I’m currently looking for a new set of wheels, I currently have hope hoops on stans flow rims which i’m going to keep as spares. The rims seem a little soft and i’ve put a few dings in them even though i’m running fairly high tyre pressures!

Are the mavic crossmax sx wheels worth the extra?

Nope. Keep your hope hoops wheels, just put some descent rim on it.

i love my sx’s! 🙂

2 year no fault repacement for £70ish under the mavic mp3 program.No brainer!!

I own SX’s and have owned a few pairs of hoops. The rims on the mavics have no equivalent on hoops IMO BUT the rear hub drives me nuts! Require constant tightening and are noticeably wobbly if not done. I’ve also gone through a set of rear bearings in under a year. Never happened with hoops although the pawls need checking once in a while. I must admit that I find stans (flows, arch and 355) a bit shit in comparison but the SX’s aren’t worth the extra £300 odd. At all.
Anyone know if the SX rims are available aftermarket?

I know they can be converted 15 or 20 front 135 or 142 rear, but do all the bits to do this come in the box?

edit: yes it does… thats rather good isn’t it!

No brainer

Except you’ll have wheels very few people can use, that won’t forgive you anything and that will make your back suffer like hell.

Wrecker, unwind the tension plate, add a drop of locktight, tension to barely tight, job done wont come undone again. A year out of bearings isn’t bad depending on how often you ride. Oh and a tiny bit of rattle when the wheel isn’t loaded is fine.

Juan, why will you have wheels no-one can use, they will convert to any standard available and you get all the bits when you buy them.

Also once a year they do MP3 for a quid for a couple of months.

Worth the extra? If you want a lighter, faster wheel that looks bling then yes, if money is a bigger concern then no.

T

I meant in the way that they are super-stiff, unforgivable. They might be ok for a 5 minute run, but after 5-6 hours of riding they are just too stiff, with no possible escape if you make an error in picking up you line. You can change your rims on your hoops for a set of decent stuff. Spank, DT, Mavic.

How long have you been using the Flows and what sort of use? (will give a better idea of expectations from the new wheels). Also is tubeless a requirement? Flows are a little softer than the Mavics (though still strong)

SXs are great wheels, but if you want the latest ones you’ll be paying enough to put new rims on your Hoops, about 8 times, which is a heck of a difference.

decent stuff. Spank

I was enjoying that cup of tea as well 😯

Had the flows for roughly 1 1/2 years, they have done 2 alps trips and they are ridden pretty hard. Yes tubeless is a requirement.

I’ve been looking at mavic purely because the guides were running dee-max wheels, one set had been in use out there for 3 years and still going strong!

If having stiff wheels is affecting your riding, you’re doing it wrong.
Thanks for the pic goatster, I’ll try that.

juan – Member

Except you’ll have wheels very few people can use, that won’t forgive you anything and that will make your back suffer like hell.

Utter nonsense. You can notice the difference in stiffness between an SX and Hope Hoop, through both a tyre, rear suspension, and the frame?

I call shenanigans.

+1 honourablegeorge

Mavics all the way. Bought a second hand pair of Crossmax St off Dave Froy in Bubion… and they have been brilliant since 2008, been on 3 bikes, not needing anything except bearings and the teflon washer in the rear hub and its an easy self service. Front is a 20mm, rear a qr. Rims straight and true through many trips abroad and just need a file if snagged on rock or tweeking with molgrips if they get a bend. Perfect as a tubeless wheelset. Flat blade spokes are better still on newer wheels.

Very happy with Mavic and we run them on all our bikes… would buy again with the updated hub..

You’re best off getting some halo combats I reckon.

+2 honourablegeorge and Jedi!

I don’t own sx but have had st’s on a bike for a few years now and they are one of the most hassle free biking parts I have ever owned. These are 2009 models too.. not exactly the latest freehub/pawl system.

The rims are what to expect with mavic. Brilliant. The tensions have stayed put pretty much since day one. I have only trued them once. It is a 2nd/3rd bike but I’d buy another pair tomorrow if I had to get new wheels.

Hope – awesome hub, near limitless support, parts and warranty
rims – all the non tubeless varieties have been great
Snapped a few spokes in my EX721’s but that was mostly due to riding big stuff without enough bike/finesse
As for D-Max’s they do seem a cut (and price) above others

Experience from my group is that you’ll need the spare wheels for when your rinkydinkydreamwheels are away to Mavic getting fixed… and prepare for a shock when you find out how much it is to replace the rim you just dinged 😯

What would I do? Buy another pair of Hope Flow’s so I can swap between my identical wheels in a matter of seconds (same disc’s etc), one set running lighter tyres for more XC riding… which I actually keep on my other bike… it’s genius I tell you.

If you’ve made your Flow rims last 1-1/2 years your doing good… I destroyed one of mine after two weeks. So I threw my old wheel on and rebuilt it with another Flow one evening while enjoying a beer… try that with your rinkydinkydreamwheels.

I’ll need to do another rim swap soon and I’m quite tempted to try one of these smell-the-carbon… good comments so far on mtbr, and a substantial weight saving.

I had Hope/Flow and had a dreadful experience with them. Got a refund which I bought SX’s.

Still true and looking tremendous. Front has had new bearings which took 10 minutes and cost £8.

Don’t get me wrong, I rate Hope stuff. Less keen on Stan’s, though. But you can’t beat Mavic for having a wheel system that is light, strong and effortlessly tubeless.

You can notice the difference in stiffness between an SX and Hope Hoop

Yes if you just swap the wheels and keep the same frame/tyres. And yes a much stiffer set of wheels affect your riding as you have to be much more precise in choosing your trajectory as there is no room for errors. And as I said, after 6 hours of hard pedalling, when you’re a bit tired you tend to be a bit less precise. And as for people who never have to tension the wheel I am wondering is you actually use them outside the car park. Crossmax are notorious (actually they are down here) for needing some regular TLC. But that is just my opinion…

deary me…

You’re having a nightmare here, juan.

SX are great wheels, you should get them just to wind Juan up.

Juan, where I come from stiffer is always better. 🙂

Tracks better, holds a line better etc and at the end of a long day that’s more important than bendy rings. I run sx for all homegrown riding and deemax for holidays, no Probs… Maybe you need bigger muscles 😉

Ive had XL’s SX’s and ST’s and I’ve loved them all, they feel light, stiff (in a good way) and go tubeless easy as pie
But like any wheels they’re not perfect and need looking after, if I could afford some 29er ones I’d have em again in a shot…but if your on a budget Hope hoops on Stans rims are hard to ignore…

And yes a much stiffer set of wheels affect your riding as you have to be much more precise in choosing your trajectory as there is no room for errors

er does what it’s supposed to, a flexi wheel is terrifying, like going back to QR!!

I run mavic sx as a bike guide and they get hammered for 9 months…thats 5 days a week alpine riding mostly DH…. they are in their third season.

BUT as Juan said they need constant attention especially in the terrain me and Juan ride (Maritime Alps), and the spokes do break and bend, but I get bits and bobs from Mavic, so for me no issue.

In the UK though they will take less abuse and you should b ok.. and they do look ace, and the mavic program means you get re built wheels as a “service”

worth the extra? over anything stan’s….Yes.. but a hope hub with the top end mavic tubeless rim will be my choice

He’s gone off on Juan….

Maybe you need bigger muscles

Maybe you need to ride more 😉

Chris King hubs need looking after, too.

If you want fit and forget get Shimano. You don’t need to fettle them; right up until the point you throw them away.

Thoroughbred kit needs looking after. It’s no more unlikely than cleaning and lubing your chain.

mate of mine had no end of problems with his Crossmax. He’s a good rider and put a lot of miles on them but suffered from broken spokes, cracked rims and bearings that kept coming loose. Each fix involved a trip to Mavic.

FWIW I would love a set of SX rims with normal sensible spokes and DT240 hubs. But Mavic are more into wheelsets than rims these days it seems.

I got rid of my sx’s as fast as i could. They were a 2008 model, rear bushing on the hub went twice in quick succession without hammering the wheels. They were stiff and light but I got sick of having a wobbly cassette

Sold them to fund some Pro 2 SP with flow rims and they’ve been faultless. Stayed true nice and stiff and light and easy to strip and service with easy to find spares.

And they sound better.

both my experiences of mavic factory wheels were horrible, and they too have a reputation for falling to bits here..cant beat a mavic rim though, why not just put some nice mavic rims on when those poop sun/ringle/stans junk things bend…

Juan… Haha I ride plenty, and have big muscles 🙂 Just spent a week in your neck of the woods, stunning place, great riding (maritime alps), wish I could be there more but someones got to sell the sx’s back here at home.
Where you based?
T

Between Cannes and Grasse

If you want fit and forget get Shimano. You don’t need to fettle them; right up until the point you throw them away.

Nice Just a shame the time between Fit and Throw away is too short