mavic exalith alternative

thebadgerboy1982

Hi all,

Im looking for a set of road wheels with a good braking surface. Ive got a set of hplus rims and the braking is ok in wet weather so wanted something a better.

Im looking at the mavic exalith braking surface and it sounds very good. Im not too worried about the colour rubbing off but the braking sounds as if its up to the job.

They are pretty expensive though. Are there any alternatives out there with the extreme cnc braking surface?

Thanks

ugo.santalucia

thebadgerboy1982 wrote:

Im looking at the mavic exalith braking surface and it sounds very good. Im not too worried about the colour rubbing off but the braking sounds as if its up to the job.

It looks good but sounds awful...

Fulcrum makes something similar, albeit in the same price range.

IMO all these ceramic coated rims are little more than fancy pants

gweeds

Sounds fine if you set them up properly

BarleyPointer

I thought the sound is quite 'space ship' when braking . They only really squealed a couple of times in the less than two months that I used them, but for the majority of the time they were great. Now they are sat in the garage, replaced by some carbon rimmed beauties as I decided to switch to tubs :-) Hey ho.

Midlands Grimpeur

Most of the wheels with that breaking surface are in a similar price range. I have a set of campag shamal Mille which are the best alloy clinchers I have used, nice stiff wheel and campag hubs are some of the smoothest rolling you will find. Breaking surface on the mavics is good but IMO not as responsive as the shamal (and exalith do screech, very loudly!).

ugo.santalucia

BarleyPointer wrote:

I thought the sound is quite 'space ship' when braking .

There is no noise in space, obviously... :roll:

cycleclinic

There is on the films.

ugo.santalucia

thecycleclinic wrote:

There is on the films.

Not in the good ones... 2001 a space odyssey was mostly silent

charlie_potatoes

ugo.santalucia wrote:

BarleyPointer wrote:

I thought the sound is quite 'space ship' when braking .

There is no noise in space, obviously... :roll:

But there is in a space ship, obviously... :roll:

on-yer-bike

ugo.santalucia wrote:

thecycleclinic wrote:

There is on the films.

Not in the good ones... 2001 a space odyssey was mostly silent

Except for Strauss

vinnymarsden

How does anyone actually "know" that it is silent in space??

ugo.santalucia

VinnyMarsden wrote:

How does anyone actually "know" that it is silent in space??

Is it a serious question?

Sound is a mechanical wave and as such it needs a medium to travel through... being that air or else. The concentration of gas in most of the universe is way to low to allow sound to travel.

Light is an electromagnetic wave and does not need a physical medium to travel through... in fact it does travel much better in the absence of matter than it does in the presence of matter (as the darkness of deep sea clearly shows)

Bobbinogs

Moving on from space (where no one can hear you scream, afaik), I think the H+ rims I have (the Archetypes) are actually pretty good for braking, even in the wet. Rather than just buy some new wheels, is it worth seeing if something can be more simply improved, such as Swissstop Flash Pro pads or Koolstop Salmons and/or the setup??

Might also be worth looking at technique, such as tapping every now and then to clear the water film before you actually need to brake.

sloppyschleckonds

Bobbinogs wrote:

Moving on from space (where no one can hear you scream, afaik), I think the H+ rims I have (the Archetypes) are actually pretty good for braking, even in the wet. Rather than just buy some new wheels, is it worth seeing if something can be more simply improved, such as Swissstop Flash Pro pads or Koolstop Salmons and/or the setup??

Might also be worth looking at technique, such as tapping every now and then to clear the water film before you actually need to brake.

Yes, learn to ride properly and if that fails by a disc break bike

norvernrob

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Bobbinogs wrote:

Moving on from space (where no one can hear you scream, afaik), I think the H+ rims I have (the Archetypes) are actually pretty good for braking, even in the wet. Rather than just buy some new wheels, is it worth seeing if something can be more simply improved, such as Swissstop Flash Pro pads or Koolstop Salmons and/or the setup??

Might also be worth looking at technique, such as tapping every now and then to clear the water film before you actually need to brake.

Yes, learn to ride properly and if that fails by a disc break bike

I must really be terrible. I went out in pouring rain on my CX bike with TRP Spyre discs, and was a bit shocked how pants the braking was. Braking heavily (I was on the Trans Pennine so lots of bike gates to slow for) made them scream like stuck pigs too.

The bike has done a few hundred miles, the pads were bedded in when new and are good in the dry, but my Fulcrum Zero Nite/Campag Blue pad/SRAM Red caliper combo on my Foil are better in both the dry and wet. Maybe I need to try some different pads in the discs, I dunno as it's my first disc bike but I'm not particularly impressed.

gweeds

Are the pads contaminated??

norvernrob

Gweeds wrote:

Are the pads contaminated??

I bought the bike new earlier this year, and have never sprayed any kind of oil or lubricant anywhere near the discs so I doubt it. I bedded them in from new by braking really hard multiple times on a steep hill next to my house, so I think I've done the right things with them.

For the cost of a new set of pads I might as well try some replacements though.

mamba80

NorvernRob wrote:

Gweeds wrote:

Are the pads contaminated??

I bought the bike new earlier this year, and have never sprayed any kind of oil or lubricant anywhere near the discs so I doubt it. I bedded them in from new by braking really hard multiple times on a steep hill next to my house, so I think I've done the right things with them.

For the cost of a new set of pads I might as well try some replacements though.

Mavic Exaliths?

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

thebadgerboy1982 wrote:

Im looking at the mavic exalith braking surface and it sounds very good. Im not too worried about the colour rubbing off but the braking sounds as if its up to the job.

It looks good but sounds awful...

Fulcrum makes something similar, albeit in the same price range.

IMO all these ceramic coated rims are little more than fancy pants

I have a friend with the Rigida/Ryde tungsten carbide coated rims on his touring bike. 4000 miles in all weathers - no marks to the surface, no wear (unlike my own, new at the start of the ride conventional rims), no dirt, no significant pad wear. They are definitely good stuff but sufficiently expensive to make the economics a bit risky.

Ryde don't put the coating on lightweight rims though because the benefit is for wet weather riding rather than looking cool with a black braking surface. Basically, the coating is about function rather than form and is clearly in a different quality league to that which Mavic and Campag use.

norvernrob

mamba80 wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

Gweeds wrote:

Are the pads contaminated??

I bought the bike new earlier this year, and have never sprayed any kind of oil or lubricant anywhere near the discs so I doubt it. I bedded them in from new by braking really hard multiple times on a steep hill next to my house, so I think I've done the right things with them.

For the cost of a new set of pads I might as well try some replacements though.

Mavic Exaliths?

No, discs.

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

thecycleclinic wrote:

There is on the films.

Not in the good ones... 2001 a space odyssey was mostly silent

If George Lazonby can squeal the tyres of an Aston DBS under braking on a beach then it can be noisy in space.