Mavic got in touch this morning with news of new wheels and shoes for gravity and enduro-oriented types. Of course, if you’re as ham-footed as I was for my first few years in Calderdale, you’ll need kit this burly anyway. Before we get into product stuff, here’s a lovely riding shot of Fabien Barel, who they worked with in developing some of this:
The difference between Fabien Barel and most riders is how much further forward an average rider would rotate under these circumstances.
Their new Deemax Pro wheels will be of interest to most riders nowadays, as they’re an enduro oriented wheel designed to keep the weight down a bit. To that end, the internal widths are a bit different, and being French, the riding style is all about that front tyre. A 28mm internal front rim supports the tyre through anything, whereas a 25mm internal width at the back keeps weight down.
Here you can see the 25mm and 28mm internal width rims on Mavic’s new enduro wheelset.
These widths may seem unfashionably narrow, but of course Mavic make their own tyres too, so no need to worry about a rim-tyre combo rounding off, folding over, or developing a surprise tread mohican.
Inner rim widths are somewhat conservative compared to current industry trends, but since Mavic make their own tyres too there’s nothing to worry about.
The burlier, more gravity-oriented Deemax DH wheels have 28mm internal rim width front and back. None of the new wheels are really about plus tyres, but more oriented around the by now traditional, and trusty, 2.4 tyre.
Some riders aren’t keen on Mavic’s proprietary spokes and nipples, but screwing them in this way means no holes in the rim bed, so an easier time with tubeless setup, and no untaping to replace a bust spoke.Both wheelsets are only available in black, though they have yellow hubs, and the DH ones have so many yellow decals they’re basically yellow all over.This is a really impressive magic trick when you see it in person.How it’s milled!It took an hour longer to write this post, because this photo sent me into a trance.
Most of the press shots only show parts of wheels. Mavic are such teases, and we’re enablers. Before showing you an entire wheel, take a look at this image of someone doing mountain biking on one of their new wheelsets:
Here are shots of a complete wheel from each set:
Here’s a Deemax DH wheel. All wheelsets ship with Shimano-compatible freehubs, though there’s an optional XD-driver upgrade.And here’s the enduro-oriented Deemax Pro rear wheel. Mavic rims have extra milling operations done on the inner radius to reduce weight, by taking material away from where it’s not needed, and leaving it in places that bear the highest stresses, such as around the spoke holes.
Suggested retail prices for these wheelsets are:
Deemax Pro: £800
Deemax DH: £740
Before we get to the shoes, here’s another photograph of a man riding a bike:
As well as wheels, Mavic are launching some beefed up shoes for downhillers, enduro racers, and of course you if you’re not already in one of those categories but want some foot protection. The Deemax Elite and Deemax pro shoes are very similar to each other, but the Elite has a lace cover too – helping keep your laces tight, and mud out. These aren’t flat pedal shoes, and are only available for clipless pedals right now. Each has toe, heel and ankle protection built in, and they come in black, Mavic yellow, ye olde traditional flouro yellow, and red.
The Deemax Elite shoe features this handy lace cover.Red, as is well known and scientifically proven*, makes you go faster. * [citation needed]ZING! If you want to distract people from your extremely yellow wheels, try some of these EVEN YELLOWER shoes.Clipless only, but plenty of knobblies for those times you have to carry the bike.This is the Deemax Pro shoe, which doesn’t have a lace cover, and seems to be built for more breathability in warm conditions. This shoe was designed with Fabien Barel, and also made to fit slightly wider feet than most shoes. Here it’s shown in a more traditional Mavic yellow, for those who want to match shoes to components.
Suggested retail prices for Mavic’s new kicks are:
Deemax Pro: £140
Deemax Elite: £115
How about another riding shot?
Uploaded at full size because it’s wallpaper-worthy.
David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly.
Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.
