Mavic rims - any good?

[Pedalo]

Hi,

My rear wheel rim is looking very worn and I think it's time I should replace it. The Mavic A119 rims look very good value. Has anyone got any experience of them? Is it worth spending more and going for the A319 instead?

Thanks

 

[Oxygen Bicycles]

The best rims in the World are made by:

No1 - Mavic
No2 - Ritchey
No3 - Sun Rims
No4 - Rigida
No5- Alex Rims

Hope that will give you more confidence in your purchase

Andrew

 

[Blew it]

Rigida DP 2000 Safety line

From experience, I can certainly vouch for Rigida rims.

When recently refurbishing a 3 year old E-bike, I found the original rims were suffering badly from flaring of the braking surface. The weakness in the rims was a result of the wear indicators being machined far too deeply into the braking surface.

Both wheels were rebuilt by a local wheel builder who chose to use Rigida DP 2000 'Safety Line' rims. These rims are pre-drilled for 13 guage spokes which meant the original spokes could be re-used, with new nipples of course. The rims are drilled for Presta valves and therefore required re-drilling for Schrader.

As previously mentioned, the weakness with the original rims was due to the wear indicators machined into the braking surface. Rigida rims use a far better method to indicate when replacement is needed. This takes the form of a tunnel behind the braking surface incorporated into the extrusion as shown below.

When the braking surface eventually wears through, a small slit will start to appear, but the braking surface will not 'crack off ' because the inner surface of the tunnel is still intact and will prevent any tendency to flare. The cost of the rebuild for both wheels including rims, new nipples and Schwalbe high pressure rim tapes was £90.

The machine spends a great deal of time on rural trails and un-made tow-paths, so far they have proved to be excellent rims, and many times stronger than the originals.

 

[Mussels]

Whilst Mavic are well respected they make a range of rims for different uses and budgets, some of these will be unsuitable for what you want. Rather than saving a fiver buying online I'll buy from the wheel builder after discussing what I want from the finished wheel.
Spokes are stretched during a wheel build and in the process are weakened, this is designed to happen once and if you reuse them then they are stretched a second time. You can see where that's leading.
I'm a serial wheel breaker and I prefer Sun Rhyno rims (my new wheel should arrive this week)) but you're a rim wearer so your builder may recommend something else.

 

[JamesC]

Hi Pedalo
I have used the Mavic A319 rims on 8 wheels over the past 3 years for various bikes. They have always been very true, and as far as I can tell, the wear rates are very acceptable.

I do not have wide enough experience of other rims to give any meaningful comparison.

James

 

[Pedalo]

Thanks everyone for the comments so far.

Whilst Mavic are well respected they make a range of rims for different uses and budgets, some of these will be unsuitable for what you want. Rather than saving a fiver buying online I'll buy from the wheel builder after discussing what I want from the finished wheel.
Spokes are stretched during a wheel build and in the process are weakened, this is designed to happen once and if you reuse them then they are stretched a second time. You can see where that's leading.
I'm a serial wheel breaker and I prefer Sun Rhyno rims (my new wheel should arrive this week)) but you're a rim wearer so your builder may recommend something else.

On this occasion my wheelbuilder is myself.
Armed with Sheldon's website and the Roger Musson book I've decided to take the plunge and have a go. Hopefully I wont regret it, but if it works out it will be great to feel a little more self sufficient.

 

[Old Timer]

My old Evans MTB that I converted to front wheel electric has/had Mavic rims (the rear is still Mavic) they are simply superb, true and about as balanced as you can get. I might consider having the Alien hub fitted to the front one one day.

 

[Lloyd]

It does depend on what you want from the wheel. I used Mavics when rebuilding ebike wheels on v-brakes, as apart from the excellent build quality and finish, the tolorences between the rim walls are spot on, therefore less likely to suffer brake judder with a heavy hub motor fitted.

Is your wheel 700c or 26"? What would you require from the wheel? Strength over weight or vice versa? Is brake pad wear an issue?

The best rim for the job will depend on the job in hand, but Mavic 319's are one of the best touring rims available.

One final note, it doesn't matter what rim you run, if it is built incorrectly then it will be weak. Majority of a wheels strength is in the spoke tension.

 

[Pedalo]

It does depend on what you want from the wheel. I used Mavics when rebuilding ebike wheels on v-brakes, as apart from the excellent build quality and finish, the tolorences between the rim walls are spot on, therefore less likely to suffer brake judder with a heavy hub motor fitted.

Is your wheel 700c or 26"? What would you require from the wheel? Strength over weight or vice versa? Is brake pad wear an issue?

The best rim for the job will depend on the job in hand, but Mavic 319's are one of the best touring rims available.

One final note, it doesn't matter what rim you run, if it is built incorrectly then it will be weak. Majority of a wheels strength is in the spoke tension.

It's a 700c wheel. I do prefer strength over weight. I get through brake pads but not excessively so. I ride my bike in all weather and the roads can be quite muddy/gritty which probably accounts for the rim wear. This current rim did approx 2200 miles before I now decided I'd better replace it. As long as I get similar milage (or ideally greater) out of a new one I'll be happy.

 

[Mussels]

2200 miles! I'm glad I have disk brakes or I'd be getting a new rim every three months.

 

[Pedalo]

2200 miles! I'm glad I have disk brakes or I'd be getting a new rim every three months.

Yes I was surprised too. The front wheel looks like it has plenty of life in it yet with the wear indicator still visible and the sides of the rim looking nice and straight.

The rear one is in quite a state though with the wear indicator completely gone and it's looking very concave. I'm not particularly heavy myself but I do load the bike up every day with heavy paniers. I do use the brakes quite a bit.

Has anyone else found the need to replace rims on their Trek 7.3fx (i.e. the original cytronex model) and at what milage?

 

[Pedalo]

I went for the Mavic A319 in the end. It has quite a nice high quality feel about it but I guess only time will tell.

I fitted the new rim over the weekend. This was my first attempt at wheel building/truing and spent a lot of time on it. When I finished the wheel was way more true than the old wheel and I was pretty satisfied.

I found it reasonably straightforward with the Musson book and Sheldon's website being a great help. The most difficult part was knowing how tight to make everything. Having compared my wheel with some others, I don't think I quite made it quite tight enough. The effect of putting the tyre on and pumping it up has the effect of causing the spokes to lose a little tension. (obvious when you think about it).

After riding 50 miles on it and inspecting the wheel again I notice that one spoke (on the non-drive side) had worked its way very loose causing the wheel to loose its lateral trueness by quite a bit. It was the only issue though and tightening just that spoke has brought it back in. At this point I also tightened every spoke by half a turn - the added tension should hopefully stop further spokes working loose. I'll check again in a few miles.

 

[Mussels]

My wheel came back from SJS with a surprise A319 on it, I wasn't over impressed but it seems to be a good equivalent for the Sun Rhyno Lite. It feels a little wooly but I think that's down to the Marathon Plus tyres I fitted just before I had the wheel rebuilt.
Yesterday I discovered a noise coming from the wheel once every rotation, I hope it's not anything major as I haven't time to inspect it well.