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Mavic Cosmic Ultimate 45 are a one-piece 1255g carbon wheelset

new mavic cosmic ultimate 45 ultralight carbon road wheels
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Using new technology that gets carbon to mimic some of their best alloy trickery from years past, the new flagship Mavic Cosmic Ultimate 45 road wheels achieve a feathery 1,255g weight with 45mm deep rims.

The wheels are a one-piece unit, built with pass-thru bladed carbon spokes that are bonded into the rim without penetrating the tire bed. It’s a unique construction, unlike any past effort…in carbon. Here’s how they did it…

new mavic cosmic ultimate 45 ultralight carbon road wheels

Each wheel is hand assembled in their factory in Annecy, France, and requires 8 hours and 71 carbon pieces. While it looks like the spokes are inserted into the rim like normal, they’re actually bonded into alloy inserts using Mavic’s Fore technology.

If you recall, Fore originally referred to their ability to form reinforced, threaded sections inside an alloy rim cavity. Then, the spokes were threaded directly into the rim. The spoke’s head was captured at the rim, and the oversized nipple put an end to any stripping when truing the wheel.

For carbon, they molded an alloy insert between layers of carbon, then threaded the spokes into it. Both versions eliminated the need to drill through the tire bed, making tubeless setup easier and tape-free. It also let them make a lighter wheel with laterally stiffer rims.

spoke and rim cutaway view for new mavic cosmic ultimate 45 road wheels

For the new Cosmic Ultimate 45, the spokes are molded, then bonded into the rim’s Fore inserts with the correct two-cross positioning, then that piece is heated and molded to become one.

These Fore attachments were tested. A lot. 409 impact tests. 470 traction tests. 66 prototypes, and 8 different constructions. Then they underwent the accelerated climate tests.

one piece carbon spokes detail on new mavic cosmic ultimate 45 road wheels

And it’s not just the attachments. The spokes themselves are a new R2R (Rim to Rim) UD carbon spoke thats 4x stronger than the prior generation.

From there, the hub is placed between the spokes and carbon caps are pressed into place. The wheel is heated again to mold the entire wheel into a single piece.

hub cutaway view for new mavic cosmic ultimate 45 road wheels

The hub has an alloy base with carbon wrap, which keeps it light but allows higher precision bearing placement. They’re oversized bearings, too, with stiff hub axles, for smoother, more durable performance. Their ID 360 internals (think DT Star Ratchet) provide quick, strong engagement.

Claimed rim weight is just 403g, which is respectable, but it’s the full carbon spokes that bring the wheelset weight down so low. That helps them spool up quickly and avoid flex, both torsionally and laterally…but still give them a bit of radial flex for good ride quality. Logos are laser etched, saving a few grams compared to decals.

new mavic cosmic ultimate 45 ultralight carbon road wheels

Internal rim width is 19mm, and the tubeless-ready design is made for 25mm or larger tires in mind. They say the ideal tire pressure is 87psi (6bar). Maximum external width is 28mm, with a 45mm depth and wind tunnel-tested NACA profile.

Above, the glitzy quick view of how they’re made. Below, a more detailed look as they walk their athletes through the process:

Complete wheelset weight is claimed at 1255g – front is 575g, rear is 680g…a bit more than when we saw the prototypes in early 2022.

They’re only available in tubeless, disc brake formats with Center Lock rotor mounts and 12×100/12×142 thru axles (Quick release and 12×135 thru axle adapters are available separately). Choose from Shimano HG, Campagnolo road or N3W, and SRAM XDR freehub bodies. MSRP is €3,999.

Mavic.com

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27 Comments
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Shenandoah
Shenandoah
1 year ago

Welcome back Mavic! I was reading Tour magazin lab tests and they killed it all! Nearest competitor were the Lightweight evo… at 6500$!

peteghi
peteghi
1 year ago

the price.. and part interchangeability.. even the mediocre weight. Sorry Mavic, you are not competitive in the carbon spoke wheelset market anymore.

Caesar
Caesar
1 year ago
Reply to  peteghi

What? what do you mean by mediocre weight? leaving aside boutique wheels that are noodles, 1250g is crazy light for this level of stiffness and aero.
what wheels do you have in mind that would offer better overall performance (leaving aside the cost)

mtbinavl
1 year ago
Reply to  Caesar

The lightest disc set from Lightweight is 1230g at ~$8k. Sorry peteghi, you’re stoned

peteghi
peteghi
1 year ago
Reply to  mtbinavl

Inexperienced dude, some decent rims paired with carbon ti or extralite and carbon spokes go around 1100-1300g. less than 2000 USD nowadays. Your knowledge has not updated since 2015?

Brent
Brent
1 year ago
Reply to  peteghi

Did you ever look how stiff those wheels are? They are noodles and those carbon spokes with tinny Ti inserts are already failing at a friend wheel. It’s nice to be light, but the rest need to follow!

Cdemko
Cdemko
1 year ago
Reply to  Caesar

https://www.winspace.cc/product/hyper-r33-rim-brake-wheelset/

There are a lot of really good carbon spoke laced wheels from China and Taiwan that are starting to become legit and established with carbon spokes. The Hyper wheelsets for example are crazy light, less than half the price, and also true-able/ replaceable. Similar to Cadex (still pricey) and hunt. There are also options from light bicycle, elite and SEKA.

I’ve been fortunate enough to ride a bunch of these chinese carbon spoked wheels and most of them are on par with wheels 2-4x the cost. There’s a lot of exciting stuff coming out of China in terms of wheels & carbon manufacturing rn. People will hate on it the same way people did before Taiwan became a respected powerhouse in carbon expertise and manufacturing, but for me I’d rather get 2 sets of hypers than a pair of $$$ wheels

Brent
Brent
1 year ago
Reply to  Cdemko

I have the hyper 50 and ultimates (both rim brakes). I will start with reliability, in 9 month I had to change 7 bearings (once in front, twice at the rear) and freewheel seal is rubbish not supporting to be cleaned with a garden water hose. Customer support used to be ok and then started to fade. on the road they are both good but the ultimate is quite more reactive. Really not alike even if the price difference is steep.

SuperDave
1 year ago
Reply to  Caesar

Alpinist CL; standard hub, standard spoke, DT legendary quality internals, lifetime warranty, free 2 year crash replacement, $1600, 1295g.

Brent
Brent
1 year ago
Reply to  SuperDave

And tested 30% flexier ! That’s a huge difference! So nothing alike!

Chris
Chris
1 year ago

These are cool and I bet they ride awesome, but gone are the days where Mavic was ‘the’ wheel to buy. The basically invented ‘wheel systems’ and I owned many. The poor support was forgivable because performance was so good. I would love to see a super light carbon rim with the tubular type carbon spokes.
Some of the wheelsets were in the sub 1300g range 8 years ago.

Caesar
Caesar
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

I do believe that those wheels put them back at the head of the pack. I also complained about the weight but the reality is that we moved from 21mm wide rims to 28 and that adds some weight.
The R-sys type of spokes have been killed by the aero but the idea was brilliant, I still have a pair of Ksyrium SLR with those spokes at the rear.

Robin
Robin
1 year ago
Reply to  Caesar

At the head of the pack in what way? The interior width is narrow, and the price (~$4300 USD) is significantly higher than wheel sets with wider interior width and similar weights. Since a bit of additional weight will make no real difference in performance, it’s really hard to see how these wheels are “at the head of the pack”

Caesar
Caesar
1 year ago
Reply to  Robin

Internal width has never been a key element; external has been to ensure proper tire integration and optimal aero. 19mm internal / 28 external allows you optimal 25-28 tire integration.
To me, they are ahead for weight AND stiffness, look on weightweenies, they compiled all stiffness data and none but Lightweight (more than 6500$!) come close in terms of stiffness and weight with a super good aero.
Also worth notice their bonded construction makes the wheel quite more reactive than any other (I raced two years on the Tubular version and when we switched to the Roval, we clearly lost a bit of “crisp”).
Not racing anymore but I am clearly impatient to test them!

blahblahblah
blahblahblah
1 year ago

if only i had the money!

Larry Falk
Larry Falk
1 year ago

It looks like an incredible wheel, but it is curious why Mavic sticks with 19 mm internal when Enve, Specialized, Trek, Zipp, and more have gone larger (or even substantially larger). Maybe the EU market still wants 25 mm tires? Maybe Mavic only does what ETRTO allows? I think a little bit wider works better with 28mm tires, so I believe Mavic has maybe diminished this wheel’s commercial success.

Brent
Brent
1 year ago
Reply to  Larry Falk

I am curious too, now he 28mm external is good to me. Riding on good European roads >28mm is an unnecessary move but with those wheels it will still work.

jimsam
jimsam
1 year ago

19mm internal? 2014 called and they want their wheels back

Roger Pedacter
Roger Pedacter
1 year ago
Reply to  jimsam

This. 19mm internal is a bad misstep in 2023

Caesar
Caesar
1 year ago
Reply to  jimsam

I thought the same but then realized it was a problem when internal width limited external width and caused issues to integrate wider tires to the rim. with 28mm external, I am not sure it’s really any problem. it even avoid the tires to excessively balloon (when 25mm tires do turn into 29+mm) or be too stretched (25mm tire on a 23mm rim is technically possible, but once ballooned to 29mm the tread is fully stretched and not designed to work as such)

jimsam
jimsam
1 year ago
Reply to  Caesar

So now you’ve got a 28 mounted with that 19mm internal and it’s all pinched inward … no thanks there are better options out there

Brent
Brent
1 year ago
Reply to  jimsam

Out of curiosity…what is the problem?

Craig
Craig
1 year ago

This ridiculous black background photography has got to stop. I won’t buy a product that I can’t see.

SuperDave
1 year ago

Wow. NACA shape? Show me a NACA shape with a tire as a leading edge or a trailing edge. How’s the greenhouse test? Can I store them in my hot car all day in the florida summer?

Robin
Robin
1 year ago
Reply to  SuperDave

In Mavic’s defense, a “NACA shape” can be any of a great number of cross-sectional profiles. A 4 digit NACA code is named like this.
NACA abcd where:
-a is the first digit of the max camber expressed as a percent
-b is the first digit of the location of max camber, as a percent, along the chord
-cd is a the max thickness expressed in the first two digits of the thickness of the airfoil as a percent of the chord.

So for any “NACA shape” used for bike rims, the code would be NACA 00XX, and there are a lot shapes that could fit that code.

There also 5-digit NACA codes, but just as above, those codes can represent a lot of different shapes, including airfoils whose leading edge or trailing edge is a tire.

Barry
Barry
1 year ago

what if a spoke breaks???

Selltoday
Selltoday
1 year ago
Reply to  Barry

Like older mavic road wheels and proprietary nipples you smash apart the seized nipple and hope you can remove the spoke. Or just buy a different brand and avoid the issue all together

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