Mavic XA elite wheels

Silly cheap on CRC at the moment , so I’ve ordered some as the stock wheels on my Kona 153 29 were crazy heavy (2.4 kg and I still managed to ding sing the rim)

Stw review was glowing, any one else ?

Bit sceptical of mavics as the old yellow Enduro ones used to explode at races on a regular basis !

Bit sceptical of mavics

No need to be.. they’re fantastic. Well, Ksyriums, Crossmax, Crossrides are anyway.

Our old 26″ Crossmax XL have proved tough, light and easy to replace bearings when needed.

Even as a French man I avoid Mavic based on past but recent experience of Crossrides. I understand XA may be better but I have very little confidence in them and their back up/ warranty has been poor even on a brand new pair of wheels with faulty front hub. Statistically irrelevant of course.

Same as me!  Crossmax Enduro (the yellow fellas) were without a shadow of doubt the single worse wheelset I had ever owned!  As a result I would never buy another set of Mavic MTB wheels

I have the standard xa in 29 flavour. Very happy with them. The tubeless rim strip makes life easy as no taping required. The xa elite at that price are a total bargain. So much so that I posted a psa on Friday.

Cheers for the PSA, I’ve picked up a pair for XC use.

Kimbers – A lot of the technology is very similar to the Crossmax XLs (as is the weight). I have ridden those loads and I expect these will have a similarly good ride feel, but I won’t be going full enduro on them IYKWIM. Maybe keep your other wheels for rocky stuff.

Yeah realistically I don’t go full enduro that much these days

I’d been looking at these too. On Evans in better colours, but a bit more expensive. They do have 10% extra off wheel though.

Just got a set of the E-XA elites with 40mm rim. Trying out 650+

So far seem ace, nicely finished, tubeless went up with track pump and they run nicely with no pinging popping or creaks. Time will tell, but really happy so far.

And they look pump as with the machined rim.

They’re a very good wheelset, had mine for about a year. Plenty of Pennine abuse and no dramas.

XL pros (aluminium flavoured) excellent wheels, just replaced the bearings front and rear and a couple of spokes after 2 years of Pennine abuse and no maintenance. I’d happily buy another set of Mavic.

I know the STW reviewer of those wheels, and he’s pretty hard on kit, I’d trust his judgement

Got me excited there but alas no black boost at the great price.

I eventually flat spotted the rear one through ProCore, but that was down to being really stupid on some of those square edged bits of pack horse at the top of Pendle Hill. Nothing makes a wheel indestructible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tightened the spokes and it’s still going.

The lightweight version of the Quest tyres they ship on them won’t last anywhere rocky, but £209 is silly cheap for this wheelset.

Can these UST wheels be mounted with normal tubeless tyres e.g. Vittoria Barzo/Mezcals?

Yep – i have mavic xa elite set up with vittoria barzo tnt. Went up tubeless no problems – didn’t even have to remove valve core.

..and the only difference between the XA and the Crossmax seems to be the rim width at 25 vs 22mm?

I’ve had XA elite alloy in 27.5 and 29 inch flavour, I liked them so much on th first bike I bought them again in the bigger size when I bought a new frame.

I always defaulted to Hope wheels but I absolutely love these Mavics, and I’ve given them some stick too with no issue.

Well recommended from me.

Edit to add – I’ve used them with Max is and Michelin tyres with no bother, in fact there the easiest wheels I’ve ever setup. And again highlighting the good value, they come not just tubeless “ready”, but actually ready – valves, fluid, rim strips all installed, even some half decent (summery tread) tyres! And a selection of axle end caps!

I have a spare BNIB Shimano Free hub for these too in case anybodies looking…

Mine arrived, the blue almost matches the decals on my bike (fwiw the rim decals look like you could remove them easily enough)

went up tubeless with a track pump, no probs.

Bit narrower (4mm) than the wheels I swapped out (WTB) & rimwalls thinner but half a kilo lighter & spin round the block, they feel much nippier

if anyone has some torque caps they dont want……..

Are they ‘torque-cap? compatible?

I managed to find some Crossmax elites for £209 as well:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mavic-crossmax-elite-mtb-wheelset-boost-2017/rp-prod154369

Job done.

Ive had a google torque caps are £12 for these wheels

I’m looking for a lighter wheelset for my new Anthem, can I fit a 2.35 tyre on the rear wheel as it only seems to mention 2.25?

thats just the tyre its supplied with (crossmax) the xa elits come with a 2.35 in 29

Accidentally bought a set of these earlier. Oops.

My Crossmax elites arrived.   The front doesn’t have sealant / a valve but as they are the worlds shortest valves anyway I’ll use my own.  Both came with tubes so now I’ve a couple of spares.  The red stickers look easy to peel off to be cleaned with IPA.

The Pro Pulse tyres look more chunky than I expected.   I’m putting a Barzo on the front, but will leave the Pulse on the back.  I won’t be trusting these wheels on the next two weekends of racing without riding them first so will try that tyre out for general riding thereafter, may as well get some use from it.

Otherwise all good!

Be careful with these wheels for aggressive riding. Came stock on my 2018 Mega 290 pro and the rear has just folded on me at Bikepark Wales last weekend. Third Run down The new AC/DC red trail and the wheel has cracked in two places and folded in on itself. To be fair it’s done well to last 8 months so it’s not all bad, but I had a feeling they were the weak link on the bike and it was just a matter of time. Did consider replacing with the same set for sale at £209 on crc as discussed here (exact match in green &29er) but decided against it as I’d be worried about it happening again. Decided to go for a some DT Swiss XM481 on 350 hubs, hopefully they will a more solid option with less flex.

Also had something similar with some brand new crossmax XL’s last year where the rim cracked without any dings to the rim. These were sent back for warranty but Mavic were no help, just sent the wheel back broken. I’ll try and upload some pictures later.

Used to be a massive Mavic fan boy but have lost confidence now so I’m moving on to see if DT Swiss are any better.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/RWyjfDXu4DMXJEpVMnJeGpfLvBzRPXIdkqbzNqA22KtjJRsZ1ja9BYnapmzzGSCgGdnRrcvOqEFjhSNvE4l6j2U8EUI0FiqqptgJF4tYr8aWl5BK1h2m49viXhGJsCo0ZPFyrmj45g=w2400

https://flic.kr/p/NHY1PC

https://www.flickr.com/gp/160633100@N04/9x757o

https://flic.kr/p/M6Cmta

https://www.flickr.com/gp/160633100@N04/sB4vnX

https://www.flickr.com/gp/160633100@N04/253659

https://www.flickr.com/gp/160633100@N04/04Z866

Sorry about the pics and links, first time I’ve tried uploading photos on here and turns out I’m not very good at this!!

I may have been unlucky with my wheels and I do understand wheels break from time to time but on both my recent wheels (xa elite and Crossmax XL)the rims have failed. Both times were flat out on rocky sections but I always run28 psi at the back and check pressures regularly so I can’t recommend these wheels for hard riding. They are light and good looking though so would be good for lighter use.

look like theyve failed where they are machined/formed out?

tbh I bought them knowing that they will probably die, Im a generally clumsy rider, I think the only manufacturer whos rims I havent killed are………… superstar 😎

for £200  ill see how it goes

Well well if you will take a relatively lightweight 24 spoke wheel to BPW…

Yeah they’ve folded at the formed part not where the impact was. Was using a dhf dh casing and it went back up fine with with no tears on my spare rear wheel to carry on with the day. Strange one

BPW is really smooth compared to what I’m used to riding round here, not sure that’s got much to do with it. Maybe nukeproof are at fault for specing these wheels on this type of bike, probably just me being unlucky 👍

Sounds like the wrong tool for the job to me, I vaguely remember at least one drop off with a nice pointy rock exactly where I’d land.

My wheels needed a re-tension after my last visit.