Mavic or Bontrager Wheels - Comparison

Soni

OK, i'm no technical guru or expert reviewer, however here is my experience.

Purchased a new set of wheels (Mavic Aksium 2010) last year for my old road bike (kept popping spokes) but never got around to using them as upgraded bike to a Trek 2.5.

The Trek 2.5 came with Bontrager Race wheels in white, however as the Mavic's were 'after market' i thought they would be better wheels and they are also black so won't show the dirt so run these regularly on the bike and kept the Bontrager Race wheelset as spares which are hanging up on my garage wall fitted with Schwalbe Marathon Plus puncture resistant tires.

Anyway, the other night i had a flat in my Bontrager Tires/Mavic Aksum wheels so swapped the wheels over to the Bontrager Race wheels with Schwalbe Maraton Plus tires as didn't have time to change the tube on the Mavic's.

Now bearing in mind i've hardly run these Bontrager wheels, the first thing i 'thought' i had noticed was the severe increase in weight as i went to lift the bike off the workstand and out of the garage.

However, when on the open road, and climbing up the hills, the first thing i noticed was how stiff the wheels appeared! I thought this was due to the more robust build as i noted how much heavier the bike felt, but also when i started descending, the braking was so so smooth, silky smooth in fact, whereas its quite harsh on the Mavic Rims, as the rim joints are actually visible (i noticed this when i first purchased them) and i suppose the join is responsible for the rough feeling whilst braking.

However, i've just looked at both 'front' wheels on the Evans website, and it 'appears' that the Bontrager wheels are actually lighter than the Mavic's!!!

730 of the Bontragers compared with 830 of the Mavic's

So, shame they are in white, as otherwise i would run these permanently as they feel stiffer/more robust when climbing, are smoother braking, and also lighter!

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/mav ... l-ec021395

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bon ... gn=froogle

inseine

Well the weight differnce is due to the mega heavy tyres, no?

Soni

inseine wrote:

Well the weight differnce is due to the mega heavy tyres, no?

I was wondering that but thought the tires alone couldn't possibly make that much difference...

inseine

You don't say what size the Schwalbes are or which Bontragers you have but the lightest Marathon plus tyres are 590g which is a least twice as heavy as a heavy training tyre! I'm starting to think I've misread the weights! That's over a kilo of tyre and if the inner tubes are equally lardy, well......

porker33

I currently have Bontrager RL wheels, my previous bike had the Bontrager Race that you have, being stiffer and the way they roll I actually prefer the Race wheels, the RL apparently have better hubs and are lighter...on paper they are a better wheel?...ignore the weight, somehow the Race wheels, just seem to work well.

dmch2

My GP4000S tyres are more than 100g lighter (210 vs 340g) than the stand bontrager tyres my trek 1.5 came with. The marathons on my hybrid are hugely heavier than either.

Take them all off and weigh them on the kitchen scales to see whare the weight is.