Am I an unlucky Mavic owner?

tightbarsteward

On 19th March i bought a pair of unused 2010 Mavic Ksyrium Equipe at a reduced price from a well known online bike shop. After 200 miles I had to have the rear one trued by my LBS.

At 400 miles I had to have them both trued by the seller. At 600 miles a spoke pinged out of the rear wheel in the middle of a 100 mile ride and was badly buckled by the time I got home. I returned the wheels & the online seller fully refunded me.

I wasn't going to buy Mavic again but the Equipes rolled really well & having spoke to a few of prevoius owners of Mavic Ksyrium Elites I decided to take the plunge with 2010 set of Elites from the same online bike shop.

I have now done just under 200 miles on the Elites & the front wheel is out of true by about 3-4mm, & is clearly visible to me when im cycling along.

My bike is a Trek 1.2 2011 & the stock Bontranger wheels were only trued after 2000 miles and even then the guy in my LBS said they didnt really need it so I would expect a set of £500 Mavics would stay in true as long if not longer.

Am I just plain unlucky? Could the wheels have weakened after being 'on the shelf' for 3 years? Or are Mavic Ksyriums renound for going out of true?

Any comments gratefully received

****Note I am not overweight!!! This is what the bike shop asked when I buckled the 1st pair!!! Im 11 stone & ride around 100-150 miles per week at the mo.

ugo.santalucia

5 years ago Aksium and Ksyrium wheels were well put together... they still have the same reputation but having seen the latest Aksium and Equipes, this is no longer the case. I have not had the chance to have a look at the more recent Elites, so I can't comment on those. I suggest you return them... your front wheel deflection, if true means there is more than just a loose spoke

smidsy

I am saying nothing!

slowbike

This is the sort of report that put me off buying Mavics in the first place ... but I now have a set of Kysrium Elites from a bike purchase .. they're true now and I've ridden 200 miles on them so far - that's on top of the previous owners mileage.
I do try and stick to the smooth stuff and run 100psi in both front & back on GP4000s (came with the wheels - but would've been my choice anyway).
They do roll nicely too.

nferrar

I got 2010 Elites on my bike (purchased summer 2011) as wanted the all black rim - it's only used in the dry (apart from a wet training camp in Spain...) but they're still going strong and I'm 90kg. I've not had the trued or retensioned since new and guess they've done 7-8000 miles. I'll replacing them soon and won't be getting Mavics (or any factory wheelset) but they've been fine for me. I can't see them having been stored for 3 years is more stressful than being stored for 1 year and ridden for 2 so sounds like the ones you had were faulty (or you weigh significantly more than me and over the weight limit (whatever that is) or you like to ride over potholes).

jonomc4

I have a pair of Mavic equipes - I do find they go out of true easier than my other wheels - Having had Paolo make me some custom builds I have to say they are better in every department and cost less for me.

smidsy

nferrar wrote:

I got 2010 Elites on my bike (purchased summer 2011) as wanted the all black rim - it's only used in the dry (apart from a wet training camp in Spain...) but they're still going strong and I'm 90kg.

Or you were lucky

Bozman

I'm still using my 2008 Ksyrium SLs after about 15k miles(summer use) and they haven't been touched, true as the day I bought them and they're ridden week in week out on country roads/lanes. I also had a set of Elites which I found bullet proof, they even took a side impact from a Peugeot but they did require a true after that. I had Equipes on a winter bike for years and they were tip top too.
If I had to pick a fault, shite stickers that start peeling after a couple of months.

I have to say that when the SLs implode I'm going to have a look at getting some hand built wheels of a similar quality, purely for longevity because I gather that If something fails on a set of Mavics it's .... you can't fix it or it's not worth the money to fix it.

Lifeboy123

I've been thinking about getting some Elite S , how do they compare to the Bontragers, is there a marked improvement ?

tightbarsteward

Lifeboy123 wrote:

I've been thinking about getting some Elite S , how do they compare to the Bontragers, is there a marked improvement ?

To be quite honest they totally transform the bike. They are super quick (so much better on climbs) and really light & look brilliant. With my old heavy bontrangers on now its as if I was riding through glue! But I wouldnt buy another pair of Mavic's as they go out of true to easily, apparently are a pain in the arse to true (my LBS wheel man says so anyway) and I believe replacement parts can be a problem.

Not sure what exactly the problem is with them (someone mentioned the fact that they contain less spokes than standard wheels) but Ive been running Mavic 317 rims with Hope Pro 2 hubs on my MTB and they have taken years of punishment and are still running as true as the day I got them.

tightbarsteward

Slowbike wrote:

This is the sort of report that put me off buying Mavics in the first place ... but I now have a set of Kysrium Elites from a bike purchase .. they're true now and I've ridden 200 miles on them so far - that's on top of the previous owners mileage.
I do try and stick to the smooth stuff and run 100psi in both front & back on GP4000s (came with the wheels - but would've been my choice anyway).
They do roll nicely too.

I have been running Vittoria Rubino Pro 120psi but before that I had always run my old Bontragers at 100psi & they stayed true so I'll drop my pressures & see how I go

kettrinboy

Have to echo some of the comments above, ive got 2006 vintage Equipes and SL,s and both pairs have done 15k+ miles on pretty rough roads at times, the Equipes have even done a bit of mild off roading and both still run dead true so no complaints here.

Monty Dog

Check out the price and availability of spare Mavic rims and you'll realise you're better elsewhere - they truly are disposable wheels - I have some scrap Ksyrium SLs for the sake of non-available rims. Buy Fulcrum/Campagnolo if you want decent factory wheels and at least you can get spares after 5 years.

smidsy

You are wasting your time Monty - surely you should realise that after all my efforts :-)