Mavic Ksyrium Elite S Wheel System

[dhungerf]

Any feedback on these wheels? I'm looking for a sub $1000 set of alloy wheels.

 

[ray j willings]

I'm sure they are fine. But you could easily get a set of hand built wheels for that price. You seriously cannot beat a hand built set of wheels IMO.
Gives you more options, Rims , spokes hubs etc and easily repaired .
I used to spend what now seems like crazy of money on wheels., Mavic ,Topolino , Bontrager etc My last pair of hand built wheels cost me less than £300 and are fantastic.
Find a good wheel builder local if you can and have a chat.

 

[42x16ss]

Yep, most here will second that. The Mavics are ok, but are prone to rear hub issues. For the money, I'd go handbuilt, using something like Shimano, Campag, Edco, Miche or DT Swiss hubs for value and Mavic Open, Kinlin, DT Swiss, Ambrosio or Velocity as a few examples of decent rims.

There's a wheelbuilder's thread in Bikes and Gear that has a lot of info, especially from Bustedknuckle and Guiseppe Magnetico/RDV4Roubaix. It's been buried a while but might not be a bad idea to resurrect it, there's been a couple of new wheel threads lately.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Any feedback on these wheels? I'm looking for a sub $1000 set of alloy wheels.

Where are you? PM me and we can talk about a wheelset I can build for you.

 

[King Boonen]

Handbuilt. Never, ever buy anything other than handbuilt. 42x16s suggestions are excellent, I'll add in H+Son rims and Hope hubs.

 

[winkybiker]

If you go handbuilt, make sure you get a good builder. All my handbuilt wheels, (admittedly many years ago), were complete rubbish (wouldn't stay true - common broken spokes) while my factory builds since then (Bontrager, Campag, Fulcrum and Mavic) have been completely trouble-free up to the point where the rims are trashed anyway.

 

[ray j willings]

Agreed with winky. There are a few established wheelbuilders that have a great reputation.
Plus you get a great customer service.
I have used " just riding along" in the UK
Jon who runs the place has been building wheels for years and the customer service is great
The wheels he made for me are fantastic and have stood up to years of abuse
Highly recommended

 

[King Boonen]

Agreed with winky. There are a few established wheelbuilders that have a great reputation.
Plus you get a great customer service.
I have used " just riding along" in the UK
Jon who runs the place has been building wheels for years and the customer service is great
The wheels he made for me are fantastic and have stood up to years of abuse
Highly recommended

Just Riding Along are great. Wheelcraft are awesome but I'd only use them if you're local and if carbon is you think Wheelsmith in Larbert are fantastic.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Any feedback on these wheels? I'm looking for a sub $1000 set of alloy wheels.

To answer your question, Elite S is a fine pair of wheels. A friend of mine have had them for about a year (part of a Rose-bike-setup), and I actually convinced him to take the upgrade from the standard Ksyrium Equipe because of the weight saving. There hasn't been any problems with those wheels so far.
If you can find them at a decent price, I wouldn't worry about buying them, as I've owned several Mavic wheels over the year (of which only a Ksyrium SLS front wheel has broken a spoke). However, If you can find a good set of handbuilts at cheape/similar price, I'd go for that.