Mavic’s taken four of their most popular wheels and tweaked them to get lighter, add 11-speed compatibility and make the Exalith brake track a bit quieter.
Above, the Cosmic Carbone SLE gets a full makeover that blends the best features of the SL and SLR. It keeps the Exalith brake track treatment but gets a more aero hub that shares the CXR’s aero flanges and lighter stainless steel aero spokes. Weight drops from 1755g to 1620g. $2,000 retail for the wheels, tires, tubes, skewers and wheel bags.
Not shown, the Cosmic Carbone 80 may eventually get replaced by the fancy new Cosmic CXR 80, but hangs in there and gets a significant weight drop thanks to new hubs that share the CXR’s aero flanges just without the carbon center section. Weight drops from 1740g down to 1640g.
Lots more wheels to see, plus a jump into trail helmets and new shoes for all types of riding…
The R-Sys SLR is another model merger that combines the 2012 SL and SLR to replace the SL and become 100g lighter. It’s now their lightest clincher wheelset at just 1295g…for an alloy rimmed pair of hoops! It has the Exalith brake track, gets ISM 3D machining, the first time they’ve combined the sidewall machining (below the brake track, natch) with Exalith. More weight savings come from lighter bearings (smaller ID) and alloy axles. They also fixed the preload (i.e. it’s not adjustable like most of their hubs) like on the 2012 SL, which saves a lot of weight compared to the adjustable hubs. $2,200 with tire system.
The Exalith surface texture and brake pads are revised to be quieter. The curve radius of the grooves is a bit mellower and the profile is more symmetric versus the slight sawtooth profile it had originally. Mavic’s U.S. PR manager Zack Vestal says most of the noise reduction comes from the new brake pad compound and a revised groove shape on the pads. These new pads replace the originals and are backward compatible with current Exalith rims.
The Ksyrium SL S is a major rework of the Ksyrium platform. It adds ISM 3D machining on the rim, which alone saves 10-15g per wheel, and the rear hub gets a new freehub body that has a longer axle to give it a larger bore through the freehub body and shorter nut on the end. These new freehub bodies and axles do use different size bearings but will be backward compatible with just about any Mavic road wheel and will save 20-30g. For the Ksyrium SL S, this puts the wheelset at just 1,395g for an all alloy build.
Across the range, most Mavic road wheels now come with tires (only four don’t), and their tires have a new lighter, grippier compound.
They launched most of the 2013 mountain bike wheels at Sea Otter, and now the Crosstrail gets the new ITS-4 rear hub to give it maximum compatibility with any axle standard. The rim is ISM machined and gets the Crossmax’s rounder profile for better stiffness. Weight is 1650g and MSRP $600.
Plasma helmets get a new lighter, lower profile retention mech (10-15g savings) and a new white color. Not shown is a new entry level road helmet called the Espoir that’ll retail for $99 and looks very similar to the Plasma, just with a bit softer edges.
There’s a new trail helmet called Notch that comes in at $110 and completes their trail clothing collection. Weight should be in the low 300s, but these were very light preproduction samples that weren’t worth weighing to verify.
There’s a full sized visor and the straps lay in a recessed section of padding to improve comfort, just like the road helmets.
Notch jersey and shorts are designed to work together aesthetically, and the shorts looked outstanding and were super light. The material and look is deceptive…it appears thick, but it’s quite lightweight and thin with a nice brushed interior finish. Also available in black.
Entry level trail shoes Alpine (left) and Cruise mountain bike/lifestyle shoes get updated and look really good.
The new Scree mountain bike shoe is a heavy duty trail shoe that’s sort of like a high top Alpine. On the right is the Ergo SL casual shoe with an upper that looks like a performance road bike kick but with a soft, low profile treaded outsole that’s just made for walkin’.
The $349 Tri Helium is updated with a new sole, upper and strap. Upper is the lightweight mesh from the Huez and the carbon sole is from the SLR with vented cutouts. Strap is a cut-to-fit design (trim to length) and opens super wide for easy entry.
