Mavic Crossmax XL Wheelset - Review
The Crossmax XL wheelset is important for Mavic. While their Crossmax Enduro wheelsets were undeniably popular, they were based on the well-established Crossmax ST and SX platforms - where the XL is the first all-new platform we've seen from the French wheelmaker in a couple of years. Unquestionably there was some pressure on Mavic to deliver with these wheels. Launched in Trans-Provence country in May of this year, Mavic describe them as being suitable for trail, all mountain and enduro riding. In other words these are designed to be all-round wheels that should be light enough to tackle big climbs, but tough enough to survive tough, technical descents on the other side. They retail for $1,000 as a complete wheel and tyre system.
Available in 26", 27.5" and 29", all three sizes use a 27mm wide aluminium rim with a 23mm internal width - which although relatively narrow by current standards, makes it the widest trail rim Mavic have produced. Front and rear run on 24 beefy Zicral spoke, with Mavics Isopulse lacing on the rear. At the hub, they can be adapted to take 9, 15 and 20mm on the front, and 9 and 12mm, with 135 or 142mm spacing on the rear. They care available with a regular Freehub or the XD driver body to take SRAMs 11 speed drivetrains. One thing worth noting is that the freehub body is fully serviceable and every part is replaceable and easy to work on at home with standard tools. The 26" version weighs in 1660g for the wheels only, which is 95g lighter than the narrower, 21mm wide Crossmax SX. The 27.5" weighs 1710g and 29" 1780g.
For a detailed look at the Crossmax XL wheels, check out our first look at them from their launch in May 2014.
| Details
• Purpose: Trail/all-mountain/enduro • Material: Aluminium rim and spokes • Diameters available: 26", 27.5" and 29" • Axle options: 9/15/20mm (front); 9/12x135/142mm (rear) • Width: 23mm internal, 27mm external • Spokes: 24 Zicral spokes front and rear, with Isopulse lacing on rear • Tubless: UST compatible • Weight wheels only: 26", 1660g; 27.5", 1710g; 29", 1780g • Weight wheels and tyres: 26", 3150g; 27.5", 3390g; 29", 3520g • MSRP: $1,000 for complete wheel and tire system • Availability: Now
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On The TrailWe put these wheels through six months of hard abuse. They went through the La Thuile, Valloire and Finale Ligure EWS rounds; the Punta Ala, Madesimo and Sauze Superenduro rounds; plus countless miles on the unforgiving, rocky trails around Sospel in the South of France.
One thing that always sets Mavic wheels apart from their competition is the UST system. From the factory they come ready to mount tubelessly - there is no need for any kind of rim strip. If you are an obsessive gram counter, this means you save those grams. For the rest of us, it is a sign of what is without doubt the most reliable tubeless system on the market. Mavic UST rims always mount well and hold air longer than any other system we have used. In our six months with these wheels they were mounted with Mavic Quests, Michelin Wild GripR, Hutchinson Squale, and Schwalbe Magic Mary, Hans Dampf and Rock Razor tyres - every single time they went on without fuss, we never need to resort to the compressor to seal them. Out on the trails we never lost air, no matter how hard they were hit they just didn't burp, holding pressure perfectly even with pressure down towards the 20psi mark.
First impressions of the wheels on dirt were good - the Crossmax XL tick all three of the boxes we're looking for in a wheel: light, stiff and strong. On the way up the hills, the weight is on the money for where we'd expect a wheelset for this kind of riding to be. That meant they rolled at a good pace and picked up speed nicely - but don't mistake them for lightweight XC wheels. Coming back down again they were pleasantly stiff, making for a precise, tight feeling to the steering. After those abusive six months of use we can only report good things for their durability - the rims are still as circular as the day they arrived and all of the original spokes are still in there.
Where the wheel and tyre system falls down slightly is on the tyres. Mavic designed the Quest tyres to have what they call a "consistent profile", which translated to a tyre with a circular profile, with no channels to signal the transition to the side tread. If you are using something like a Maxxis Ardent on the front and rear, then the Quests could be an interesting alternative. For us the problem was that we could not feel the transition onto the side tread, then the small side tread gave way almost instantly. This meant you would find the tyre had broken away from you without so much as a hint it was ready to go. On natural trails with exposure this forces you to ride tentatively so you avoid ever coming near the edge of the tread. Pairing a Quest with a bigger, more aggressive tyre on the front seemed like a sensible option, but they were let down here by the soft rubber. Mavic say they use a 50A compound, which should be fairly resistant, but we found the tread was falling away within a matter of days. However, Mavic do offer the option to switch the tyres to the beefier Charge or the Roam that have been available on the Crossmax Enduro wheelsets, which could be a better option for more aggressive riders.
IssuesAfter six months of hard use a couple of the spokes did work loose and the freehub needed tightening as it did drop the chain during a race run. It's hard to hold this against them though, in truth we should probably have checked the freehub along the way and the spokes were a two minute job. What's more Mavic provide the tool to do this with the wheels. If we were buying a set of these, we would pause to think about the availability of spares - it is one issue we occasionally hear from Mavic owners as all the parts to those wheels are proprietary and availability can be tricky, depending on where you live. Mavic have a network of 16 service centres across the world, and aim to solve any issues within 72 hours, although it can vary in other parts of the world. They are also confident enough to offer a two year Product Protection Plan to back up the wheels, so even if something does give way in that time, you wouldn't have to pay to replace it.
Pinkbike's Take: | As a wheelset the Crossmax XLs are a homerun for Mavic. The weight is good, they are stiff and the last six months have proven they are a truly reliable option. What's more, with those polished, aluminium hubs and black rims we maintain they are damned good to look at too. If you aren't put off by the proprietary components, then they are a great option. We can't extend that praise to the Quest tyres though, we do think Mavic need to go back to the drawing board on that account, as the soft rubber and lack of feeling on the tread left us wishing for more. Mavic do acknowledge that this first generation of the Quest tyre isn't perfect and are working on a revised version at the moment.- Matt Wragg |
www.mavic.com,
@mavic
And you are right, I run nearly identical pressures on 27mm rims as I did on 19mm because of pinch flats.
Lets remember you are adding quite a bit of weight in a location where it has a much bigger impact than ANYWHERE else on the bike. Lets also remember that with the new bigger wheel standards this is already more of a penalty than with 26". You generally hear that rotational weight on the outside of a wheel matters from 3 to 10 x as much as anywhere else on the bike due to moment of inertia and rotational forces. Rims like the Syntace W35 (30mm IW) weight 565g!!!! That is easily 100g more than a mid-level 23 to 25mm IW rim. 200g on a bike!!! Do the 3x to 10x math...Would you add 600g to 2000g of weight anywhere else on your bike for that?!?!?!...fuggetaboutit. Of course that $hit is more stable....you basically just put a boat anchor DH wheel on your trailbike!!!!!!!
Here is the other thing: when you run tiers like a highroller II, DHF/DHR, or any tire with no intermediary knobs between the center and side tread.....it aligns the rim hooks with a location on the tire where there are no knobs to cushion rim impacts. Look on the Syntace website...they even have a graphic showing you not to run those types of tires (ie all good tires on the market!!) Lower tire pressure, moderately fast descender, square edge hit....pinch flat city and spending lots of $$$ on your expensive tubeless tires...
I wanted to test the Enduro Mavics for a stiffness comparison vs say Enves which Ive fun for the last 2 seasons, to understand cost vs perfomance and if ROI is really as big or any that the industry keeps selling us.
Ive been super impressed by Mavic Enduros, the wheels are as stiff if not stiffer than my Enve set, are super fast and strong Ive ridden these on some narly narly trails btw 27.5" vs 26" Enves and still they feel every bit as stiff, tires Charge and Roam have been incredible, especailly the Roam which is tiny but it grips way beter than it should, Ive run UST for years and Mavic cant be beat, I DH UST on my DeeMaxs never burped, I did however burp my Roam after letting too much pressure out on a wet and very rooty trail, but this happened on another trail later on on a hardpack trail when I came up short gapping a 3m hole.
So far bee super reliable, would love it if Mavic would make a wide rim, maybe weight strength in alloy would suffer.
But the experiment proved one thing Carbon is way too big a gap in price vs perfomance, I can buy 3 sets of these for a Chris King set on Enve rims here.
If I was to build another carbon wheelset it would be on Derby rims probably.
Just saying.
Ehh and Mavic did make better rims than 823 or ones on deemaxes. They were called D321 disc, weighed 590g and had 24mm internal width.
If a new generation of tire comes out i will have to give wider rims another try as this would be a whole different story.
a few years back out of curiosity i marked up tire and rim. Tires actually move quite a bit on the rims even though not because acceleration forces but of braking forces. I used Deemaxes with UST minions (20psi front 25psi rear) and found the tire in the front tire to be spun about 5cm or 2" at the rim and the rear about half of taht after a weekend riding fast in the bike park.
not that it matters really for riding...
Then why on earth have Mavic UK had my Crossmax Enduro wheel for nearly 7 weeks for a simple rim swap?
I'll be doing the sensible thing when I eventually get it back.....flogging the pair and buying a set of Hope Pro 2s
From mavic-mp3.com:
"With the MP3 ‘crash replacement’ programme your Mavic product is covered for any accident, fall, or damage for 2 years"
Huh?
In what way did it come loose, and more importantly, how on earth did this cause your chain to fall off?
That said, anyone know wheelsets that are wider, just as strong and as stiff as the Crossmax XL or Enduro mavic's?
I'd still rather these wheels than any of the en vogue carbon options - dirtmountainbike.com/features/carbon-mtb-wheels-do-you-need-them.html
They can usually get me stuff in 2 days at the most.
Same is true of Cambria, if Universal happens to be out of stock.
& if neither of them has the length I need, as long as there's somebody who has a slightly longer spoke, there's a shop in town with a spoke machine.
I run Stan's Flows. I don't find it hard to find those in stock either, & several DT Swiss rims(at least, if not other brands) have a similar ERD
I run standard Mavic rims. I f*cked one up in Italy in a resort where a race was taking place. I had to spent a full day calling around and drove 50 km just to get the rim exchange. I was ready to buy a new wheel even, that I'd sale again, just to save my week end. But I couldn't find anything around. You know, 26", this widespread standard? Well it's dead I'm afraid. So I don't see a big difference with finding no replacement spoke that you should anyway have in your toolcase.
We're talking about HAVING to have a spare rim, because you've got straight pull spokes with the those weird nuts they use on UST rims, so you're completely dependent on one company having stock. HAVING to have spokes, because you can't just have a standard 2.0 spoke cut on a spoke machine if nobody has the length you need in stock. We're talking about HAVING to have spare hub parts, because you can't replace the hub that gives you problems on your wheelset with one from a better company.
If i want to buy a wheelset using a rim with standard spoke holes, I can pick literally just about any hub I want, so if durability is a concern for me, I can pick something that might have a weight penalty, but is built like a tank. Or, if I pick something lighter, I can always pick up some spare parts, or pick a really common hub, like a shimano, that will have parts available from lots of different places.
Mavic? known for stock shortages, known for hubs with problems. I'm now compelled to buy spare parts for my brand new wheelset, unless I'm ok with having to wait on their stock shortages keeping me off that wheelset for possibly months.
But there's so many other options out there, & many of them beat Mavic handily on price or features, so it's hard to recommend their products these days.
www.specialized.com/us/en/ftb/wheels/roval-mtb-all-mountain/roval-traverse-29
After upgrading wheels on my spec enduro in 2013, I went from 19mm aluminum DT Swiss to 25mm enve and there was a definite, undeniable improvement in grip, available pressure, small bump sensitivity etc. I weigh 170 and run 21psi both front and rear with no squirm or pinch flats. As soon as manufacturers started coming out with 30-35mm rims I couldn't wait to get some. I am in the middle of purchasing a 29er on layaway. As soon as I have that bike, my first upgrade is the roval fattie 29 wheel set, which I can then upgrade with Derby or Light-bicycle carbon rims. At the most I will have to buy new spokes, but I will have a lightweight durable wheel set with wide, supporting rims. And instead of spending thousands at once, I can spread it out a few pieces at a time and have a bike I could've never afforded all in one shot. I could even build a wheel set with derby rims and XT hubs for less than these Mavics or Ibis.
But back to the point, I have to chuckle a little inside every time a manufacturer comes out with their new "high performance" wheels and they are 25mm and under. It's like their living in the past, afraid of change even with all the scientific and anecdotal evidence in front of them. Perhaps it's because they have such deep roots in the road cycling world.
All's I know is, I ain't buying no skinny rims for my MTB ever again.
Ps- I think mavic should stick to making wheels. Leave the tires to companies who know what they are doing.
I searched online and found many US and Euro sites offering the adapters but all of them were unable to post to Australia due to Mavics policy that suppliers cant ship outside of their region.
I was able to get a set and had them posted to a friend who forwarded them on to me.
Then a few months ago I went to the same lbs to get a new pair of Mavic Alpne XL shoes (old ones wore out) the sales rep rang the distributor again and asked if they could get a size 48 2/3 The distributer said they don't supply that size due to lack of demand and wanted to know who and where I bought that size shoe. ended up having to buy from the States again and have my mate ship them over.
Anyway, did like the mavic stuff I have carbon wheels now and still love the alpine xl's but for an international brand they are one of the worst I've ever had to deal with and the Australian distributor has missed out on a couple of sales that I had to go o.s for due to their stubbornness.
Only thing negative to say about mavic is that when hou eventually after 3 or 4 years need a spare end cap, axle, or whatever your national distributor will not have it in stock and tell you to buy a new wheelset. Serious manufacturers. eg hope, do mot butt##ck you like that
Well in that case insert comments about unreliable hubs, proprietary spokes, and 'meh' tires here!
What is right for you is up to you but make no mistake there is compromise in everything its just a case of it working for you.
Make enough difference to keep a top rider from winning, when he's faster than the other riders that day? Make enough of a difference that a rider would forgo the paycheck he gets from a sponsor because of a small improvement? I'd say that's far less certain.
I like wide rims, & am not a huge fan of Mavic. If I was a pro rider, & Mavic offered me a 5% raise over a rim brand that I like, chances are I'd be riding Mavic.
So there's a huge waste of space and money attached to these wheels.
Wide rims are way better. Big volume, no flex, more grip.
Straight pull spokes are worse than J bend when you use traditional cross pattern (j-bend are only 1/8" appart on each side of the flange)
I've never bothered truing them after 2,5 years of abuse!
Oh, and that's because they dont need it..;-)
have you ridden this wheelset for weeks? and do you have ridden wide rims for comparison? i dont think so. complain if you experienced the disadvantages, not because some hyped "technology" hasnt been used.
and just for the record: i am not saying i dont believe wide rims have some advantages.
I owned several pairs of crossmax in 26 (SL and ST mostly). My wife still have a pair of 2009 ST on her bike. My last 26' pair was hope pro 2, XM819 (2012) and DT revolution.
Long story short, and talking only about rims, mavic rims I owned never lost pressure, tires (UST and TR) never burp even at 1.6 bars for 80kg, tires inflated very well from floor pump (nobby Nic, fat Albert UST, crossmarks, high rollers, TL). Never needed to put any sealant in the UST tires (that's for weight), but had to with TL (schwalbe) mostly due to tires folded too tight by schwalbe.
Stan's: burp at low pressure, lost pressure even with sealant, rim strip is frail and can be damaged when changing tire, rims are so supple than the wheelset had to be retrued once the tire was under pressure (!), tires difficult to set in place, etc...
So from my (little) experience, stan's rims don't stand the comparison with mavic's high-end UST rims.
www.pinkbike.com/u/richardcunningham/blog/Tech-Tuesday--Wider-Rims-Are-Better-and-Why-Tubeless-Tires-Burp-.html
"Universal System for Tubeless is a patented interface between the tire and rim, as well as a set of standards that determine utilitarian functions. A UST tire has a square bead that interlocks to a matching groove in the rim flange and its inside has a layer of sealing rubber to allow it to be aired up and run dry. Among other items, the standard requires that the tire be mounted and aired up by hand or with minimal tools. Watch the Mavic video shown above to see how UST works. The bottom line is that UST is tough to beat for reliability and ease of use. It’s the best tubeless system in the bike industry by a long margin. If you ride XC or trail and run UST wheels and UST tires up to 2.3 inches, you probably won’t experience many of the problems outlined in this test. Presently, you can’t beat the UST system for hassle-free tubeless, but the best can always be improved upon."
First, as I mentionned, I only speak from my own experience in order to avoid any kind of generalization and to let the door open to others sharing.
Second, I only talk about rims because I know that parts and build skills greatly affects wheels quality.
Third, I'm talking about arch, not flows.
I didn't build my wheelset, but I know one thing or two about wheels (like using brass nipples with eyeletless rims for instance) and my wheelset was built this way by an experienced cycle mechanist in Montreal. He already built several tenth pairs of stan's, mostly in 26, but it was the first for him in 27.5. He admitted that arch were supple rims that needs to be trued after ~10 hours ride, but he was surprised the 27.5 to be so mild given the tension he applied and high tensile strength of the spokes.
I had had issues with mavic wheelset (alloy spokes broken, abnormal wear of rear hub bearing on the drive side), that why I moved away from mavic wheelset.
But I maintain that their high-end alloy rims (EX819, EN821), for the aforementionned reasons, are not in the same league than stan's arch EX.
Then, shook my head and went back to the article, hoping for some good news. Mediocre weight, lame tires, (still!) crappy hubs, proprietary parts, etc. Want my 5 minutes back!
Did these problems come in the form of bearings coming loose, causing a little side to side play in the wheel?
A lot of people don't realise that many mavic hubs use (far superior to your average cartridge bearing) angular contact bearings, which need a little adjustment every now and then...