Mavic | Back

Some happy news today and some interesting but ultimately annoying news to go with it.

My current, favourite wheelset maker, Mavic, looked to be teetering on the edge of permanently fading into history earlier this year when they went into receivership. There were suggestions of some financial shenanigans but everything seemed to turn out for the best when several companies ended up bidding to take the company out of receivership including a consortium lead by Hinault. The winner is the investment group, Bourrelier. And that was that.

At the start of this month, I noticed that some of the links on my site back to Mavic no longer existed and I thought the worst. Perhaps they had simply packed up shop? I didn’t check as I’d already got my job-lot of Mavic wheels and had no intention of changing them for a few years.

It turns out my thoughts of doom and gloom were wrong and, in the last few days, MBR magazine reports that Mavic ARE well and truly back in business. They have rationalised their product range and cut back on staff number. Let’s hope a leaner Mavic is here to stay.

That’s the good news.

Slowtwitch & Your Wheels

Then comes a well-written, detailed and interesting Slowtwitch article on wheels and tyres by Dan Empfield. No, I never thought the future of wheels and tyres would be that interesting either, but it was/is

We, kind of, all know that disc-brake road bikes, hydraulics and tubeless tech are here to stay despite some people (me) putting their heads in the sand, ignoring it and, indeed, investing in the contrarian position that is antiquated rim brakes. In my case, that’s Exalith rims from Mavic on my SLR/CXR wheelsets.

Anyway, Dan’s article presents a slightly bleaker picture for my future than I’d imagined. It seems that hookless, tubless is the future as the hookless design can give us a stronger, lighter wheel that’s also easier to make and in a competitive market, those cost-savings are important. That future naturally gives us wider road wheels but the hookless beads also give us a slightly more aero future and ‘slightly’ means it will happen.

Luckily my investment in old tech was in Mavic CXR aero wheels that have a cool-looking ‘blade’ which fills the gap between tyre and wheel – great for long course. They do seem fast but make a very strange whistling noise which I’m sure I won’t notice in a few years time. Maybe.