Campagnolo Shamal Mille v Mavic R-SYS SLR's

Dick Scruttock

Given the choice of either a pair of Campagnolo Shamal Mille's with the new brake track or some Mavic R-sys slr's what would people choose and why?

I have owned some Fulcrum racing zeros in the past and they were trouble free, I have little experience of mavics.

The wheels will be going on a Colnago c60 with SR.

thegreatdivide

I rate Zeros highly (on my second pair) but they're out stiff'd by my RSYS SLR's. That and the fact that Exalith 2 is from my experience now totally on the money, where as this new Campagnolo coating is a first attempt, I'd go for the Mavics. I've got them on my MTBK C59 :-)

mfin

Rick... seeing as you're having Super Record, I would say don't get the Mavics looks-wise if that matters to you. Style wise on a C60 with SR the mavics will stand out like a poorly chosen style of alloys on a car.

thegreatdivide

mfin wrote:

Rick... seeing as you're having Super Record, I would say don't get the Mavics looks-wise if that matters to you. Style wise on a C60 with SR the mavics will stand out like a poorly chosen style of alloys on a car.

Total nonsense. I run mine with SR and Record EPS and they look the business. I also run Zipp 303's on a bike with Record.

viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=12962249

sloppyschleckonds

I'd echo what TGR says, the Mavics as clinchers are unbelievable stiff, if I were buying again i'd only have tubulars.
Mine were the early version with the original Exalith brake track and remained perfect and unbelievable braking performance for 5000+ miles.

ugo.santalucia

R-SYS was an interesting experiment Mavic did. Basically all wheels on the market work with tense wires that connect the hub with the rim. But car wheels as well as most other vehicles wheels don't use tension as a mean to keep the wheel together. R-Sys gets rid of the tension by using large carbon fibre spokes that can be compressed without them bending. The assembly relies on a metal retainer ring placed inside the hub body, that distributes the compression load as the wheel rotates. It's all nice and good for as long as it works and it generally works. I have seen busted tracomp spokes, but no more than any other spokes on factory wheels. On one occasion (and it's only one), I have seen a busted retainer, which makes a bit of a messy job inside the hub and leaves the wheel unsupported, ready to collapse.

That aside (as I said it's something I have only seen once and I don't think it is common at all) my main issue is that IF you need to true the wheel, the all retainer needs to be removed and Mavic advises to replace it with a new one every time you remove it. They generally don't go out of true, but they can go out of true just like any other wheel.

It seems to me Mavic is abandoning the R-Sys concept... and on balance I would probably go for the standard SLR without the tracomp spokes

DKay

So are the carbon spokes tensioned at all, or just tensioned very low? If so, any idea what tension they are set at the factory?

ugo.santalucia

DKay wrote:

So are the carbon spokes tensioned at all, or just tensioned very low? If so, any idea what tension they are set at the factory?

The tension is negligible. You just set the tension on the drive side, which has alloy spokes and then adjust the NDS until it is dished and true. I don't think you can measure it anyway.
Front wheel is tracomp both sides, so basically no tension there. The design makes it possibly the stiffest wheel out there. It is a very clever design, probably too clever

DKay

Interesting stuff. Thanks Ugo.

mfin

thegreatdivide wrote:

mfin wrote:

Rick... seeing as you're having Super Record, I would say don't get the Mavics looks-wise if that matters to you. Style wise on a C60 with SR the mavics will stand out like a poorly chosen style of alloys on a car.

Total nonsense. I run mine with SR and Record EPS and they look the business. I also run Zipp 303's on a bike with Record.

viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=12962249

Yeah, they don't really look the business on that, good example. It's a bit like a clash of modern styling vs old. The Colnago frames have a classic type look, the Campag stuff has a wonderful classic design too, and then the Mavics mismatch as they have an ultra modern aesthetic, it doesn't really go. If it's not something you pick up on then it's not an issue for you.

ugo.santalucia

mfin wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

mfin wrote:

Rick... seeing as you're having Super Record, I would say don't get the Mavics looks-wise if that matters to you. Style wise on a C60 with SR the mavics will stand out like a poorly chosen style of alloys on a car.

Total nonsense. I run mine with SR and Record EPS and they look the business. I also run Zipp 303's on a bike with Record.

viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=12962249

Yeah, they don't really look the business, it's a bit like a clash of modern styling vs old. The Colnago frames have a classic type look, the Campag stuff has a wonderful aesthetic too, then the Mavics look ultra modern, it doesn't really go. If it's not something you pick up on then it's not an issue.

I hate to say this in public, but (nano-size aside) I rather like TGD bike with the SLR wheels on... nothing wrong with Italian classic design and Mavic wheels. It's funny how people think in Italy only Campagnolo is allowed. I think if you go by statistics, they probably sell more Campag stuff in the US or over here and that is as a proportion of the market...
Campagnolo had a gap of 16 years during which they never won the Tour (Pereiro's joke aside) and these things in the Continent do matter... especially for a company that prides itself for only doing race oriented components. Recently they invested big sponsoring Astana and Movistar and that paid off.

mfin

It's not an 'italian' thing here. Just these design styles clashing. Bit like putting modern Porsche wing mirrors on an E-type Jag.

Don't get me wrong, doesn't matter to some people, some people don't really care or know what clothes look good on them for example, they just pick what they like and that works, nowt wrong with that.

DKay

Another way of looking at it; the contrast of the modern and classic enhances the good points of both. I think TGDs bike looks great with the Mavics.

When you think about it, the C59 and C60 frames are a contrast themselves, using carbon fibre, but with a lugged-construction and simple lines. It's what makes them beautiful to my eyes.

ugo.santalucia

mfin wrote:

It's not an 'italian' thing here. Just these design styles clashing. Bit like putting modern Porsche wing mirrors on an E-type Jag.

I watch enough Grand Design to know what you mean...