Mavic Helium vs Mavic Aksium

saab2k

Greetings. I have to decide between two wheelsets but i don`t know what should I pick.

Wheelset MAvic Aksium manufactured in 2013, well worn, had to remove some rust from the aero spokes

Wheelset Mavic Helium - don;t know when they were manufactured but its a pretty old model. However the weheelset is 300 grams lighter than Aksium, has no rust, no dents or scratches.

What would you chose for your bike? I weight 77 kg and my weight goal is 75kg(don't want to go under)

ugo.santalucia

Very different wheels. The Helium no longer exist (not even in 2007, I think)... they were light climbing wheels with the rear being very noodly...in fact some riders like Simoni preferred to use the front only, combined with a stiffer rear, like the Ksyrium.

The Aksium are budget wheels, fairly heavy and very harsh, but also more robust and stiffer. They have always been cheaper wheels than the Helium.

I think a pair of Ksyrium would be the happy medium, but possibly not part of your choice

cycleclinic

askiums' stiff are you sure the askiums I have trued have been very flexible.

The heliums look nicer. The tubular version are quite appealing.

ugo.santalucia

thecycleclinic wrote:

The heliums look nicer. The tubular version are quite appealing.

The rear is pure cheese

andyrr

I don't know that I'd agree with the 'cheesy' nature of the rear Heliums - I ran these as my main road race wheels for a few years
I was/am certainly not particularly powerful and my weight was around 70Kgs so probably didn't stress them too much.
As I recall the only problem I had with them was when I think a front suffered a badly pulled spoke at the rim (visible bulge in the rim) due to clashing with another rider's pedal or rear mech. Still finished the race on the wheel.
The rim, being pretty lightweight, couldn't take being pulled back into shape - the wheel is still hanging in my garage, I sourced another wheel s/h to replace it - think I have 5 wheels in total.
They look pretty cool in a slightly old-school way - as opposed to the big deep-rim-cool of carbon nowadays.
Mine were tubs - weightweenies lists these at around 1500g - pretty decent for an alu wheelset.

ugo.santalucia

andyrr wrote:

I don't know that I'd agree with the 'cheesy' nature of the rear Heliums - I ran these as my main road race wheels for a few years
I was/am certainly not particularly powerful and my weight was around 70Kgs so probably didn't stress them too much.
As I recall the only problem I had with them was when I think a front suffered a badly pulled spoke at the rim (visible bulge in the rim) due to clashing with another rider's pedal or rear mech. Still finished the race on the wheel.
The rim, being pretty lightweight, couldn't take being pulled back into shape - the wheel is still hanging in my garage, I sourced another wheel s/h to replace it - think I have 5 wheels in total.
They look pretty cool in a slightly old-school way - as opposed to the big deep-rim-cool of carbon nowadays.
Mine were tubs - weightweenies lists these at around 1500g - pretty decent for an alu wheelset.

The demand for stiffness has changed over the years... most rims of the 80-90s would be inadequate for modern standards. People run crazy pad-to-rim clearances of 1-2 mm these days and complain that a 50 mm carbon rim rubs, my 1980s bike is set at 5 mm, nothing ever rubbed there!

The red rims and hubs were definitively very cool

cycleclinic

Which cheese Camembert or Rachlette?

1-2mm is alot for some I have seen bike with the pads practically touching and then the rider complains of brake rub.