Mavic Crossmax Pro Carbon Wheeelset 29in

Mavic took its time getting there, but the French brand feels that carbon technology is finally up to its demanding standards for reliability and safety. The Crossmax Pro Carbon Wheelset is the brand's first XC model to go full carbon with no alloy spine or reinforcement. When compared to the standard, alloy Crossmax Pro, the results speak for themselves: lower weight, higher drive stiffness, and counter intuitively a more forgiving ride on rough trails. The technologies that induced Mavic to go full carbon include things like hookless beads and the ability to encircle the tire bed in layers of uncut, uninterrupted carbon fiber, both of which increase the wheel's ability to take hits without folding. The hookless bead does so by eliminating the tiny, fracture prone shelf of a bead hook the uncut tire bed eliminates the structural compromises of rims that are drilled for spoke holes. When combined with meticulous lay up schedules and precise resin impregnation, these construction features give the wheels a reliability on par with Mavic's alloy rims. The lay up itself targets radial flex read: squishy cushion for unruly runs in order to balance the inherent lateral stiffness of carbon with the forgiving vertical compliance of low profile alloy rims. We like laterally stiff wheels while hammering, but wheels that are too radially stiff presents issues beyond just comfort. Cushion aside, the lay up's real benefit to aggressive riders is that it helps maintain contact with lumpy terrain by absorbing impact through engineered flex, bouncing less, and keeping tires glued to the dirt. This is further aided by the Crossmax Pro Carbon's use of steel spokes instead of the aluminum Zicral spokes featured on its aluminum rimmed cousin. Since the carbon rim is laterally stiffer, the added stiffness of Zicral spokes isn't needed, so the carbon rims can enjoy more comfortable steel spokes without the usual tradeoffs to responsiveness and tracking. That focus on traction, s...