Mavic Cosmic Carbone SL Wheels - advice

manc_andy

Hello

i'm new to the forum so please be gentle on me!

I've been road cycling for about 3 years now, and I'm in the process of upgrading a few items on my 2010 Boardman Team C. The first significant investment i want to make is Wheels.

As i've only the one bike and i sometimes use it for commuting about 8 flat miles (luckily we have secure bike parking) so I need them to be fairly strong, as I'd prefer not to be changing them out every time i take the bike to work.
At weekends/ evening I mostly ride fairly flat rides, with the occasional rolling hill and rarely a bit of a steady climb, and after searching i'm drawn to the Cosmic Carbones.

Anyone have similar usage and would feel i would be better with an alternative (i was looking at the 52 planet X wheels)?

and finally what is the difference between the 2011 version of these wheels and the 2013?

Ta in advance

-andy

evs78

Hi Andy,

My advice may help although not a direct comparison. I bought the 2012 Cosmic Carbone SLE's last year, purely for cosmetic reasons; don't race, haven't done any sportives, but wanted a decent set of deep section wheels.

I have found them great, much lighter than the campag khamsin's that my bike came with, bomb proof so far on South Manchester/Cheshire roads (plenty of potholes, etc), and decent tyres. I use mine all year round although I don't ride often in the rain. If you need to swap wheels over, as I intended to, I had a bit of an issue re brake blocks and thats why I havent bothered. Not sure whether that is relevant on the SL's.

I tried a few sets in the sub-£1k price range and found that these were my personal favourite's.

Cheers

Evs78

dnwhite88

I think because they have an alloy track they don't require the compound brake blocks you need for some carbon rims without the track

Tom Dean

Everyone wants this kind of wheel today!

They are strong, aero wheels, albeit a very old design. Also heavy and expensive. If you're not racing then aero is fairly pointless.

You can get much more special feeling wheels for half the price.

manc_andy

hi evs8, It's usually around Cheshire/ South Mancs i ride too so thanks for the advice.

Tdwhite88 the Sl's do have an aliminum so rim so i wouldn't have to swap brake blocks just don't want the myther of running two sets of wheels i suppose (v lazy of me i know...)

and thanks Tom Dean, is there any particular wheel you would recommend?

thanks all

Bar Shaker

Tom's advise is pretty good.

I had the same bike and the Ritchey wheels weren't bad, coming in at about 1800g naked.

I opted for Mavic Kysirium Elites and these transformed my Team Carbon. They are stiff climbing/sprinting wheels but will rotate much faster due to the quality bladed spokes. The reduction in air resistance will make you faster on the flats and the stiffness will make you faster on the climbs.

As you say your riding is almost all on the flat, the Carbones will offer even better drag reduction but at a cost premium. If I only had one set of wheels for mixed riding, it would be Elites.

Monty Dog

So you don't race, probably ride at a pace where aero wheels wouldn't be of any real benefit, plus they're heavier and less robust?
For the same money, you'll get something considerably 300g lighter, stronger will spin-up easier and won't fill up with water in the rain - but they won't have a deep plastic rim with big stickers on them and make a rumbling noise as you ride along?

Gizmodo

Personally I would speak to http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk/

You'll get excellant wheels (IMHO) built by a skilled craftsman in Scotland to a spec that meets your needs. Not a 1 of 10,000 knocked out by a mass production line in Romania/France. They will come with a spoke for life promise, so you will never have to try and buy spokes if you do break one and when the rim wears too thin, or you just want them serviced, just ship them back to Scotland.

jgsi

Wot he says, but just to remind everyone there are other excellent wheelbuilders in the UK

dodgy

I have both Shimano RS80 and Cosmic Carbone SL wheels, as much as I tried to detect the difference in speed, I failed. I reckon the Carbones would be a complete waste for the OP. They do look amazing though, especially on a black frame.

They came fitted on my Rose (for £235 over the cost of standard Ksyriums).

nolight

dodgy wrote:

I have both Shimano RS80 and Cosmic Carbone SL wheels, as much as I tried to detect the difference in speed, I failed. I reckon the Carbones would be a complete waste for the OP. They do look amazing though, especially on a black frame.

They came fitted on my Rose (for £235 over the cost of standard Ksyriums).

Hi do you mean the RS80 C24 or C50? I am looking for a good value wheelset and am interested in the RS80.

letap73

Since you are Manchester based it might be worth visiting these chaps:
http://www.hewittcycles.co.uk/
They sell both factory built wheels and hand built wheels and will be able to give you good advice. It appears as soon as Mavic Ksyriums are mentioned on this forum then the invariable posters suggesting hand builts appear, they appear to be" winning over" the argument although the Mavics were the bees knees on this forum a year ago

Anyway, FWIW I think the Mavics are great for the reasons suggested by Bar shaker, although there is a suggestion if things go wrong with them then it is difficult to get spares( This is debated by some posters). Handbuilts can be made to your specification and spares are generally easier to find - the issue with handbuilts is they can be badly built.

Definitely worth visiting Hewitt cycles as they have good reputation in building wheels and also sell factory builts so their advice is likely to be impartial.

Monty Dog

For general riding, handbuilts are ideal and for your budget, you'll be able to go for some really nice hubs and rims. A decent builder will advise on best component choice for your need: Paul Hewitt Cycles in Leyland are good - but avoid Dave Hinde

simon_masterson

Tom Dean wrote:

Everyone wants this kind of wheel today!

They are strong, aero wheels, albeit a very old design. Also heavy and expensive. If you're not racing then aero is fairly pointless.

You can get much more special feeling wheels for half the price.

This.

A great many "non-racers" like to buy these wheels and it's not hard to see why, but the primary purpose of them is to provide greater efficiency at higher speeds; i.e. if you are going at 25mph or more in a TT, it will be easier with deep section wheels. The [principal] trade-off is added rotating weight; far from "you aren't fast enough for those wheels", if you aren't riding that fast then you will almost certainly notice more difference from a pair of very light wheels (and tyres), which will feel much easier to spin. In which case I'd spend the same money on a pair of pretty fancy handbuilts, if I were you. That money could buy some reasonably nice hubs and good quality rims.

dodgy

nolight wrote:

dodgy wrote:

I have both Shimano RS80 and Cosmic Carbone SL wheels, as much as I tried to detect the difference in speed, I failed. I reckon the Carbones would be a complete waste for the OP. They do look amazing though, especially on a black frame.

They came fitted on my Rose (for £235 over the cost of standard Ksyriums).

Hi do you mean the RS80 C24 or C50? I am looking for a good value wheelset and am interested in the RS80.

Sorry, RS80 C24, been running them for about 3 years but only in completely dry weather.

manc_andy

Think i've got to decide what is most important to me: speed, weight, or looks. Lots of great advice and i think i'll be checking out these websites. i think i am leaning towards the Elites, but thanks to everyone for the tips, i'll let you know what i decide when i do take the plunge!

chorlton chimp

+1 for Paul Hewitt cycles. They have just built me a bike and the service was excellent. As the customer you are in charge but they give you good measured advice. They also don't try to flog you anything you don't need either, eg when I was there Paul talked a customer out of a build based on Ultegra hubs as in his opinion the price increase over 105 wasn't matched by performance.
Have a chat, if you want Cosmics they will sell not them but will offer an alternative. It's only half an hour up the 61 and INMHO well worth the trip.