Mavic Wheelsets, which one?

paultrueman

Sorry if this has been done a million times before, but heres my question.

Looking to upgrade my stock shimano wheels on my Orbea Aqua, I fancy some mavics but unsure what to go for, I weigh in at about 14 stone and am 5.11 in height, I ride around 100 miles most weeks and also do one (100mile) sportive a month thru the summer.

I was thinking about the kysrium elites but this is at the very very top of my budget (£350LBS) so then I was thinking about maybe the Equipes or even Askiums, Apart from the looks, how much difference am I gonna feel between Askium and the equipes and then between the equipes and the Elites.....

Thanks in advance

Paul T

ugo.santalucia

paultrueman wrote:

Sorry if this has been done a million times before, but heres my question.

Looking to upgrade my stock shimano wheels on my Orbea Aqua, I fancy some mavics but unsure what to go for, I weigh in at about 14 stone and am 5.11 in height, I ride around 100 miles most weeks and also do one (100mile) sportive a month thru the summer.

I was thinking about the kysrium elites but this is at the very very top of my budget (£350LBS) so then I was thinking about maybe the Equipes or even Askiums, Apart from the looks, how much difference am I gonna feel between Askium and the equipes and then between the equipes and the Elites.....

Thanks in advance

Paul T

Don't take offence, but given you quote your weight... I think you are better off shaving some weight off yourself rather than your wheels. Aksium are robust wheels which will last and give you plenty of speed. At 14 stones, it seems silly to invest a fortune to save 200 grams or so.

DaSy

I have a lot of time for the Askiums, I'm a bit of a wheel tart, and have a few sets of pretty expensive wheels, and only got the Askiums as a free gift when my R-Sys's went back on recall.

The R-Sys have long since been sold, but the Askiums have put in loads of service on my rollers, turbo and winter bike. They have seen the worst conditions, and due to them owing me nothing, I've been far from kind to them. Through all of that, they have stayed true and the bearings are still smooth despite many long foul weather rides.

They are relatively quick, and especially so considering their price, I can't fault them.

paultrueman

No offence taken, im acutally carrying a bit of winter timber and shold be down to 13 and a bit by ealry/mid summer, its not so much teh weight thing that im concerned about, its more the build quality cornering and the feel at speed, down here in devon the roads can be a little rough with lots of steep hills and sharp bends, so Im after something that will give me a noticeable improvment on handling

So why would you buy the equipes over the askiums and the elite of the equipes?

Paul

paultrueman

put it another way, over and above my stock shimano r500's, if i buy the askiums will i say, 'yeah they feel better' if i buy the equipes, will i say' wow, thats a massive improvement, and if i was to buy the elites, am i gonna pass out with excitment on my first ride out......bang for buck and all that!!

Paul T

redddraggon

I doubt you'll notice any improvement. Nout wrong with r500s

paultrueman

thats interesting, I agree with you that there is nout wrong with the r500s, but i would hope to feel a noticable difference on the bike when going from a £90 wheelset to a £250...care to elaborate?

Paul

skinson

I have a set of ksyrium elites, they are very smooth, and robust.
Dave

paultrueman

dave, were they stock for your bike or did you upgrade, if so, what made oyu choose them?

Paul

Evil Laugh

I'm firmly in the camp of noticing a difference.

I'm gonna avoid making any false statements about things I can't prove as I've no interest nor expertise in arguing about weight, inertia, rotating mass or material properties.

Since upgrading my wheels my bike feels much lighter to ride. Acceleration and climbing feel much quicker. I feel more connected to the road especially at speeds of 20mph plus.

Whether I'm Actually accelerating any faster I can't prove.

What is indisputable is how the upgrade affects my riding pleasure. I would put it on a par with changing from my old hybrid to my current roadbike. My bike feels much better. I'm not a competitive cyclist, facts and figures don't bother me too much. I cycle for my own pleasure and changing my wheels has greatly improved that.

When testing roadbikes I tried 2 fuji bikes back to back. One had rs10 wheels the other had ksyrium elites. The elites really brought the bike to life. This is what first conviced me a wheel change would be worth doing.

I got infinitely more out of changing my wheels from rs10 to dura ace than from changing groupset from 105 to SRAM force.

For me the change you're talking about would be worth it based on my experience with the fujis.

An option could be to pick up a second hand set of elites for around £150 and if you don't like them or notice a difference sell them on and maybe even make a quid or two. If they change your bike for the better you could keep them or resell and take the decision what to get new.

paultrueman

thanks Evils, good reply

Paul

turkeytickler

what evils said

I "upgraded" from R550s to Ksyrium Elites and it may be emperors new clothes, but I certainly
perceived an improvement in acceleration and handling, plus got the bling factor.

They feel nicer to ride, they are lighter (that cannot be questioned), they look better and they have that nice reassuringly solid click in the freewheel....

I got mine in 2008 and they are been faultless - mind you so where my R550s..... the newest models of the elites have milled rims for lighter weight and added bling too

EKIMIKE

Well I bought a pair of Ksyrium Elites last year. The stock wheels on my bike were Ambrosio WS-23 rims on Miche hubs. The stock ones became the Winter wheels and the Mavics are Summer wheels. Works well as a system.

The Mavics are a vast improvement just in how they feel to ride. Like EvilLaugh i'm not gonna claim any expertise about techno mumbo jumbo - i'll just repeat, they feel nicer to ride and that translates partly as an improvement in performance.

The guy in my LBS said I wouldn't notice any difference in if i got Askiums, except the durability would probably become clear after a while. Equipes - well they seem to fill this gap of here nor there wheels but I doubt they'd be a bad investment when it comes to it. The guy did say i'd notice a difference with Ksyrium Elites and that you can't really go wrong with them. I fully back up this point of view. They're not exactly 'wow!' to ride but the feeling of quality is clear.

Now in their second winter, the Ambrosio wheels are out of true and there's a fair amount of play in the rear hub. The Ksyriums have probably been ridden a greater distance, albeit in nicer weather, and remain true and the bearings super smooth.

Either way it's your choice.

Mike