New Review: Mavic Cosmic Carbon SLE with Exalith

We received this review from a customer and partner in crime, the one and only Mr. John Bistolfo.  He rides like crazy, mixes it up in a race here and there, tears up trails, and has been known to show up at a CX race or two in full Tuxedo.  Trust what this dude says, he knows what he's talking about:

I’ve been wanting to get myself some aero wheels for a couple years and for many reasons I held off.  Cost, wet-braking, and style were among some of the reasons.  For years I’ve ridden Mavic wheels off-road and after hearing good things about the SLE wheels—especially the Exalith technology—I jumped on a set. 

I’ve got about 1200 miles on the wheels and I’m still psyched every time I ride.  The wheels have transformed my rig and my rides.

Speed is synonymous with the wheels.  I had heard aero wheels are “harder to get up to speed” but I haven’t really noticed a big difference.  I definitely notice an advantage at certain speeds.  18 mph is the first bump, then 22, then 24 mph.  24 mph is where I’ve really noticed the wheels working for me.  Holding speed is much easier and they’re rock solid when you’re rolling around 30 mph.

The transfer of power is also a noticeable advantage.  The wheels are stiff and give nice propulsion when hammering on the pedals.  When rolling at speeds in the mid 20s they give a good kick when you push them.

I’ve been riding a lot of hills with the wheels.  Even though “they” say aero wheels are too heavy for climbing I’ve enjoyed riding in SW Wisconsin with them.  My typical ride would include about 2000’ of climbing for a 50 mile route.  Whatever disadvantage I have from the weight when climbing is made up on the descents.  These are solid bullets on a descent, they roll fast and hold steady. 

The wheelset comes with Mavic tyres – the Yksion GripLink (front) and PowerLink (rear).  The tyres are great and provide good traction.  I rode wet roads this past weekend and they performed well.  This was also a good opportunity to test the breaking.  I didn’t notice any decrease in breaking distance and I attribute this to the Exalith technology.  The breaking surface has grooved surface like a file and used in combination with the Mavic brake pads they work well.

Initially I didn’t use the Mavic pads and burned through my pads in about 300 miles.  Part of the reason I did this was to avoid the loud screeching that the new rims make with the Mavic pads.  Once the new rim surface wears a bit the Mavic pads don’t make noise.  There is still a noise when breaking but it’s a proud whistle akin to a King hub whine.

So aside from the speed, transfer of power, stiffness and grip I’d have to say my favorite aspect of the wheels are the way they look.  Initially I thought about removing the stickers but after stepping back and reveling in the typography of my machine I’ve decided to keep them.  I’ve gotten several unsolicited comments from non-cyclists about how my bike looks bad ass.  I have to agree.

The only downside to the package are the valve extenders.  They’re pretty temperamental and I’m now using 80mm valve tubes.

Overall, these wheels are awesome.  They make going faster more fun.

He wasn't lying about the extenders, it appears he's decided to ride completely without valves!  We can get you a set of these things for a song, and they come with tires.  Give us a call.....

This is What Spoiled Looks Like

Riding around these parts just doesn't get much better.  Roll from my house and I'm at the Des Plaines River Trail in 20 minutes.  Ride gravel north as long as I want.  Repeat.

Yesterday's weather was beautiful.  The trails were wide open.  Welcome back summer.

Review: Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLE Exalith Wheel System

Our boy Gavin spent a little over a week on our demo Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLE wheelset to help us add some dimension to our product reviews.  Gavin is the perfect guy to test wheels for us, really.  He's got the ability to really put a lot of watts through wheels, he's been riding for quite some time, and since he doesn't own the wheels we can trust that he'll be more objective.  He was also given free reign to ride them as he saw fit on whatever ride he saw fit.  Here's what he came away with:

First ride - small group ride, tempo pace mostly with one good sprint, ~35 miles. Weather: not friendly. It started pouring about 10 minutes into the ride - the kind of rain that when you're driving, you pull over because the sheets of water are pounding the windshield and you can't see anything. We rode anyway, and I figured this would surely be a good test of the Exalith braking surface and Mavic's brake pads. The braking can really only be described with one word, and that word is 'great'.  Really, just as good in a downpour as when dry.
 
At the designated sprint point, they held up well - they are just as stiff as my everyday Ksyrium ES wheels, no flexing to rub the brake pads under a 1250W effort. 
 
The only downside was a flat rear I picked up at around 25 miles. Small piece of glass I probably picked up in the gutter from all the rain runoff, unfortunately it made a fairly large cut just off center on the tire… I probably wouldn't use the GripLink and PowerLink as regular training tires, but maybe I'm just used to running one set of GP4000s for the last year and a half with no flats. Water does tend to collect in the tires as well; probably from the valve stem cutout. I did go through standing water that was deeper than the rims, so I wasn't too surprised. The only way to get the water out is to let the air out and put the tire off.

 

Second ride - solo, regular North Shore route. Seemed a bit easier to hold speed - as far as aero-ness, they're certainly better than my everyday set when rolling along at 22mph+ in a group or not. They are a bit on the heavy side, so require a bit more effort to spin up, but once you're cruising, they just want to keep rolling.

Third ride - group of 15, rotating paceline, long portions maintaining 25-27mph. Coming from non-aero wheels, the ease of holding a high pace in the group was a different feel. I did a lot of coasting and soft-pedaling when a few wheels back from the front. I did get constant comments on what the braking sounded like, from "bottle rocket" to "plane landing" so there's that.

Pros - Great braking in all conditions, black braking surface looks cool, stiff, more aero than box-section wheels
 
Cons - Braking noise is odd, a bit on the heavy side, may collect water under severe conditions

There you have it.  For $1700 you get the Exalith treatment on your Cosmic Carbone SL wheelset which turn it into the SLE.  For $1000 less than the SLR, you gain a little weight and lose the carbon spokes.  Gavin's take on Exalith mirrors mine so far, the braking performance is unparalleled.

First Rides: Mavic R-SYS SLR Wheelset

I have to admit to these wheels sitting around for the first couple of weeks I had them to test.  It's not my fault, Lumberjack 100 is right around the corner so I've been on my mountain bike.  But, it's about time to log some faster miles to feel better about myself.

 A few rides and I'm starting to form an opinion on these wheels:

First, they are a time-trialists worst nightmare.  They spin up fast and gain speed like crazy, but the boxy rim and fat carbon spokes are about as aerodynamic as a CTA bus.

Second, the Exalith braking surface is incredible.  Out of the box with Exalith-specific pads they whistle like crazy.  Super loud.  I've swapped to stock Shimano alloy-specific pads and the whistling was greatly reduced.  The pads do wear faster on the machined braking surface, but the performance is unreal.

As you can see from these shots, I've taken the wheels out in some wet and on less-than-ideal roads.  Braking performance is perfect, even in the wet.  The brakes aren't grabby and have a really steady power curve.

Third, the tires are holding up well for me.  Chase on the other hand destroyed one on is second ride to a big cut, I'm hoping that's just bad luck.  The tires aren't my favorite, though.  The rear PowerLink tire is made to roll faster, the front GripLink made to, surprise here, grip.  I haven't pushed them too hard into corners, but so far the front seems ok.  The rear on the other hand offers very little grip in the wet.  So little grip in fact that it actually makes me a little nervous to ride in the wet.

Fourth, the rear hub, or more specifically it's engagement.  It works fine, it's been flawless, but the engagement is slower than the Chris King R45 rear hub I'm used to.  It's fast enough, but when you get used to King it's hard to settle for less.  I also like the "buzz" of the King, Mavic freehubs are pretty quiet.  Personal preference here, not a big deal.

Fifth, they are beautiful.  That's a fact.  Not really a fact, my opinion, but they really do look great.

Finally, let's cover stiffness.  Laterally, they are stiff.  Really stiff.  I did a couple of low-speed, big-gear sprints really wrenching on the bike and the wheels just don't flex side to side.  Vertically they ride nicely, but I won't say they are better than a pair of hand-built wheels.

So far, so good.  I like this pair of R-SYS wheels, but I'm not sure I like them $2000 worth.  When in a group ride, I won't ever win a sprint.  The only way I can get some "fame" is to get into a breakaway and try to ride away with a group.  This is not the wheelset for that.  If you like to sprint or treat your wheels like crap, this wheelset may work for you.

More to come....

On test: 2012 Mavic R-SYS SLR

Truth be told, I'm not the world's biggest "wheel system" fan.  Maybe because part of my job is building wheels, or maybe because I enjoy picking each and every component on my bike, or maybe hand-built wheels really are that good.

But when it comes to Mavic there's a lot to like.  Their Ksyrium line is well-known for it's durability, but the R-SYS came out of the gate with a bad rap with a couple of failures.  When something like that happens with new technology, it sticks with people.

I want to like the R-SYS, but I can't in good conscience recommend them to customers until I can feel comfortable with their durability.  What better way to get a feel for these wheels than to ride them!?

With that said, off we go on test.  What am I looking for?  Durability, stiffness, ride quality, and braking performance.  It's pretty easy to see these wheels won't be wowing anyone with their aerodynamics.  Thick spokes and a rim shaped after a brick don't add up to aero savings.  Word on the street though is that the R-SYS line is supposed to be really stiff laterally yet ride nicely.  The new Exalith braking surface is supposed to provide pretty much the best braking this side of hydraulic discs.

On with the test....