Mark Adams The Mavic Aksium is the perfect wheel for everyday riding, and this is just as true for the disc version. It combines high grade, lightweight materials with great ride quality to produce a wheel that performs amazingly without breaking the bank.
Features:
- Rims:
- Material: S6000 Aluminium
- Height: 21mm
- Joint: Pinned
- Drilling: Traditional with H2 reinforcement
- Disc brake specific profile
- Valve hole diameter: 6.5mm
- Tyre: Clincher
- ETRTO size: 622x17C
- Recommended tyre sizes: 25 to 32mm
- Spokes:
- Material: Steel
- Shape: Straight pull, round
- Nipples: Brass, ABS
- Count: 24 front and rear
- Lacing: 2-cross front and rear
- Hubs:
- Hub bodies: Aluminium
- Axle material: Steel
- Sealed cartridge bearings
- Freewheel: FTS-L steel
- Weight:
- Front without tyre: 940g
- Rear without tyre: 1105g
- Pair without tyre: 2045g
Mavic Aksium Disc Wheels Review:
The Mavic Aksium has been one of the popular wheelsets on the Australian market for quite a while now. Weighing in at just 1105g for the pair it is a very well made, lightweight wheelset, and it displays excellent crosswind handling characteristics. It is no featherweight though, weighing in at 453g for the front wheel and 1001g for the rear, not including the cassette, inner tubes, skewers, rim tape, and hubs that you will also need. A lighter Clincher wheelset will be required for racing, or even for overnight touring.
The wheels are well designed, with three cross-sections and welds that are maximised for strength and stiffness, and with angled transitions between them to reduce weight. The rim and the hub body are made from aluminium alloy, with only the spokes, hub internals and disc mounts being made from stainless steel. Mavic claim that the Aksium ‘offers the rider very good lateral stiffness for greater road feel, and improved lateral stability’.
In use the wheels are very good, with excellent crosswind handling and stability, particularly at higher speeds. Since the rear hub uses a steel freewheel there is a bit of clicking on rough roads, however the Shimano freehub sound is excellent and it is very resistant to flatspots. The wheels are shod with Conti GP4000S tyres. When upgraded to a wider tyre the rounded profile of the rim will result in improved aerodynamics and it is likely that this wheelset will be used for a wide range of road applications from centuries to fast sporting club rides.
Riding the wheelset is a pleasure. The tyres roll easily and provide a smooth and comfortable ride, even when they are operated at a lower (than recommended) pressure. The wheelset is capable of handling high speeds into strong crosswinds.
The main reason that I purchased the wheelset was because I wanted to try out the braking performance of Shimano’s hydraulic disc brakes. The wheelset seems to handle the braking performance of mechanical discs quite well, with a great amount of modulation. I would say that the braking distance is just as good as discs with mechanical calipers.
Overall the Mavic Aksium wheelset is one of the best wheelsets on the Australian market that can be used for club rides, century rides and fast (but not racing) sporting rides. In terms of tyre width there are not many options for road riding, however the Aksium disc wheels will definitely be used for cyclo-cross and commuting, where they will be well suited for the task. The wheels have a very good ride quality and a very stiff rim, however the spokes and the hub can make the wheels weigh a bit more than is optimal. Overall it is an excellent wheelset and at an incredible price.
Pros:
- Great braking performance
- Smooth and comfortable ride
- Excellent crosswind performance
- Lightweight
- Great value Cons
- Heavy
Mavic Aksium Disc Wheels Review:
The Aksium front-wheel disc weighs 743g without skewer and 683g with skewer, while the rear-wheel disc weighs 1340g without skewers and 1287g with skewers. The 559g weight of front disc hubset without bearings is sensible, but the 569g weight of rear disc hubset without bearings seems a bit generous.
The main features of Mavic Aksium disc wheels are:
Very well made, perfectly round aluminium rim, a 6061 aluminium rear hub, and stainless steel spokes and nipples
Spokes are straight pull, round, double-butted, brass spoke nipples on the front wheel, straight pull, round, double-butted, brass nipple on the rear wheel, brass hub skeleton and steel bolts, and stainless steel disc brake rotors, brake pads and disc mount.
Both wheels come with aluminium quick release skewers screws by means of which they can be attached to the hub. The spoking pattern on the rear hub is two cross (2X), and on the front is one cross one radial (1X1). The rear hub has a 6-hole disc rotor mount and 24 spokes on each side of the rear hub, whilst the front hub has a 3-hole disc rotor mount and 24 spokes on each side of the front hub.
The front wheel has a 17mm rim diameter, with a 17mm wide, 559g aluminium disc hub shell for mounting the front wheel to an axle. The aluminium rim has a 622X17C ETRTO measurement. The rear wheel has a 20mm wide aluminium rim, with a 622X17C ETRTO measurement, and a 6082 aluminium rear hub shell. FTS-L steel freewheel is used at the rear wheel, and there are 18 aluminium spokes on the rear wheel.
For tubeless tyres a special sealing compound is required. You should always use a valve spacer when removing a tube from a tubeless-ready wheel, and make sure that the rim tape is firmly in place.
These wheels will be very well suited for as a basis for a touring bike as they can handle the extra weight of suitcase, camping gear, food and clothes you might bring with you.
If you are considering commuting with the Aksium Disc Wheel, you will need to widen your tyre choice, with 700x32c being the skinniest, but probably, the best one for this us.
How can the Mavic Aksium Disc Wheels be described?
As far as the Mavic Aksium disc wheels are concerned, it is obvious that they offer very good performance, strength, rigidity and reliability. However, the wheels are a bit heavy, have a propensity to hold flatspots as a result of the steel freewheel and they are really quite expensive.
But, I think that the main problem is that they are not being sold on the understanding that people will buy them just as a basis for building a suitable wheel set.
My final word is that they are certainly worth every penny you may have to spend to get some of the most durable and dependable wheels for your bike.
