-in the time period that you've stated.

plus for the same price i paid for the kysriums, i feel i can get a better wheel thats lighter. dont you agree?

I agree to the extent that I prefer to pick and choose my own parts to build wheels up.

[DANIELSON]

I am a spanner man for a cycle shop in south London and work on these types of wheels all day long. Mavic's are great, easy to strip hubs, you can swap freehub bodies over from campag to shimano easily. They do though have one thorn in their side. The nipples are at the end of the spoke and you cannot replace the nipple without replcing the spoke, and they have to come out the same way as the went in (no eyelet) So if you break a spoke and the nipple is seized you are up a certain creek without a paddle. Recently we have had quite a few problems with the nipples getting seized because they are now built at the factory with no lube or grease on the thread. Just my views, great wheel but try no to use them on wet salty roads.

[jersievers]

I think it should be imortant to include style in here.


There are only 2 criteria...

1) You should be riding what ever no one else is riding in your area.

2) They should cost more then everyone else's.

Simple.

Other criteria to consider is, a blatent disregard for color, say they were "comped" by company or sponsor, never use the same wheel more then once, train on carbon tubulars, and pretend not to care.

[mateus]

I am a spanner man for a cycle shop in south London.....

Tank you very much for your intersting answer.....