What's with Mavic R-SYS Wheel sets?!!

They don't seem especially light, they're not aero and yet they cost heaps and have no problem selling them on ebay (I don't know about new - but then the sellers would've bought them new).

Is it just the novelty of how they look?

Is there something I'm missing with them?

I have a set on my new Trek Madone 5.2 and love them. Heres why:

-they may not "weigh light" on a scale, but they feel light when you hit a hill. the guys I ride with are amazed that I'm 2-3 mph faster where I wasn't before.
-Not affected by strong cross winds like my Z808's
-they launch you when you want to lay down a quick sprint.
-best of all and not at all why I purchased them, the bikes ride is so much smoother in a more solid and stable way. I can rack up more miles and that's exactly what I want.

I love these wheels!

I'm 6'2" 210 training for my first tri.

1. Some folks think they look hot.
2. A fair number of folks have bought what Mavic told them.
3. CF spokes.
4. They were told that stiff is awesome.

That's about it. There seems to be an unusually large number of spoke failures on those wheels.

Technically they have nothing going for them. They're aero pigs. They're not particularly light. As for their ability to spin up and accelerate like rocket: BS. The whole science thing says they won't accelerate markedly quicker than wheels with much higher MOI.

2-3 mph just changing wheels? That's unbelievable.

Someone will need to see their psychiatrist as it sounded remarkably like a case of "New Bike Syndrome".

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Glad ya like these $1400 wheels but a set of wheels that are not more aero and not lighter will not make you 2-3 mph faster than any other set. Energy to accelerate a bike and rider is the mass of the bike and rider. Aerodynamics play a much larger part in the equation than any piece of equipment where it takes something on the order of 85% of your energy to overcome the drag of mostly your very un aero body(nothing personal).

BUT if ya think they 'feel' better, groovy. If they mean ya ride more, better still. Your money, spend however you wish. I would find a shop that actually has some spare spokes tho. Right now, Mavic doesn't have any.

Yeah, no one in my club(on race days) who's bike I've noticed has them but they do have a good range of other race / fast wheels - so that says something to me about their lack of cred.

i don't get this... if the r-sys or even any SSC / higher end category mavic wheels were so ****ty in quality/design, how can the company still survive, famous and still be used or chosen in some races? yes they appear to be overpriced, but they should still be some good wheels
or is the mavic hate only in this forum

Probably a case of "I paid so much for these wheels that I better like them" . If you really do like them, you have probably trained a little better because you enjoyed it more, and that is where your increase in speed came from. Same thing happened to me with my first set of insanely priced wheels.

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One life, one chance. Don't waste it!

Ksyriums aren't ****ty wheels, but for what they are they're way overpriced and overhyped. They have "aero" spokes that aren't aero, and they're porky wheels. Ksyriums are a triumph of marketing.

The R-SYS wheels? Well, allegedly Mavic has pulled them from dealer shelves and is/may be working on a design revision. The spokes have had an unusual number of failures. As with the Ksyriums the R-SYS offer nothing that other much cheaper wheels have. The R-SYS veritably suck in aero terms. They're not uber light as Mavic claims, and while they may be stiff, there is zero evidence that wheel stiffness provides any performance gains whatsoever. If wheel stiffness were the Holy Grail of performance metrics, then Mavic should have pulled their Ksyrium line from the shelves and incinerated 'em because Ksryiums are far from stiff.

Cosmic Carbones, however, are great wheels.

'Hate' is a big word and there is nothing wrong with pointing out the poor design and engineering in this or anything else coupled with a way high price. We see $800-$1000 wheelsouttaboxes and wonder what you get for that money At least with Campag and shimano, you get a decent hubset. With all mavic wheels, you do not. 2 pawls and squeaky, draggy is not what I would want to get for $800+.

Like many things marketed aggressively, these show up on bikes. Some work fine for their owners but if we had the failure/service rate of the wheels we build of what we see on Krysiriums(we don't sell them), we would be a hurtin.

Is anyone really surprised by the allegedly high number of spoke failures? Hollow carbon fiber tubes, correct? No thank you - that's really not a good application of composite technology. I'll stick with stainless steel.

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Simplicity and reserve will be practiced and petty effects and frippery avoided.

When asked 'what's it for', like so much in bikes today, "it's for selling'.

I guess that I have been lucky with my R-SYS wheels. Purchased from Ebay seller, paid less than half of MSR, they were made in Sept, 09 and have the revised spokes. No problems with wheels staying in true. I am 6'2", 200 pounds. The bike feels faster and more responsive, climbs very nicely and holds a line well. If there are aero disadvantages, I can't feel them. My other wheels are Rolf Vector Pros which are very aero with their rim and spoke design and the R-Sys wheels feel just as fast and have a similar high average speed. Again, I may be lucky here, as the Rolfs had some bad issues in 2002 when I bought them with spoke failure and bearing issues, neither of which I have experienced.

They aren't bad $700 wheels.