When I was managing an LBS (until November 2109) Mavic had been almost impossible to deal with for several years - either buying stuff or getting any technical answers . . . so reading between the lines it's not altogether a surprise.
Rob
gentlemen, we appear to have a time traveller amongst us! But seriously, Mavic's reputation amongst cyclists has always rested upon its rims. In the current climate there is more money to be made in wheelsets, and making money with rims is difficult. Even so it hardly excuses them taking their eye off the ball both commercially and technically regarding their core products. Specific gripes include;
- revamping their rims and making them worse; for example re-engineering a training rim (using what is basically the same extrusion as before) to be a few g lighter but with a braking surface that is so thin it wears out in half the mileage is a pretty dumb move.
- ditto; the new open pro UST is prone to cracking and (in rim brake form) is practically worn out when you buy it. Braking surfaces 1.05mm thickness...
? WTF?
- deleting rims randomly and/or failing to supply them. I recently scoured the country for a pretty basic 32h A319 rim in silver; almost no-one had any stock or knew if it was a temporary or permanent state of affairs.
- making technical recommendations that are impractical. IIRC mavic currently specify spoke tensions not exceeding 90kg or something with their rims. It used to be 100kg which I thought was bad enough, but maybe the Open Pro UST problems forced their hand. I have not measured the tension in Mavic's factory wheels accurately, but I'd be amazed if they stick to their own recommendations...
I still buy and use mavic rims but they are not as good as they could be and worse than that, they are oftentimes not as good as they used to be, either.
cheers
