Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Wheel Upgrade

Hello All, 

Looking to upgrade my wheels on my road bike - here are the two contenders:

Mavic Ksyrium Elite - http://www.evanscycles.com/products/mavic/2016-ksyrium-elite-700c-road-w...

Mavic Ksyrium Pro - http://www.evanscycles.com/products/mavic/ksyrium-pro-700c-wheelset-2016...

The upgrades between the two are that the Pro features a carbon hub on the front wheel and features Mavic's Zicral spokes. Elite's weight is 1550g and Pro's are 1475 so a fair weight saving. 

My question is are the benefits of the Pro worth the extra cost or will the Elite's suit just fine? What does a carbon hub give me apart from less weight? 

Many Thanks in advance 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

Add new comment

13 comments

Avatar
wombat | 8 years ago
0 likes

Solid choice - sure you'll love em.

Avatar
hucko003 | 8 years ago
0 likes

Thanks all  for your advice - will go for the Elite's 

Avatar
Simon E | 8 years ago
0 likes

Quote:

Elite's weight is 1550g and Pro's are 1475 so a fair weight saving.

A whole 75 grammes!

Avatar
Anthony.C | 8 years ago
0 likes

You are digressing into semantics.

Avatar
ColT replied to Anthony.C | 8 years ago
0 likes

Anthony.C wrote:

You are digressing into semantics.

 

God, I hope not.  It's more a case of a longing to see/read plain English.  I just don't see how it adds to the quality of a review or a recommendation, unless I am missing something.  Hence the question.

Avatar
ColT | 8 years ago
4 likes

Will someone please explain to me what 'roll very nicely' means?  See it all the time on wheel reviews.

I've used dozens of wheels over the years.  I'm fairly sure they've all 'rolled very nicely', thanks largely (I guess) to the fact that they have all been round and fitted with round tyres and have been on properly mantained hubs, so what is the point of this description?

I'm genuinely interested in how to define this term. How do you tell?  In a blind test, if it were possible, what would be the tell-tale signs of a nice/poor roller? Why would a wheel not 'roll nicely', assuming it has been built correctly? i.e. it is round/circular (whichever is the correct term)  

Avatar
allanj replied to ColT | 8 years ago
0 likes

ColT wrote:

Will someone please explain to me what 'roll very nicely' means?  See it all the time on wheel reviews.

I've used dozens of wheels over the years.  I'm fairly sure they've all 'rolled very nicely', thanks largely (I guess) to the fact that they have all been round and fitted with round tyres and have been on properly mantained hubs, so what is the point of this description?

I'm genuinely interested in how to define this term. How do you tell?  In a blind test, if it were possible, what would be the tell-tale signs of a nice/poor roller? Why would a wheel not 'roll nicely', assuming it has been built correctly? i.e. it is round/circular (whichever is the correct term)  

 

Lol.  Indeed- nice rolling would seem to me a basic starting point rather than something to recommend a wheel by!  Not nice rolling would suggest knackered bearings.

Avatar
charliepalooza replied to ColT | 8 years ago
0 likes

ColT wrote:

Will someone please explain to me what 'roll very nicely' means?  See it all the time on wheel reviews.

I've used dozens of wheels over the years.  I'm fairly sure they've all 'rolled very nicely', thanks largely (I guess) to the fact that they have all been round and fitted with round tyres and have been on properly mantained hubs, so what is the point of this description?

I'm genuinely interested in how to define this term. How do you tell?  In a blind test, if it were possible, what would be the tell-tale signs of a nice/poor roller? Why would a wheel not 'roll nicely', assuming it has been built correctly? i.e. it is round/circular (whichever is the correct term)  

 

I'm with you in  this.

It's a bit like football managers referring to 'a  good win' in a post-match interview. What exactly would constitue a bad win?

Avatar
Anthony.C | 8 years ago
0 likes

Why are you pushing those wheels, they look overpriced like most wheels. How about the new Wiggle Cosine alloy wheels, they look the same as the Novatec Jetfly wheels but much cheaper, or the Vittoria Elusion wheels from Merlin for £ 250 ? I just got the Vittorias myself and they roll very nicely. The new Kysiriums are wider at the rim than the old ones btw.

Avatar
allanj replied to Anthony.C | 8 years ago
0 likes

Anthony.C wrote:

Why are you pushing those wheels, they look overpriced like most wheels. How about the new Wiggle Cosine alloy wheels, they look the same as the Novatec Jetfly wheels but much cheaper, or the Vittoria Elusion wheels from Merlin for £ 250 ? I just got the Vittorias myself and they roll very nicely. The new Kysiriums are wider at the rim than the old ones btw.

I'm not pushing anything- just making suggestions, as are you.

Avatar
allanj | 8 years ago
0 likes

If you are going for the elites then I'd suggest going for the new wider ones- the traditional ones are pretty narrow and don't give the best profile to 25mm tyres.

 

For that sort of money I'd consider these: http://www.huntbikewheels.com/collections/road-rim-brake-wheels/products... which have a similar weight and a more aero profile.  The Kysriums are a bit old school box section.

Avatar
Scoob_84 | 8 years ago
0 likes

I'd get myself a pair of these for that money. 

http://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collections/road-rim-brake-wheelsets/product...

 

Avatar
wombat | 8 years ago
0 likes

I can't comment with any authority as I haven't used the Pros. But I have got the latest Ksyrium elites, and compared to my old Aksums they are lovely. I'm sure they'd be a great upgrade over any stock wheels.

I don't think I was aware of the Pros when I bought, but I don't think I would have spent the extra £150 just for 75g saving. A lot of that saving is presumably in the carbon hub, so unlikely to make any perceptible difference to speed. You could save a similar weight by swapping out the skewers on the Elites - and that would be a lot cheaper  1

Sigmasport have a 10% voucher running right now btw, so both sets a fair bit cheaper than Evans.

Latest Comments