Upgrading wheels Mavic ksyrium elites or ksyrium SL

peterb74

Hi, I have just got myself a Specialized tarmac Expert 2010 in saxo bank colours. The shop will let me upgrade the wheels from ksyrium equipes to elites for £150 extra or Ksyrium SLs for £300 extra.
Will I notice much of a difference and will the wheels be more durable and stay true if they are more expensive?
Any advice would be much appreciated thanks.

ADIHEAD

The new Ksyrium Elites are really nice and only 1550g, the SL's are even better. Whether the SL's are worth an extra £150 is in the eye of the beholder. Personally I'd go for it but I love bling Certainly lighter wheels accelerate faster, and feel more lively. Climbing should be easier but unless you compare them back to back you'd be happy with the Elites. But then if you get the Elites you may wonder what the SL's would have been like..... How much do you need a spare £150?

I know guys who ride SL's and none have had any durability problems. I've had 2 pairs of Elites, 04 and 08 and they've only needed basic maintenance.

Hope this helps?

dcj

i have owned a pair of kysirium SLs for six years, and in that time they have never even needed truing. they have had quite a hard life, including numerous pothole infested uk sportives and winter miles.

kysirium SL are light stiff reliable wheels, if no longer perhaps the most popular in their price range.


once in that time the freewheel body did the famous 'mavic scream', and stopped working intermittently but that was cured by removing it and re-oiling the pawls.

personally this is an upgrade i would make in your position, given the choices you have been given by the shop, if you are happy to chunk up the extra. however, maybe there are other options available to you from the shop, or is it only mavic on offer?

peterb74

Thanks for your replies. The shop have both sets ofwheels on order so I haven't seen how they look yet.They may have other wheels but I was told that Mavic were the best ones to go for. Which ones do you recommend?

gonetothehills

I have Ksyrium Elites and ran them on a Spesh Roubaix S-Works. They're incredibly robust, given their fairly low weight. I don't have experience of the SLs so can't compare, but the Elites are the best and most sensible road wheels I've run - a great mix of speed and strength.

unixnerd

I was looking into this a while ago myself. Someone suggested the SLs were so stiff that the ride was uncomfortable. Hard choice, the Elites I've seen looked fantastic wheels.

What is the exact difference between them?

ADIHEAD

I've heard the one about the SL's being stiff also but the Roubaix is a pretty smooth ride to start with. Mavic's are great but I must admit I went for Shimano WH7850CL's to replace my Elites, which I put on my second bike.

Up to you really, wheels are such a personal choice. I went for the Shimano's as my LBS don't do Mavics and fancied a change, plus the Shimano's were the 'rave wheels' at the time. Talk to your LBS and ask their opinion. It's win/win as the Elites and SLs' are great wheels

ADIHEAD

Also regarding the potential stiffness of the SL's, if you fit a set of Vittoria Open Corsa CX/Open Pave's with Latex Tubes - they will smooth things right out. Make sure you don't end up with Spesh tyres as they are indeed total Sh&^te

peterb74

The main difference between them seems to be the hubs as the front SL hub is carbon. The elites are silver and the SLs have red hubs and black and white spokes and rims. The SLs are certainly more attention seeking. Think I'll see how they look on the bike.
Thanks for replies have been a great help. Just need the spring to hurry up so I can enjoy the new bike.

peterb74

Do tyres and tubes make such a biig difference? Not sure if they'll swap the tyres. What's the problem with Spec tyres and which brands are best?

unixnerd

Just need the spring to hurry up so I can enjoy the new bike.

Tell me about it, far too much ice up here :-(

unixnerd

Do tyres and tubes make such a biig difference?

Some are a lot heavier than others, some grip better or offer better puncture resistance. It's an even bigger issue on mtbs, I went from 1kg to 550g tyres on mine - that's each tyre not the pair! No point having nice light rims with the wrong tyres.

peterb74

Wow that's a big difference, I'll hope the guys in the shop will be ok with a tyre upgrade too. I read one review in which someone had changed the cable guides on his new bike to low friction ones so that his shifting was more responsive. Is this common practice?

andy162

I've had some SL's for a couple of years. They're very strong, light & look the part.

Not had any issue with them being uncomfortably stiff, I guess it's a personal thing but I've found them ok. Run them with Conti GP4000s tyres.

carrock

£150 to go from equipes to elites is a fair deal to save 200 grammes or so. I'd go for that

cooper.michael1

peterb74 wrote:

Do tyres and tubes make such a biig difference? Not sure if they'll swap the tyres. What's the problem with Spec tyres and which brands are best?

In terms of weight the further away from the centre of the wheel the greater the importance. Therefore the tyre/tube/rim are more important to the wheel package than the hub, cassette etc.

People happly spend £500 to save 200g on a wheelset, when spending £60 on top end tyres would have done exactly the same plus give a better ride.

Valy

peterb74 wrote:

Do tyres and tubes make such a biig difference? Not sure if they'll swap the tyres. What's the problem with Spec tyres and which brands are best?

Apologies fir the resurrection, but.

I've had the Mondo Sports that were stock on my Allez and was pleasantly surprised with them. Only 1 [slow] puncture after 2000kms or so and the grip was also rather good.

ozzzyosborn206

i would get the best you can afford, your less likly to regret spending the extra cash than you are saving £150 then seeing someone with the sl's and thinking i could have had them..... as for tyres i have had specialized tyres before and thought they were fine, in what way did you think they sucked?

tri-sexual

all really good wheels, last for years and pretty maintenance free
if you can afford it go for the SL
elites are very good
nothing wrong with equipes either
they are all very strong and stay true
both upgrades are worth it

flanners1

The new Elites have been on a diet now 1550g odd. I have a couple of sets of SLs good strong wheels but not light for the rrp IMO,

My bet (doesn't help the conundrum mind) would be on a set of Dura Ace 7900/7850's I run mine on Campag with a Jtek shiftmate works a treat.

Get what you can afford.

Squillinossett

FOr the sake of £150, get the SL's. you may regret not buying them in the future, you will NEVER regret buying bling.

Its the rulz innit

The-beast

[[img
DSC00935 by the-beast1, on Flickr[/img]


i think the sl's look bling, but thats a good thing

The-beast

[[img
DSC00935 by the-beast1, on Flickr[/img]


i think the sl's look bling, but thats a good thing

Evil Laugh

Can people stop taking pictures of the wrong side of their bikes. OCP, FFS.

Evil Laugh

Two wrong sides don't make a right either.