Mavic Aksium Wheel Failures

[jza86058]

Hi,

In Sept 08 I bought a set of Mavic Aksium to commute to work on. About a month later the rear wheel basically collapsed, two spokes broke away from the hub and the rim weld failed leaving me with a long walk home. I bought the wheels from Ribble, and they quickly replaced the first wheel with no fuss, however, here we are one month on and last Friday the replacement rear broke in a similar way. This time, only one spoke pulled away from the hub so at least I could still get home but it's pretty rubbish all the same. I do race bikes and the wheels have both failed on the same short sharp climb but I only weigh 65Kg (probably putting out no more than 300-350w at the time the wheels broke) so I would have thought better of Mavic.

Any body else had this problem ?

Jon

 

[nurul]

Hi,

In Sept 08 I bought a set of Mavic Aksium to commute to work on. About a month later the rear wheel basically collapsed, two spokes broke away from the hub and the rim weld failed leaving me with a long walk home. I bought the wheels from Ribble, and they quickly replaced the first wheel with no fuss, however, here we are one month on and last Friday the replacement rear broke in a similar way. This time, only one spoke pulled away from the hub so at least I could still get home but it's pretty rubbish all the same. I do race bikes and the wheels have both failed on the same short sharp climb but I only weigh 65Kg (probably putting out no more than 300-350w at the time the wheels broke) so I would have thought better of Mavic.

Any body else had this problem ?

Jon

I have heard nothing but great things about the Aksiums but...interesting mention Ribble. I bought a pair of Campag Proton wheels in about 2004. I noticed that it was ridiculous hard to get the pro race tyre on in the comfort of my bedroom. I rued the day I would puncture out on the road. After very miles I started getting punctures, weighed 60kg back then, and recently started using them on Barcelona roads after having brought them over. Noticed started puncturing again. Looked at eyelets and noticed that the rip tape was not covering them. Chaged rim tape for ultra narrow and still had same problem. More punctures. Looked for slightly wider rim tape but cos they were 1mm wider it meant putting a tyre back on was almost impossible. Broke 3 tyre levers and in the end Campag Vittoria agreed to give me a new set in October 2008 after having pruchased them from Ribble in about 2004. The wheels, it turned out were defective. Dozens of split inner tubes later I knew I was right. So, is Ribble selling off dodgy wheels or is this pure coincidence. I am not saying that they are trying it on with customers but cos my Protons where in the UK whilst I was out in Barcelona, I didn-t use them enough to warrant doing anything. Those Aksiums are meant to be solid entry level wheels and have excellent write ups in all non biased magazines.

 

[larryaus]

UOTE=jza86058]Hi,


In Sept 08 I bought a set of Mavic Aksium to commute to work on. About a month later the rear wheel basically collapsed, two spokes broke away from the hub and the rim weld failed leaving me with a long walk home. I bought the wheels from Ribble, and they quickly replaced the first wheel with no fuss, however, here we are one month on and last Friday the replacement rear broke in a similar way. This time, only one spoke pulled away from the hub so at least I could still get home but it's pretty rubbish all the same. I do race bikes and the wheels have both failed on the same short sharp climb but I only weigh 65Kg (probably putting out no more than 300-350w at the time the wheels broke) so I would have thought better of Mavic.

Any body else had this problem ?

I bought a pair of Mavic Kysium SSL 2 years ago and within one month the rear hub stripped the inside. It took 2 months to get it back and within 2 months it did the same again and once again 2 months later a new one came back. I have not used it since so I just use the Mavic Pro which I have never had any trouble with.

Jon[/QUOTE]

 

[dsg1957]

Jza86058

I am very interested in the Aksium wheel failure. I am an attorney in Sacramento, California and I have a client whose rear Aksium separated the seam while riding. He was injured and we have a pending lawsuit against Mavic. Do you still have your damaged wheel? If so, I would be interested in buying it from you. If you sent it back to Mavic for replacement, I am very interested in where you sent it, who you spoke with, when, and if they gave you a replacement.

Feel free to call me at (916) 447-5697

Daniel S. Glass
Sacramento, California

 

[frankiemuniz01]

Just wondering how many of you carry a gun as part of your cycling equipment? Here in Arizona we can legally carry open and concealed (concealed with permit).

For long distance touring and bicycle camping... I think I'd feel safer carrying my .45 semi-auto pistol (concealed so it doesn't freak people out).

Anyone else carry while biking?

 

[canuck7]

i struggled to believe this guy-he carries a .45 pistol o his pushbike? i wish...over here in not so jolly any more old england it is dangerous to cycle in the country on yer own too..crazy car drivers
see cyclists as fare game to try and knock them off,pistols are illegal here of course but an ammonia squirter is on my carry list this summer..

 

[danfoz]

I beat my '09 Aksiums to **** for a season with no problems. Only about 75kg/165lbs though.

 

[vspa]

Hi, In Sept 08 I bought a set of Mavic Aksium to commute to work on. About a month later the rear wheel basically collapsed, two spokes broke away from the hub and the rim weld failed leaving me with a long walk home. I bought the wheels from Ribble, and they quickly replaced the first wheel with no fuss, however, here we are one month on and last Friday the replacement rear broke in a similar way. This time, only one spoke pulled away from the hub so at least I could still get home but it's pretty rubbish all the same. I do race bikes and the wheels have both failed on the same short sharp climb but I only weigh 65Kg (probably putting out no more than 300-350w at the time the wheels broke) so I would have thought better of Mavic. Any body else had this problem ? Jon

i didn't even tried to get a compensation, mine lasted longer though, we just took the hub (i broke an eyelet on the rear wheel) an adapted it into a different new rim by slightly bending DT 2.0 mm steel spokes, i gave the shop owner a bunch of the Mavic spokes, that sell for 6 to 8 dollars a piece, for his shop, and decided never to buy propietary wheels for a while !

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Carry? Yes, but not a .45 ACP. Way too large and too heavy.

I just finished putting 7K miles on Aksiums this season. They stayed perfectly true. I never had to put a spoke wrench on them (although I did remove twist from a couple of spokes). I weigh 172-175 Lbs. Very rough roads here in Ohio. They are on the flexible side, but make an acceptable training wheel.

 

[alienator]

i didn't even tried to get a compensation, mine lasted longer though, we just took the hub (i broke an eyelet on the rear wheel) an adapted it into a different new rim by slightly bending DT 2.0 mm steel spokes, i gave the shop owner a bunch of the Mavic spokes, that sell for 6 to 8 dollars a piece, for his shop, and decided never to buy propietary wheels for a while !

I don't feel any love for any of the wheels in Mavic's current line-up, and I've got the opposite of love for the delrin freehub bushing that they have used. Once I was given a set of Mavic Cosmos, and they were thoroughly unimpressive. After a few test rides on a bike with Mavic Ksyrium Elites, my impression was "meh". I would however have a go at Mavic's non-public M40 wheel or even better, the rim:

The soon to be released Cosmic Carbone 60 could be interesting, too........once the decals were removed.

Both are wide rims that appear to have rim profiles similar to those of Enve, Zipp, and some prototype Shimano wheels.

I beat my '09 Aksiums to **** for a season with no problems. Only about 75kg/165lbs though.

The Aksiums apparently have held up quite well for a number of people. They're good enough to keep and ride into the ground before opting for something better.

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by alienator .


The Aksiums apparently have held up quite well for a number of people. They're good enough to keep and ride into the ground before opting for something better.

Yup, apart from the potential proprietary spoke availability issue vspa mentioned. Can always be ordered but may not suffice at an LBS out in the sticks with limited stock.

 

[canuck7]

hi, if we could carry here i think a lot more of these nobhead car drivers would think twice..high powered handheld laser methinks?..oh sorry they're illegal here too,in fact everything is illegal here now. anyway i originally got on these threads cuz i'm biulding an italian framed special and was thinking about a secondhand mavic ksyrium front wheel off fleabay which i've since bought and its arrived..looks nice,but there's seems to be a bit of drag when i spin it..seems common from online comments about them.once thing puzzles me,how does a wheel allow you to "get up to speed quickly", but "de-accelerate quickly" if you stop pedalling?!,sounds contradictory to me!,dare say i'll find out when i get bike on the road,stay safe..peter

 

[David Gerchman]

Its simple man, Less rotational mass. less rotational mass spins up quick and spins down quick. once the lighter mass is spun up it has less energy than a heaver mass at the same rpm. less energy =less required to slow it down.

 

[alienator]

Its simple man, Less rotational mass. less rotational mass spins up quick and spins down quick. once the lighter mass is spun up it has less energy than a heaver mass at the same rpm. less energy =less required to slow it down.

...and the moment of inertia of bicycle wheels is pretty damned small. In fact, it's a very minor player when compared to bike/rider system weight. Aerodynamics are a much bigger factor on the flats, and aerodynamics dominate until grades get fairly steep. Then it's not a wheel's MOI that dominates but is again bike/rider system weight that dominates after the point where the two different acceleration functions cross.

 

[JvWeel]

Hi Daniel I know your post on Mavic Wheel failure was sometime ago however I was wondering if you have further information. In September my near new Ksyrium front wheel collapsed with 3 spokes coming away from the hub. Of course there is damage to the rim but hard to tell if that happened before or after. I got busted up pretty badly for a low speed incident. John

 

[larryaus]

UOTE=jza86058]Hi,


In Sept 08 I bought a set of Mavic Aksium to commute to work on. About a month later the rear wheel basically collapsed, two spokes broke away from the hub and the rim weld failed leaving me with a long walk home. I bought the wheels from Ribble, and they quickly replaced the first wheel with no fuss, however, here we are one month on and last Friday the replacement rear broke in a similar way. This time, only one spoke pulled away from the hub so at least I could still get home but it's pretty rubbish all the same. I do race bikes and the wheels have both failed on the same short sharp climb but I only weigh 65Kg (probably putting out no more than 300-350w at the time the wheels broke) so I would have thought better of Mavic.

Any body else had this problem ?

I bought a pair of Mavic Kysium SSL 2 years ago and within one month the rear hub stripped the inside. It took 2 months to get it back and within 2 months it did the same again and once again 2 months later a new one came back. I have not used it since so I just use the Mavic Pro which I have never had any trouble with.

Jon

[/QUOTE]
I am having too many spokes that break at just the wrong time how long do you think spokes should last I have not problems with the Mavis Pro set of wheels.