Mavic Crossmax 29″er Wheel Set: Final Review
October 11th, 2007 by Guitar TedEditors Note: This is the final installment on the Mavic Crossmax 29″er wheel set. In this installment Captain Bob relates his experience of riding these wheels in the Chequamegon Short and Fat event, part of the Fat Tire Festival.
Well folks, I have finally completed my testing of the Mavic Crossmax 29″er wheelset. If you remember from my first report on these wheels that I have never really ridden a “race” wheelset before and never before run tubeless. My intitial thoughts way back when was how light the wheels felt compared to my personal wheels. My total bike weight dropped 1.25 pounds when swapping out the XT-Alex-Geax Saguaro’s to the Mavic/Hutchinson combo. That was exciting to see such a weight savings. I am not a weight weenie, but was happy to have a lighter bike. How would they perform for me on the trail was still yet to be known.
You may remember that I was really liking the quickness that I was feeling with the Mavics. The uphills were easier for sure. I was also able to get up to speed a little quicker than my other set of wheels. I do think they have more flex than my XT/Alex wheelset. There is considerable more lateral flex with the Mavic’s. There is also the “springy feeling” that hasn’t gone away. I think the front hub is solid but there is something about the rim or spokes. I don’t know what it is. When I bunny hop or stand and pedal I get the feeling that the tracking of the front (and rear) is not true. Maybe I exceed the weight limit for them at 200lbs. I also notice the rear wheel squishing around when I carve a corner in the saddle. It’s difficult to put into words. The front wheel tracked much better in normal terrain that the XT/Alex. I don’t know why, but it did until things got a little more technical. The spokes never lost their proper tension and never came out of true. I lost track of my miles, but it is around 400.
During my trip to Chequamegon I was able to get in a few rides before the Saturday races. My buddies and I went to Rock Lake which turned out to be a perfect place for testing these wheels. At this point I was still unsure if I was going to ride these wheels in the race. Mainly due to the unwanted and unpredictable flex. The Rock Lake trail is full of, you guessed it, rocks. Nothing that can’t be ridden though. Also throw in tons of exposed tree roots. It was perfect! Man, I wish I lived right there. Anyway, the wheels worked just like they should and really the only time I noticed the flex was during slow off camber cornering. It was very noticeable but did not cause me to run off course or anything. So, I was more than happy with the performance and I made the decision to race them.
I raced the Short and Fat this year again. I just love that race. This was also my first year on a 29er too. I hit the first climbs and rode up them with some pretty good speed. As the race unfolded I stopped thinking about equipment at about mile 4. I think it was because everything was working as it should which caused me to not think about it. The wheels included. I was hitting rocks (I wasn’t trying to) and often times hit the side of a rock, but I never experienced any of the problems I listed already.
Last week I put back on my XT/Alex mounted with the Geax Saguaro’s and went for a spin. I did notice the weight immediately upon pedaling up my driveway towards the gravel road. They were much heavier but once up to speed they felt fine. On the couple of rides since the switch I have noticed a few differences. The Mavic’s were lighter, got up to speed quicker and climbed easier. The Mavics also had a noticeably faster free hub engagement. The XT/Alex wheelset rolled easier on the flats and small rollers but are slower at getting up to speed. The extra weight was noticeable on the climbs. However, the XT/Alex’s were stiffer to me when cornering and out of the saddle pedaling. The Mavic front hub is stiffer than the XT also.
I should also note that the rear hub came loose one more time which I noticed after the trip to Chequamegon. Nothing bad though, just a little loose.
So, I think for those of you who weigh less than me I don’t think you can go wrong with these wheels. I personally think I need something a little beefier. Maybe I just analyze things too much.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Captain Bob
Editors Note: I would only add that as a bit heavier rider than Captain Bob (240lbs) I also noted some lateral flex in the rear wheel mostly. I never really noticed a problem with the front wheel. As far as on the bike performance, I would definitely race these wheels; however, I wouldn’t use them for everyday trail riding at my weight. A lighter rider may get away with doing this. As a tubeless wheel, they work really well. Overall quality is very high. I would expect them to perform at a high level for a long time, based upon our experiences and Mavics past history. These get our recommendo for a race wheel that has the bonus of being tubeless compatible. Thanks to Mavic and Hutchinson for working with us on this test. Look for the Hutchinson Python final review soon.
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Thanks for such a thorough bit of testing and reviews on these wheels, I wish more bike sites did this sort of thing. It is very helpful, and seems like much more reliable information than one gets when one looks at user reviews where objectivity is rare.
Glad you enjoy and trust this info Vic. I feel the same way as you.
Definitely good info Bob. I don’t think I’d like the feeling of that rear wheel, especially at my 225-lb weight. I had a set of road race wheels that had were feather-light, but were very squirrely under hard cornering. Got rid of them and went to the slightly heavier, much less aero but more reliable Open Pros and never looked back.
I’m interested in the whole “tubeless” thing, but I’m not sure what the best route to go is… we’ll see.
BTW, did you ride a geared bike or singlespeed in the Short and Fat? If singlespeed, what was your gearing?
Dave.
I rode a geared bike. You didn’t aks for that gearing but in case anyone else wants to know I ran a 36 tooth up front and an 11-32 8sp cassette. I was just about right.
I never did notice any of the flex in the actual race. The wheels just worked great. Like they should.
I am curious if you ever checked the spoke tension throughout the test. Mavic spokes and hubs have a tendency to bed in with each other during initial use and spoke tension drops quite a bit. I am willing to bet that the tension is low, making the wheels feel soft.
Don Wardo: We recieved this set of wheels from Mavic after they had been demoed by others. I suspect that they were checked before delivery to us, but I can not verify this. Also, we had a local shop do the first hub adjustment for us and they did not find anything wrong or needing adjusting on the spoke tension.
The wheels have stayed in true and have been pretty stable all throughout the test period. They never got worse than they were when we got them, but saying “worse” is misleading, because they never were really bad in the first place.
I really feel that we as test riders were just a bit heavy for this wheels intended audience. (Although 29″er riders tend to have a proportionately bigger slice of the clydesdale market perhaps)
Our recommendation stands: If you weigh less than 200lbs, you will most likely not have a problem with the flex and these wheels should be great for you.
Thanks for the feedback Bob. I’m going to try and enter next year on my MC29er.
I just installed a set of these. I’m no pro evaluator but my riding says these are quite good for me. Tires mounted up quickly and the weight of the set is as advertised. Side-flex, top-flex, whatever flex. Most of us will never feel anything. Oh…rear hub purrs like a kitten.
EuroWheels: We agree with you! We are just pointing out that we, (Captain Bob and I) are both 200 plus pounds a piece and that heavier riders might expect to feel some flex. If you weigh under this amount, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that you can not feel any flex.
GT,
At 220, my wheels started to get real loose after about 200 miles. I went to 3 shops before I found one that had a park tension meter needed for the Mavics. They found that my spokes were way way loose with large variations in tension from spoke to spoke. I had the wheels tensioned to Mavics high spec of kg/.foot of 130 F and 140 R disc side tension. The difference is night and day! I was told that all mavic wheelsets get loose after initial riding, but once tensioned correctly, they stay solid for up to a couple of seasons before needing more attention.
ScottS: Thanks for that feedback. We’ve heard similar things from other Mavic owners. Obviously some that have commented here were aware of this too. (Don Wardo)
I think what you are saying falls right in with our findings. We are fairly certain that these test wheels will ride as we found them for quite some time. We didn’t get the opportunity to break them in out of the box, but I suspect that if we had, our experience might just have matched yours.
Update: Though I knocked the front wheel out of true and had to have touched up a bit, the wheels have remained in tension. However, i am now experiencing noise from the spokes. While riding along on normal single track, I can hear the front spokes rattling against each other. I confirmed this was the spokes by taking the wheel off, holding the disc in my hand, removing the skewer and flicking a spoke with my finger. Sure enough, they rattle. This is very annoying. WHile in the stand, if i spin the back wheel and close the brakes hard, I hear some rattling as well.
I may be ebaying these wheels soon and going to a Hope PII/ Bontrager Duster 32 spoke build. I’d rathe be quiet than light as nothing ruins confidence like a rattle.
Anyone seen similar traights out of Mavics?
Mine rattle too. Think it has to be a tension issue. I love the lightness but you’re right the rattle is way too annoying.