Iconic wheel brand Mavic placed in receivership
Representatives say they will still seek a buyer
www.cyclingweekly.com
Mavic in receivership
- Thread starter mykel
- Start date
www.cyclingweekly.com
Wow...
I have a couple of 819s aaaaand 823s if anyone wants them. Free. You ship.
Surprising news.
Surprising news.
I'm probably one of the longest mavic holdouts partially for this reason...it shows they figured out how to build a rim.
What those stuffy cigarette horking frogs never did figure out over the last 10 years was how to leave their legacy egos at the door and build layouts people wanted......and were buying from other companies making a lesser quality rim. Like light trailbike rims that aren't 21mm wide.
They kinda dug their own hole. It's a shame because other than dt swiss I've still never bought any other rim made as well.
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Never owned a set because of what others are saying here...
Depending on the year, and how hard you are on wheels, you don't know what you were missing honestly.
same, only rim I've ever had that could pinch flat a tire and come out unscathed.
I remember this one time my friend tried to replace a broken crabon Mavic spoke.
Preload on my Deemax hubs was a PITA. Rims held up fine to east coast rox.
Very sad / weird. In 10 years it went from you were either penny pinching or you rode Mavic, to no one rides Mavic and most Mtb riders haven't heard of it.
what's the overall story? Failure to maximize profits by shifting manufacturing to carbon overseas?
what's the overall story? Failure to maximize profits by shifting manufacturing to carbon overseas?
823 was decent, every other Mavic product kinda sucked but we had nothing better at the time.
I lost count of how many 521 / 721 I destroyed, in hindsight it was just a crappy rim - weak, narrow, easy dents. 321 / 729 not much better and added a bunch of weight. Hubs were notoriously bad at all times.
Since DT revamped their lineup with better alloys (FR570 / EX471 and later models) I haven't looked back.
The 570 has built easier and stayed straight for much longer than any Mavic rim did for me.
I lost count of how many 521 / 721 I destroyed, in hindsight it was just a crappy rim - weak, narrow, easy dents. 321 / 729 not much better and added a bunch of weight. Hubs were notoriously bad at all times.
Since DT revamped their lineup with better alloys (FR570 / EX471 and later models) I haven't looked back.
The 570 has built easier and stayed straight for much longer than any Mavic rim did for me.
True, but outside of DH, Mavic ruled the XC/Trail world too.
It's like Levi's with jeans. They went from 85% of the industry to 15% or thereabouts.
It's like Levi's with jeans. They went from 85% of the industry to 15% or thereabouts.
"Hi, my name is Udi. Would you like to smoke some of my crack?"
Heavy yes. Weak, not so much. Unless you're one of the guys that builds dh wheels with triple butted spokes, runs 20 psi and then asks "why my wheels get funky?"
If you're talking the last 5-7 years sure. But before that remember, DT swiss was deliberately making sidewalls to fold to 'avoid flats'
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But why would I chance my money and hope I got some good ones? I have opted for I9 (local to me). Bought the first two sets used. Those both performed great under my harsh dh racing at the time.
I don't what you mean by 'chance'. They made some rims that were really good compared to anything else you could get at the time. It's not like every 3rd one was square. Like anything you learn what's good and keep buying them.
I have I9 wheels on both my dh and trailbikes.
Their rims are nothing to write home about. And god forbid you need to replace one. I bought a 70 dollar rim and those fools charged 60 bucks to ship it. Not to mention their uh...unique ERD measurements that match up no other rim known to man.
But when I praise mavic I'm talking a while ago, like when i9 was non-existent or brand new and their wheels would completely detension themselves in one run. Remember that one? No amount of loctite could keep those loose ass tolerances from letting the spokes loosen up. Yeah that's why I built wheels with real spokes.
That's about when mavic quit paying attention and just kept making the same designs without seeing what was going on around them.
I'm with the rest of you, I haven't bought anything mavic is a while. They did have some trailbike rims that matched up ERD with some I9 rims which I was going to try (still might). Dealing with i9 on the west coast is a royal pain the ass.
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My first replacement rims were Mavic – Mavic M-321 (circa 1994). Built them up myself and that formed a strong bond. As others have said, how far they've fallen is shocking. Was surprising how long their hub issues continued. They seem to have lost their way these past 10-15 years... perpetually stuck in the mud.
Even before that they lost tons of market share when NoTubes introduced the idea of wider light rims and Mavic didn't follow. They made skinny, light or really heavy wide and that's it. In 2 years it went from everyone using Mavic to everyone using NoTubes. Then a few years later Enve and Light Bicycle showed up to satisfy people at both ends of the price spectrum who thought NoTubes were too flexy and Mavic was done.
I tried to murder my 823s for years. Finally said fuck it and bought the i9's I "needed". Liked the 729s I ran before that -- good for the time.
I have fond memories of complete indestructible Mavic rims on my first 26er DH bike. Pretty sure they were 823's, but that was a few years and a few more beers ago.
I have less fond memories of their fucking hubs eating bearings like some deranged sideshow act.
I've found modern DT rims to be every bit as tough, while being much cheaper and available in widths that actually make sense. No tears shed here.
I have less fond memories of their fucking hubs eating bearings like some deranged sideshow act.
I've found modern DT rims to be every bit as tough, while being much cheaper and available in widths that actually make sense. No tears shed here.
Sad. When I was wrenching on bikes about 1000 years ago, I always hoped for Mavic rims for wheel builds. Road, mountain, whatever, they were always the best. But they definitely lost their way a long time ago. Narrow rims, proprietary spokes, shitty hubs, and a whacky tendency to not do what everyone wanted them to do, to name a few issues. It's one of those legacy companies I would love to support, but haven't for years.
Yeah, that was long ago, there were some good rims. IMO, they started to go down the wrong path with their horrible hubs/composite spokes and proprietary parts/system wheels. Compare with DT swiss that made good hubs and didn't try to do the ridiculous proprietary wheelsets, just standard parts and builds. About as radical as they get is straight-pull options for some, but all standard stuff. As the industry started to move to wider rims, tubeless rims, and such, they seemed to entrench more in their BS.
729s Definitly werent.
Went through 5 of those per DH season.
I did race a lot and admittedly was far from smoothe though.
This was all before my time I suppose. Whoever manufacturers the rims for I9 may have some with the same erd, but I have never looked. We Are One Composites are doing their new plastic hoops.I don't what you mean by 'chance'. They made some rims that were really good compared to anything else you could get at the time. It's not like every 3rd one was square. Like anything you learn what's good and keep buying them.
I have I9 wheels on both my dh and trailbikes.
Their rims are nothing to write home about. And god forbid you need to replace one. I bought a 70 dollar rim and those fools charged 60 bucks to ship it. Not to mention their uh...unique ERD measurements that match up no other rim known to man.
But when I praise mavic I'm talking a while ago, like when i9 was non-existent or brand new and their wheels would completely detension themselves in one run. Remember that one? No amount of loctite could keep those loose ass tolerances from letting the spokes loosen up. Yeah that's why I built wheels with real spokes.
That's about when mavic quit paying attention and just kept making the same designs without seeing what was going on around them.
I'm with the rest of you, I haven't bought anything mavic is a while. They did have some trailbike rims that matched up ERD with some I9 rims which I was going to try (still might). Dealing with i9 on the west coast is a royal pain the ass.
The IXS races in Germany/Switzerland were pretty brutal tbf. Definitly wasnt just me riding hard...you ride harder than I do
they'd dent all to shit, but never die.
Big rocks, roots, roadgaps and jumps.
But they were definitly strong for their weight/price which is why I used them for years...
I've been happily on EX500s and then EX471s for over a decade now. They work, no reason to change. I'm a hack and haven't dented one beyond some gentle persuasion with a wrench yet. But I also have a buddy who's as rough as they come who has run the 823s forever. The might even still be on his DH bike. Sad to see one of "classic" companies go.
I have. Intently
i used to call them DT Swiss Cheese
when it comes to high price aluminum rims are at the kids table
Mavic was producing quality rims (for the time) in France then they decide to focus on producing complete wheels which shitty hubs, proprietary parts and tools... Then they moved production to Asia and assembly to Romania without adaptation to the needs / trends of the market.
Didn't Mavic get bought by a big concern which also owns Enve?
What will Sam Hill be running if Magic disappear?
Didn't Mavic get bought by a big concern which also owns Enve?
What will Sam Hill be running if Magic disappear?
Apparently nobody knows who bought them, not even Mavic: