Yikes just saw your pics, has put me off for sure. I dont do a lot of riding in the rain, but still, you cant have had these that long and already seeing wear, worrying. If signs of wear like yours will mean replacement under warranty that improves things, but still, worrying. Thanks for all the info you've shared.

This sounds ridiculous imo. I was contemplating buying a pair of Cosmic Carbones or R-Sys but not sure now. I don't understand this exalith coating and the fact that it comes off with wear, or heavens above you want to ride in the rain. You would have thought Mavic's quality control would have been more thorough before releasing this coating process onto the market, or is this a one-off Mavic? This 'wonder' coating shouldn't come off surely, or wear off come to that. Disappointing to hear.

Problem is that it is a surface treatment. Although it permeates the rim it does so only to a depth of 10 microns. i.e. if you get a bit of grit or metallic shard in the rim block it is going to damage the rim. Mavic does not recommend the use in cyclo-cross for this very reason.

But it begs the question, how useful is Exalith. It's superior stopping power will be most useful in the rain, but if one does that one risks damaging the surface coating!

Exactly my thoughts! Mavic are very innovative what with carbon spokes (yes I know there were failures of course) and this Exalith coating, but if some things don't work then really what's the point?

had mine about 8 months now, thousands of km, including plenty of wet rides in the last 5-6 weeks, with a lot of hard braking, and there's no sign of any more wear since the pics i posted in this thread back in september

but i'd be really annoyed if i had wear like that ldp has experienced, maybe a manufacturing/qc problem?

I'm going to chime in here because somehow I feel the need to put things into perspective. I have no affiliations to Mavic in anyway. Personally I feel the exalith coating was 'invented' to provide an all black clincher wheelset that aesthetically resembled a carbon tubular wheel whether Mavic or any of us cares to admit it. Complaining that a COATING wears/ comes off is really missing the point. The wheelset looks the part and offers up advantages that are not available in full carbon clinchers. For that itself, the exalith coating should be applauded.

Apart from the marketing literature about how it's better braking in the wet, harder etc etc..... frankly people will buy it because it looks good. If you are saying that you are buying it because you want to have a perfect braking surface for the lifespan of the wheels, then no wheelset will be good enough for you. Braking surfaces are meant to scratch.... that's how you stop.....

"Mavic describe Exalith is an "exclusive treatment for aluminium alloy that reinforces the rim while allowing us to make it thinner."

"The Exalith treatment is most accurately described as a "surface conversion" treatment rather than a coating. The process converts the surface of the existing aluminium into a thin ceramic layer that is very hard, very wear resistant, thermally stable and very resistant to corrosion. The Exalith coating is tightly bound to the underlying aluminium and will not peel or flake off."


(from: http://www.azini.com/news/2010/mavic-exalith-review)

Although I fully admit that part of my reason for purchasing the wheelset was for its looks, It is really not just a coating, I am worried (and rightly so, I think, after only 1500-2000ish clicks) about the integrity of the wheel, after the coating comes off- will it take that much faster to pooch the raw brake track?

Either way, I think any one can agree that the limited amount of time that I have been riding this $2800 wheelset is far too short for anything, coating, surface conversion or what ever you want to call it, to be even considering the possibility of wear. Had this been in a couple of years of hard riding, I doubt I would be very upset at all...

of course it's not..



yer..people bought cermaic rims 'cos they looked cool... disks also look cooler than rim brakes I suppose.



WTF? are you on glue? Scratches from brake blocks runnning paralle to the brake track are next to useless for stopping power. either orthogonal grooves or better still isotropic roughness like cermaic, exalith etc.

other than that I agree with everything you said...

_________________
Dance you cares away, worries for another day, dance your cares away, down at fragglerock.

This is not my fight, but just want to clarify my statements. If a perfect braking surface is what you are after, then DO NOT buy any rim that has a 'coating'. Because you guessed it.... coatings come off. People will buy a mavic wheelset because it looks good having an all black braking surface. If not, then stick with silver coloured braking surfaces... those don't come off. There are just limitations to a coating, it's the same argument as buying a bicycle frame with paint and complaining that the paint comes off..... The paint can be argued to protect the carbon layer below, but realistically it's there to make the frame look good.

Yes, braking is achieved through friction... guess what?! Friction causes scratching. All braking surfaces scratch, regular aluminium rims scratch, carbon rims scratch, disc brakes scratch, why would you assume that a black coating will not, well maybe if it was black diamonds...

People seem to forget that the braking on an exceptionally well machined surface is very good without the coating ever being applied...

_________________
charles@pezcyclingnews.com

... not in the rain though.

Only 1 2-hour ride in the rain so far. No wear on the braking surface (still black). Overall only about 300 miles on the wheels, though. The Exalith pads that came with my wheels were black.

I think the best quality is the modulation. After a while, you just forget about braking and scrub speed how you want it when setting up for corners. Hard sensation to describe. I liken it to Di2 front shifting. You just fire the button and forget. Lets me enjoy riding more.

Pads?

I just mounted my Ksyrium SLR WTS but still need to change from my Swissstop Yellow carbon pads to a different compound.

Has anyone tried a Campagnolo-compatible pad other than the Swissstop GHP2 green pads? I am wondering what issues I might have using the Swissstop Original Black pads?

Call me vain but I think the green pads will look terrible on my bike.

IMO the green pads are so dark in colour I would challenge anyone to pick that they are not black more than a few feet away - you can always colour in the sides of the pads if you really needed to. The green pads work really well with my Ksyrium SLR's.

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Dear Noah,
We are certain you said the boat left at 5pm,
yours sincerely
The Unicorns

^^^this

also, i think using other pads invalidates the warranty, plus braking performance/pad wear might not be as good