Mavic Krysium ES

sogood said:

Does anyone have any opinion on this Ksyrium ES wheelset from Mavic?

It looked fantastic and it's nicely light, but rather pricy.

What do people think? Excluding custom built wheels, do people think the price is justified from a technical point of view? And how do people like the ride of the wheels? Any other comments?

Thanks.

Short answer, depends on how much its worth to you.

If you don't need the light weight, don't need the bling factor etc. the $1500 that retail outlets are asking for it is probably not going to be worth it.

I think what you may really be asking is whether this wheel is good value for money compared to other offerings on the market - my opinion is that there are better value wheels out there. Try Easton, FSA, and DT wheels for starters. The Shimano Ultegra and DA wheels are very good value, IMHO, as are the Velocity custom built sets.

HTH,

n

Thanks for the pointers. For me, the lighter weight would help given the hills we have locally.

I guess a better question to ask is whether there is any known technical problems with Ksyrium ES wheelsets? Apart from cost, is there anything bad with the wheel per people's perception?

sogood said:

Thanks for the pointers. For me, the lighter weight would help given the hills we have locally.

Whereabouts in Sydney are you?

If that's the case, then you'll probably notice as much of an effect from:
1) losing weight (assuming you have excess weight to lose) and becoming a stronger rider (assuming that you're not already as strong as you can be); and
2) chainging the gearing - either by whacking on a smaller gear on the back, or switching to a compact crank/triple (assuming of course that you want to do this and are not already riding a 34/27 on the back).

These things are much better value for money (in that order) than investing in a new wheelset.

sogood said:

I guess a better question to ask is whether there is any known technical problems with Ksyrium ES wheelsets? Apart from cost, is there anything bad with the wheel per people's perception?

Try RoadBikeReview.com - you'll find heaps of opinions there on the Ksyrium ES and others.

HTH,

n

The Ksyrium ES is a beautiful wheelset and well made. A while ago I decided to define some performance parameters such as moment of inertia, bearing friction, and aerodynamics and figure out a way to measure them. I haven't measured many wheels yet, but I have measured a brand new set of ES's.

What I found was that the large aluminum spokes gave it the aerodynamics of a regular 32-hole wheel with round spokes. The moment of inertia is good, but not the best. The bearings are also good, but there seems to be a small bit of drag in the seals. A good wheel, but not the best performance. Of course, this comparison does not include tings like build quality and durability.

Interestingly, the best wheels I've measured so far were an older set of Shimano WH-540's. They were so good that I'm hunting down a pair of similar WH-7701's...

John Swanson
www.bikephysics.com

I road both the ES and SL. I had a hard time telling the two apart. Both are stiff, fast, and light. I could not justify the extra money for the red spoke on the ES so I got the SL and saved money. Both are great wheels but you get a litte more bling from the ES if your willing to pay.

Is the ES and SL the same apart from colour?

sogood said:

Is the ES and SL the same apart from colour?

The ES & SL are very different wheels. The ES is a much lighter & is more of a climbing specific wheel.

Here's from the Mavic site

SL Wheels

WEIGHT
Ø 700 clincher: front 680 g, rear 855 g (ED10)
Ø 700 tubular: front 680 g, rear 855 g (ED10)

RIMS
Material: Maxtal
ISM lightened
Joint: SUP welded
Braking surface: UB Control
Finishing (color): bright silver anodized
Drilling: Fore technology, Ø M

SPOKES
Material: Zicral
Type: silver, ultra profiled straight pull
Count: front 18, rear 20
Lacing: front radial, rear Isopulse lacing concept

HUBS
Front: ultra light composite body
Integrated free wheel mechanism: FTS-L system
Adjustable, removable and sealed cartridge bearings

ES Wheels

WEIGHT
Ø 700 clincher: front 645 g, rear 840 g (ED10)
Ø 700 tubular: front 630 g, rear 840 g (ED10)

RIMS
Material: Maxtal
Color: black anodized
Profile height: front 22 mm, rear 25 mm
Joint: SUP welded
Drilling: Fore
Braking surface: UB Control
Lightweight: ISM
Valve: valve hole Ø: 6.5 mm

SPOKES
Material: Zicral
Type: straight pull, profiled, black
Nipples: M7 aluminum with locking rings
Count: front 18, rear 20
Lacing pattern: front radial, rear Isopulse lacing concept

HUBS
Front body: carbon, oversize + aluminum walls,
rear body: oversize, aluminum alloy, red Front axle: aluminum, rear: aluminum and titanium
Bearing: QRM+
Free wheel system: FTS-L

remdog said:

The ES & SL are very different wheels. The ES is a much lighter & is more of a climbing specific wheel.

Huh? Basically all that says is the wheels other than colour are virtually identical. The weight difference is a whopping 50 odd grams </sarcasm>.

From memory the only significant difference I'm aware of is the profile of the rear rim on the SL's is marginally deeper.

Will the average rider be able to tell the difference in ride, probably not. Certainly no rider on the planet is going to be able to difference in the weights of the wheels by riding them.

--brett

IMO, the price of these Mavic wheels isn't justified either on performance or durability, particularly for club riders like me who don't race. A rider last month popped a rear spoke on her SLs, and the wheel went out of true so much she couldn't ride home from the mid-point of a 60 mile club ride. Wheel was less than two years old, and not abused either.

Besides, for real weight savings on a big climb, just dump the contents of your two 750 g water bottles....and buy drinks at the next convenience store after the summit. That could be 1000 grams or more savings, and at low cost.

Most of the strongest climbers and racers around here seem to train on hills and ride lots of road miles on standard 32 spoke wheels which will take abuse and can be rebuilt. They may have special race wheels for TT and crits, but that's not what they train on everyday.

Sorry to come off negative here, but you asked for opinions. I'm sure people who've bought these wheels and had good luck with them will have a different point of view.

sideshow_bob said:

Huh? Basically all that says is the wheels other than colour are virtually identical. The weight difference is a whopping 50 odd grams </sarcasm>.

That comes down to the essence of cycling gears doesn't it? A 200g difference in weight on wheels can lead to over $400 difference in price. And here we are talking about a quarter of that. So for the weight weenies, it is significant in cycling term.

dhk2 said:

IMO, the price of these Mavic wheels isn't justified either on performance or durability, particularly for club riders like me who don't race. A rider last month popped a rear spoke on her SLs, and the wheel went out of true so much she couldn't ride home from the mid-point of a 60 mile club ride. Wheel was less than two years old, and not abused either.

Besides, for real weight savings on a big climb, just dump the contents of your two 750 g water bottles....and buy drinks at the next convenience store after the summit. That could be 1000 grams or more savings, and at low cost.

Most of the strongest climbers and racers around here seem to train on hills and ride lots of road miles on standard 32 spoke wheels which will take abuse and can be rebuilt. They may have special race wheels for TT and crits, but that's not what they train on everyday.

Sorry to come off negative here, but you asked for opinions. I'm sure people who've bought these wheels and had good luck with them will have a different point of view.

I took note of the comments on roadbikereview.com where people said that Mavic wheels can be problematic from a spare parts and repair point of view. I checked with my LBS (supposedly a Mavic Cat A or something dealer) yesterday and they said that they can always get parts from Mavic the next day and can fix any problem in the shop after that. The worst down time would be 2-3 days. I guess there are regional differences to Mavic support.

I'm 200Lbs and have been riding SSL's for 21 months and almost 4000 miles, they still run perfectly true....I'll deffinately be using the same Wheels, or whatever the latest version is, on my New Bike in December...hope I have the same luck !!

sogood said:

I took note of the comments on roadbikereview.com where people said that Mavic wheels can be problematic from a spare parts and repair point of view. I checked with my LBS (supposedly a Mavic Cat A or something dealer) yesterday and they said that they can always get parts from Mavic the next day and can fix any problem in the shop after that. The worst down time would be 2-3 days. I guess there are regional differences to Mavic support.

Having a good LBS definitely helps with the current Mavic models. You get into problems when a few years down the road Mavic changes their design and your LBS can no longer get the components you need.

nerdag said:

1) losing weight (assuming you have excess weight to lose) and becoming a stronger rider (assuming that you're not already as strong as you can be);

+1. No point in worring about 100gms on the wheel if you are carrying an extra 5kg on the gut.

nerdag said:

2) chainging the gearing - either by whacking on a smaller gear on the back, or switching to a compact crank/triple (assuming of course that you want to do this and are not already riding a 34/27 on the back).

+1 (mabyee). Over the north side (where you live?) its a bit hilly, so you may find that your current bottom gear isn't low enough. Changing the gears is cheaper than new wheels.

When I broke my rear wheel, I replaced it with a cheap, heavy, very stiff wheel and I've found that I gun it up the hills a little better, so what I have learnt is that stiffness and/or power transfer is more important in the rear wheel than weight. I beleive that these Mavic Krysium wheels have good stiffness?

Anyway, when you meet Lindsay on Sunday, he will be a tower of knowledge.

BTW, take something like a chocolate bar or whatever on the ride on Sunday.

Cheers Michael.

sideshow_bob said:

Certainly no rider on the planet is going to be able to difference in the weights of the wheels by riding them.

Don't be so sure. No matter how small the difference, there is always some bozo who will claim they can feel it. People will say their new wheels spin easier than their old (less expensive) pair and they can feel it while riding. Go read reviews of Chris King hubs and you will find people complaining about how the stiction due to the better bearing seals is slowing them down, like they can feel that at 35 kph.

It seems there are quite a few cyclists that would be financially better off if they quit their day jobs and rented themselves out as precision measuring equipment.

Bro Deal said:

Having a good LBS definitely helps with the current Mavic models. You get into problems when a few years down the road Mavic changes their design and your LBS can no longer get the components you need.

I guess the question is that, what are people's expectation in terms of service life for a set of wheels? I don't have preconceived time frame in mind (5 yrs perhaps) but is interested to hear from others. I also understand that the cartridge bearing (the likely maintenance part along with spokes) can be easily replaced by a regular bearing supplier as there's a common spec for them. As for spokes, maybe it's worthwhile to just buy a few and serve as a reserve.

Bro Deal said:

Having a good LBS definitely helps with the current Mavic models. You get into problems when a few years down the road Mavic changes their design and your LBS can no longer get the components you need.

I doubt that there will be any problem getting parts. Anyway you would just take it to a wheel builder.

mikesbytes said:

+1. No point in worring about 100gms on the wheel if you are carrying an extra 5kg on the gut.

+1 (mabyee). Over the north side (where you live?) its a bit hilly, so you may find that your current bottom gear isn't low enough. Changing the gears is cheaper than new wheels.

When I broke my rear wheel, I replaced it with a cheap, heavy, very stiff wheel and I've found that I gun it up the hills a little better, so what I have learnt is that stiffness and/or power transfer is more important in the rear wheel than weight. I beleive that these Mavic Krysium wheels have good stiffness?

Anyway, when you meet Lindsay on Sunday, he will be a tower of knowledge.

BTW, take something like a chocolate bar or whatever on the ride on Sunday.

Cheers Michael.

I am in Birchgrove, it's hilly enough for my still whimpy legs. I am using that climb on Lilyfield Rd and the uphill roads within Balmain Cove development for some heavier uphill workout. But any instant gratification in the meantime is still appreciated, and not even talking about the geeky fun in upgrading things. 😉

I am also working out to see if a 13-26 cassette would suit me better, although the LBS guy hinted that I don't need to be that whimpy as I already have a 30 chainring at the front.

Right now I have the Krysium ES on my bike on trial with 700x23 GP4000. I have a few weeks to decide if I'll keep it. If so, I'll use the new wheel for weekend rides and keep the Fulcrum 1 (UltraSport 700x25) that came with the bike for local commute and exercises, and possibly have a different cassette on each. Slowly, I think I can collect enough spare hardware to build my next bike from these parts... Evil strategy that my wife hasn't yet noticed. 😄

Yes, I would look forward to meeting Lindsay, but just heard that one of my buddy had an injury two days ago. We'll find out if he is ok to go on Sunday. I guess we can always do the ride half way and turn back should we be not quite fit enough. And then gradually build up the strength over time.

Thanks again for your comments.

mikesbytes said:

I doubt that there will be any problem getting parts. Anyway you would just take it to a wheel builder.

Try finding a Mavic Helium 26 hole front rim...