Mavic Kysrium Equipes - any good?

gabriel959

I was going to get some Mavic Aksiums but these are not that much more expensive - what do you guys reckon about them? I am 6 foot 6 and 15stone so I need a pretty durable wheel that is not going to fall into pieces. Anyone heavy got them? Any opinions.
cheers

paulieb2006

Got them 3 weeks ago. I like them. Am 15 1/2 stone and havent any problems with them yet. No doubt someone will say they are crap but I say go for it

redddraggon

I've no experience of them so feel free to take the next comment with a pinch of salt:

They are a solid reliable wheelset, but nothing special in the weight and aero departments.

DaSy

I had some a while back, the plus sides were that they are the usual Mavic bomproof wheels that stay true even after abuse. They look nice

On the minus side, as they are steel rather than Zircal spokes they flex a fair bit laterally, so I tended to get a bit of brake rub on out of saddle climbs and sprints.

The bearing pre-load is via lock nuts and loctite, rather than the nice pre-load spanner type of affair on the higher end Ksyriums. Once adjusted after the initial bearing bedding in from new though, they tend to be okay for a fair while, but adjusting is more of a faff.

All in all they are a good wheel, tough and reliable.

gabriel959

Thanks for the reply guys!

Do you think they are worth the extra dosh over the Mavic Aksiums though?

Wheels are mainly going to be used for commuting, some TTs and the odd club run!

Cheers,
Gabriel

DaSy

Looking at CRC the Askiums are £170 a pair and the Equipes are £265.

Not sure I'd pay the extra £100 for the Equipes to be honest, they look nice and may be a little quicker on the TT due to the more aero spokes, but it would be minimal. I think I'd go with the Askiums myself.

gabriel959

DaSy wrote:

Looking at CRC the Askiums are £170 a pair and the Equipes are £265.

Not sure I'd pay the extra £100 for the Equipes to be honest, they look nice and may be a little quicker on the TT due to the more aero spokes, but it would be minimal. I think I'd go with the Askiums myself.

What if the difference was only 55 squids?

DaSy

At £55 difference I think I would go for the Equipes!

As a friend of mine always says "if your gonna be a bear, be a Grizzly"

kettrinboy

ive had a pair of equipes since Nov 06 and done nearly 7000 miles on them ,they still run true and have been down some big pot holes, up and down kerbs etc so i,d say they are pretty robust, just had one little niggle with the freewheel which started to not freewheel as well as it should , had to strip it down , easy to do, and found one of the springs under the pawl had become displaced , put that right and its been fine since , i think that was caused by clattering down a pothole , so all in all a good all round wheel , i should say that i weigh 10st 10 so probably give them a relatively easy time but they should cope with bigger riders just as well

Anonymous

I've had both Equipes and Aksiums. The Equipes are just about worth the 55 quid IMO...

Wappygixer

I'm not a fan of the hub designs on either the Aksiums or Ksyriums, seen a fair few fail with the castings.
I'd always shy away from straight pull spokes to.Replacements are often not stocked by many bike shops and are often expensive to.