This will be the first of about half-a dozen quick reviews I'll post over the next couple of weeks (including the Culprit RAD, MORF aero bar, Tri-Rig Omni and some related gear). I haven't trained or raced much in the last year on account of work but I have accumulated some new gear and I figured I'd share my impressions of said gear with everyone.
First up will be Mavic's Road UST "WTS" (wheel tire system) specifically the Comete Pro Carbon SL UST and the Cosmic Pro Carbon SL UST. These are 64mm deep (rear) and 40mm deep (front) respectively. This is just a "first impressions" review. I haven't ridden the wheels yet. So why should you even read this review? Simple: to hear about the tubeless installation.
It seems like Tubeless has been the defacto standard in mountain biking for years now though it now just seems to be gaining momentum in the road world. I don't need to repeat the purported benefits of tubeless here. If you're reading this, you know what they are. My personal interest in tubeless stems from the fact that I primarily race Sprint and Olympic distance events and I usually chase the AG podium in local/regional events. Any flat at those distances basically guarantees that you are off the podium.
I've had good luck running latex tubes and fresh Continental tires on Hed Jet+ wheels for A races for a few years now. However, I've had enough flats in training (and I don't even ride outside that much) to ponder the possibility of having a flat in a race. The combination that I'm keen to try is tubeless tires with race sealant. I've tried tubeless a few times in the past year: first with the much vaunted Corsa Speed tires on my Hed Jet+ rims and most recently with a 26mm Specialized S-Works Turbo Pro Tubeless. The former I couldn't even get on to the rim. The latter I was able to get on with just my hands but getting the bead to seat was a huge pain in the ass. I also recently mounted a set of Specialized Sawtooth tubeless tires to a set of Reynolds ATR wheels (for my Culprit RAD build). Again, I was able to get the tires on with just my hands but getting the bead to seat was a huge pain in the ass (soapy water on the rim, compressed air, and several attempts were needed).
If you poke around the interwebs, you'll see that my experience with tubeless tires thus far is hardly unique.
On to the Mavic UST Road wheels.
I bought these wheels about two months ago from My Bike Shop (love those guys btw) and just got around to taking them out of the box yesterday. Straight out of the box they already had their tires on. I inflated them to 85psi each and then went about my morning. Around lunch it occurred to me that the tires aired up so easily that they likely had tubes in them (after all, I didn't add sealant and I just used a run of the mill track pump). So, I investigated. I let the air out of the rear, pinched the bead into the center of the rim and... no tube!
Step two was removing one of the beads of the rear tire so I could see what removal and installation was like. If removing a 23mm Continental GP TT from a Jet+ rim is a "5" on a scale of 1-10, removal of the Hutchinson made Mavic tire was a "6". On that same scale, 1 would be a tire that's too loose to stay on and 10 is impossible to install or remove. Installing a Continental GP4000S II on to a Zipp wheel would be a "3". Bear in mind the Mavic tires are fresh so installation and removal will likely get a bit easier as time goes on.
After aligning the tires logo correctly with the logos on the rim (strictly for aesthetics) I popped the second bead back on with just my thumbs. It only took me about twenty seconds and I'd imagine that if I had to pop a tube in on the side of the road (assuming the sealant failed) I could do so in about two minutes total including getting the wheel off an back on.
Interestingly, I was able to air the tire up again with just a track pump. The tires have been sitting now for about a day and have only lost ~1psi according to my digital Topeak gauge. Keep in mind I haven't added any sealant yet. Very impressive!
Over the next four weeks I'll put ~400 miles on these wheels as I'll have the opportunity to ride a lot (I'll be riding another bike as well) and I'll chime in again. Also, a small note, I plan on changing out the tires for Hutchinson's Fusion 5 Galactik "Tubeless Ready" which should be a very fast tire as it loses the butyl liner of the Fusion 5 Galactik "Road Tubeless" (at least that's my understanding).
A final parting note: I have no idea how aero (or not) these wheels are and I don't plan to test them for a while. My own intuition is that I'm not very optimistic about the 40mm profile but I'm pretty confident that the 64mm profile could hold its own. I tried to take photos of the tire/wheel profile but that was a pointless exercise.
Still need to mount chain and cassette...
Interesting rim tape. It's semi transparent and very neatly/uniformly applied.
The Mavic Cosmic Pro SL UST next to a Zipp 404 NSW. I'd say that the Zipp has a more "aggressive" brake track by touch but supposedly the Mavic's brake track is excellent. We'll see.
First up will be Mavic's Road UST "WTS" (wheel tire system) specifically the Comete Pro Carbon SL UST and the Cosmic Pro Carbon SL UST. These are 64mm deep (rear) and 40mm deep (front) respectively. This is just a "first impressions" review. I haven't ridden the wheels yet. So why should you even read this review? Simple: to hear about the tubeless installation.
It seems like Tubeless has been the defacto standard in mountain biking for years now though it now just seems to be gaining momentum in the road world. I don't need to repeat the purported benefits of tubeless here. If you're reading this, you know what they are. My personal interest in tubeless stems from the fact that I primarily race Sprint and Olympic distance events and I usually chase the AG podium in local/regional events. Any flat at those distances basically guarantees that you are off the podium.
I've had good luck running latex tubes and fresh Continental tires on Hed Jet+ wheels for A races for a few years now. However, I've had enough flats in training (and I don't even ride outside that much) to ponder the possibility of having a flat in a race. The combination that I'm keen to try is tubeless tires with race sealant. I've tried tubeless a few times in the past year: first with the much vaunted Corsa Speed tires on my Hed Jet+ rims and most recently with a 26mm Specialized S-Works Turbo Pro Tubeless. The former I couldn't even get on to the rim. The latter I was able to get on with just my hands but getting the bead to seat was a huge pain in the ass. I also recently mounted a set of Specialized Sawtooth tubeless tires to a set of Reynolds ATR wheels (for my Culprit RAD build). Again, I was able to get the tires on with just my hands but getting the bead to seat was a huge pain in the ass (soapy water on the rim, compressed air, and several attempts were needed).
If you poke around the interwebs, you'll see that my experience with tubeless tires thus far is hardly unique.
On to the Mavic UST Road wheels.
I bought these wheels about two months ago from My Bike Shop (love those guys btw) and just got around to taking them out of the box yesterday. Straight out of the box they already had their tires on. I inflated them to 85psi each and then went about my morning. Around lunch it occurred to me that the tires aired up so easily that they likely had tubes in them (after all, I didn't add sealant and I just used a run of the mill track pump). So, I investigated. I let the air out of the rear, pinched the bead into the center of the rim and... no tube!
Step two was removing one of the beads of the rear tire so I could see what removal and installation was like. If removing a 23mm Continental GP TT from a Jet+ rim is a "5" on a scale of 1-10, removal of the Hutchinson made Mavic tire was a "6". On that same scale, 1 would be a tire that's too loose to stay on and 10 is impossible to install or remove. Installing a Continental GP4000S II on to a Zipp wheel would be a "3". Bear in mind the Mavic tires are fresh so installation and removal will likely get a bit easier as time goes on.
After aligning the tires logo correctly with the logos on the rim (strictly for aesthetics) I popped the second bead back on with just my thumbs. It only took me about twenty seconds and I'd imagine that if I had to pop a tube in on the side of the road (assuming the sealant failed) I could do so in about two minutes total including getting the wheel off an back on.
Interestingly, I was able to air the tire up again with just a track pump. The tires have been sitting now for about a day and have only lost ~1psi according to my digital Topeak gauge. Keep in mind I haven't added any sealant yet. Very impressive!
Over the next four weeks I'll put ~400 miles on these wheels as I'll have the opportunity to ride a lot (I'll be riding another bike as well) and I'll chime in again. Also, a small note, I plan on changing out the tires for Hutchinson's Fusion 5 Galactik "Tubeless Ready" which should be a very fast tire as it loses the butyl liner of the Fusion 5 Galactik "Road Tubeless" (at least that's my understanding).
A final parting note: I have no idea how aero (or not) these wheels are and I don't plan to test them for a while. My own intuition is that I'm not very optimistic about the 40mm profile but I'm pretty confident that the 64mm profile could hold its own. I tried to take photos of the tire/wheel profile but that was a pointless exercise.
Still need to mount chain and cassette...
Interesting rim tape. It's semi transparent and very neatly/uniformly applied.
The Mavic Cosmic Pro SL UST next to a Zipp 404 NSW. I'd say that the Zipp has a more "aggressive" brake track by touch but supposedly the Mavic's brake track is excellent. We'll see.
Last edited by:
GreenPlease: Jul 16, 18 19:20