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Mavic goes wide w/ new Crossmax Pro & Elite – Boost spacing & wider, hookless rims!

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2017 Mavic Crossmax Pro wheel tire system for cross country mountain bikes

You might say “about time”, but Mavic’s Crossmax wheel lineup has just spread its rims and hubs out to modern standards. And, they switched to a hookless bead wall, which is a big departure from their usual UST compliant design (UPDATE: See response from Mavic below). Then they gave it a new, wider tire option that’s designed specifically for these new wider rims.

Available in two versions, both the Pro and Elite versions get ISM4D machined Maxtal rims in 27.5 and 29er sizes, and both with standard, Boost and Lefty Supermax hub options with all common axle standards accommodated. And both have the new 22mm internal width and hookless Maxtal rims. That’s up from 19mm on the prior generation Crossmax Pro, which gets them inline with modern XC wheels. That’s not the the widest available, but just as with their new Cosmic and Ksyrium Pro Carbon SL road wheels, they are selling them as a wheel-tire system with tires optimized specifically for this rim width…

2017 Mavic Crossmax Elite wheel tire system for cross country mountain bikes

The Crossmax Elite comes in at $750 for the set, including tires, quick release, thru axle hub adapters, and tubeless rim tape, valve stems and sealant. They use 24 straight pull bladed and double butted spokes and traditional rim drilling.

2017 Mavic Crossmax Elite wheel tire system for cross country mountain bikes

The Crossmax Elite’s hubs are all aluminum bodies with their latest ITS-4 pawl system with two working at any time for 7.5º of engagement. Choose from black or red graphics. Claimed weights for just the wheels are 1,565g (27.5) and 1,615g (29er).

2017 Mavic Crossmax Pro wheel tire system for cross country mountain bikes

The Crossmax Pro, shown at top, upgrades to a Fore drilled rim, which chases threads directly into the rim. Then, the nipples for their fatter Zicral aluminum spokes are threaded directly into it. This means no spoke holes on the inside of the rim bed, so you won’t need to use tape to set them up tubeless. They also get higher end hubs, with the front using a carbon fiber shell between the alloy flanges. Claimed weights are 1,535g (27.5) and 1,590 (29er), retail is $1,099 (€1,000 / £765).

Included are the Pulse Pro single-ply, mixed compound tires in either 2.1 or 2.25 widths. Claimed weights are:

  • 27.5 x 2.10 – 580g
  • 27.5 x 2.25 – 640g
  • 29 x 2.10 – 620g
  • 29 x 2.25 – 680g

2017-mavic-crossmax-pro-elite-mountain-bike-wheels-rim-profile

UPDATE: According to Mavic, who were the originators of the UST design and own the patent (it’s an open patent, anyone can use it), the UST standard doesn’t dictate inner sidewall features. Per Mavic, basically the main UST details that are key are:

  • the humps design, where the tire beads stays in place, to avoid air leaks, locking them in place,
  • the central groove, round for 3 years, no more square as first ust generation design, to ease the mount with minimum air input,
  • the precise measurements complying with ISO and ETRTO regulations to ensure tire compatibility and safety. That’s a key element.

“The rim aisles don’t ‘participate’ to locking the tire in place so we removed them,” Michel Lethenet, Mavic’s global PR manager, told us. “Consequently the rim is now a bit lighter too. Hooks are not considered in the UST standard we invented, patented (open), back in 1999. This is still an independent lab that’s evaluating and validating any new tire model to provide the UST compatibility approval or not.”

Mavic.com

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31 Comments
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Rapha
Rapha
7 years ago

OMG!! They are as wide as my road wheels!

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
7 years ago
Reply to  Rapha

Yup, new, 2007 tech

Ano
Ano
7 years ago

22mm Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Volsung
Volsung
7 years ago

Groundbreaking game changer! Their mad scientists are really pushing rim technology to the limits.

Tupac
Tupac
7 years ago

22mm? Wait, yesterday was #throwbackthursday…

bearCol
bearCol
7 years ago

You guys making fun of narrow dimensions realize only a few tires out right now are designed for anything much wider. The biggest joke in cycling is wide rims without matching tires. Go over 25mm and just about every tire on the market is squared off. There’s like a handful of tires just now hitting the market that are actually designed around wide rims. It’s the guys at mavic that are laughing at you trendy posers not the other way around. I’m sure Mavic will offer wide rims once more tires are designed around wider dimensions. They are smart enough to match rim width with tires on the market rather than blindly follow trends. That said, everything is pointing towards todays wider trend sticking unlike back in the early 2000’s when wide rims died out because tires were too squared off.

Tim
Tim
7 years ago
Reply to  bearCol

You may be technically right, but tires last a season or two at most. Wheels can run for a decade, so should be a little ahead of tires in terms of standards. Plus, Mavic is ignoring the masses that have been happy with their “trendy” wide tires, and I think that’ll relegate them (Mavic) to bikes more adherent to old trends, like 2.1″ tires and triple chainrings.

steve
steve
7 years ago
Reply to  bearCol

BearCol, I hate to disagree but there are many tires on the market that work with wide rims. Companies like Maxxis have had to make new tires just for wide rims as they didn’t have tires that worked well but others like Schwalbe / WTB already have many tires in the line that work great.

bbb
bbb
7 years ago
Reply to  bearCol

25mm inner width is not going to “square off” high volume tyres.

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
7 years ago
Reply to  bearCol

You’re drinking Mavic BS. Most tires only get squared off if you go insanely wide like 35 or 40 and even then, some are fine. These are still narrow rims. They won’t square off any tires

Groghunter
Groghunter
7 years ago
Reply to  bearCol

Here’s the thing though: most of their new wheelsets, including this one, are designed and sold as systems, including the tire. From the article: “The Crossmax Elite comes in at $750 for the set, including tires,”

So Mavic is investing in a tire mold(multiple ones, really,) but specifically choosing to engineer that tire to work with a narrow rim. That’s not catering to the existing crop of tires, that’s building a system ignoring the fact that the market is no longer interested in that design. That’s them saying that the trend of wider rims is a fad.

Sometimes, that’s true. full length 1.5″ steerers didn’t last very long, for instance, & it’s possible we’ll see “normal” tire sizes converge on something on the narrower end of the new widths, like 30mm. But we aren’t going back to 22mm rims, & they need to get with the times.

bbb
bbb
7 years ago

Does anyone actually buy Mavic stuff these days?

Their engineers need to realise that the rim widths that other companies quote are internal not external 😉

Ano
Ano
7 years ago

“It’s the guys at mavic that are laughing at you trendy posers not the other way around.”

Shall we let the sales decide?

bbb
bbb
7 years ago
Reply to  Ano

Like many other open minded and curious people I started using much wider (than the norm) rims and tyres both on a road and MTB bike way before they became “trendy”… You know, some people go mindlessly with the flow, some question existing “norms” and standards.
What we are seeing now is not a fad but logical inevitable evolution of which Mavic isn’t a part.

bearCol
bearCol
7 years ago
Reply to  Ano

I agree that the majority or riders prefer wider rims regardless of tire profile, and I agree mavic is viewed as old school, resistant to trends, and their sales are probably suffering. I’m just stating a fact that most tires save for the few new tires that just hit the market are designed around narrower standards. Don’t forget guys, these are xc wheels so 2.1 to 2.2 is what they are designed for.

Anyone that doesn’t think their tires are squared off with 25mm or wider, just check your rear tire’s shoulder lugs. You’ll notice they are worn similarly though not to the same extent to the backside of your center lugs because they get in on the action during straight line braking and shallow angled cornering braking. Run a narrower rim same tire and notice you won’t see the same wear because the shoulder lugs aren’t flattened out. Whether you prefer that or not is subjective, but the facts are most tires aren’t designed to engage the shoulder lugs so much during straight line braking or at shallow angle cornering. There’s a number of pro reviews that back this up, but for some reason people just don’t like to hear this?

I have nothing against wide rims. I ran 30mm internal double wides back in the day with gazza 2.6 tires (never tired the 3.0). I currently own 28mm, 26mm, 25mm, 24mm, and 23mm rims. Tire profile is something that shouldn’t be overlooked and just because you don’t feel your tire is too square doesn’t mean you aren’t compromising. I welcome tires designed around wider rims because wider helps with tubeless. It’s worth the weight penalty, but it’s not worth a crapy profile.

Mortimer E G
Mortimer E G
7 years ago

Grrr. Have had nothing but problems with every straight pull spoked hub from Mavic. Would be nice if the spokes broke before the spoke seat broke/cracked. Just out of warranty it was impossible to get a replacement hub. Also had trouble with freehub bodies falling apart. Mavic might be onto it with fashionable graphics and colours but not with quality control or good engineering. Good for people that like to “play dress up”.

jim rawson
jim rawson
7 years ago

22 inner width and 2.1 tires….wow! haha…

jim rawson
jim rawson
7 years ago
Reply to  jim rawson

of course this is fine if you are aiming for the shrinking world cup xc style riders.

Myke
Myke
7 years ago

@bearcol you may be right but you are actually more wrong then right. The problem with Mavic is they are riding iso standards. Well what’s wrong with that (in the us)? Mountain bikers are increasingly buying wider rims because where you think tires are not designed for wider rims they have been working awesome for many riders the last few seasons! Lots of tires work for this application without issue.

The bigger deal is consumer perception. This is something Mavic can’t argue with. If your not producing products to the standards people expect your status as a player in the market diminishes and it is a very competitive market in the US. Mark the times you see Mavic wheelsets on newer bikes on the trail.

bearCol
bearCol
7 years ago
Reply to  Myke

The market is 100% about consumer perception and that’s part of the problem. We would all benefit from companies not following trends simply because that’s what’s selling at the time. Yes wide rims are becoming the norm and tires designed around wider rims are starting to hit the market. Facts are it’s still a split market as far as tires designed around older widths and those designed for wider widths even for AM/DH tires. These are xc wheels. To my knowledge there are no xc tires on the market designed around wider rims. Move up to 2.3 and wider there’s a few options but zero options for XC tires. People are acting like Mavic just released their new wider Enduro wheels or something?

Chase
Chase
7 years ago

These are for XC bikes so I guess 22mm is still valid? Which in my world might as well be road bikes.

bearCol
bearCol
7 years ago
Reply to  Chase

Yeah, 22mm is valid for 2.1 xc tires.

I’ll argue 22mm is valid for DH too: I own 28mm DH wheels and an old Deemax set at 21mm. I’ve run both with the same tires over the years typically 2.5’s. 28mm rims brake better and offer better straight line stability, 21mm offers aggressive cornering lean angles. I burp more with the deemax so I give the node to 28mm, but based on pure DH performance, it’s a bit of a wash considering each offers different traits that kind of offset. I’ll admit, the 28mm rims make the tires look cooler which is a high priority for many.

Once all tires are made for wider rims we will be back to the same basic profile as 2.3 to 2.5 tires on 22mm rims just with better bead security and sidewall support.

kram
kram
7 years ago

…my road bike has wider rims

Adrian
Adrian
7 years ago

The ISO and ETRTO are gonna make some heads/rims roll with this break from standard.

Darryl Duck
Darryl Duck
7 years ago

Never seen a Mavic rim last more than a season anyways, doesn’t matter what standard they run, the rim will crack and you are left with a hub that is not compatible with anything else.
Let em die.

wheelz
wheelz
7 years ago

Agree with what other’s have said. My 2013 HED road bike rims are about the same width as these. As for weight, my 2013 I9 aluminum Trail 29er wheels weigh 1430 gr (fully taped and I weight them) and have 23.5 mm internal. Why in the world would anybody buy these skinny, heavy and not so cheap wheels?

Jugi
Jugi
7 years ago

Some how, to this day I have managed to stay upright on my Crossmax SLR’s and their 19mm inner width. Hopefully these new wheels offer some benefit to someone.

Dki
Dki
7 years ago

So can i put these on my crossmax XL’s i just picked up………

Jason
Jason
7 years ago

Important to remember that Mavic was one of the LAST wheel manufacturers to produce 29er wheelsets. Making excuses on their behalf, ” XC tires would be squared off”, certainly does not fly. Mavic could have been making 21 or 22mm wheelsets for XC use for years now. They didn’t. They stuck with 19mm. It’s a bed of their own making. Not my problem if they don’t enjoy lying in it.

Sasha
Sasha
7 years ago

A bit regretted.

Was waiting for carbon rim and reingeneered ratchet type rear hub as on new Ksyrium Pro Carbon SL C

Current SL wheels are too soft(

SLR and ST user/

Eivind Tandberg
6 years ago

I would guess Mavic is a company full of experienced people who analyze the market, and make their decisions. I’ve never owned a Mavic wheel but for XC you are not interested in riding around on a (half)fat-bike. There is a large market for weight-weenies and xc- riders, and the wide- rim wheel is still not proven in that arena. It would be nice if all companies went for broke and made all fantasies come true at once, but it’s just not the rational approach. I have to admit that I myself do try out the trends, but the question for me in this case is if it’s worth it.

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