This summer I have found myself riding one of our demo bikes a Madone 5.2 with the new performance geometry.  I’ve been impressed with the Madone over the summer and have enjoyed riding it.  During the season I have been swapping out wheels on the Madone. We’ve been increasing the number of demo wheels we have and I like to try as many of them as I can to see the differences. I found the new Mavic R-SYS wheels stayed on the bike for an extended period of time.

Mavic has built some of the world’s best wheels for a long time and their wheels are well loved by cyclists around the world. The R-SYS wheels use carbon tubular spokes on the front and on the non drive side in the rear. The drive side still uses aluminum spokes on the rear.

Check out what Mavic has to say about the R-SYS on their web site below.

So I put several hundred miles on them and came away impressed with them. The wheels accelerate like no other wheels that I have ridden. When you power into your pedal stroke you immediately feel the bike leap forward from your output. The wheels are very stiff and certainly don’t flex in when you corner with them. The wheels are very very responsive and of course smooth like one expect Mavic’s to be. They have the best bearing the industry has to offer. Mavic is so proud of the bearings that you don’t see them talking about ceramic bearings for their wheels.  As I rode the R-SYS more and more I finally noticed the flex that some people had complained about out of the front hub.  This was an issue with the early release wheels that Mavic was aware of and has since rendered a fix for them. I sent our wheels back for the fix but have not had a chance to ride them since. For me I didn’t notice the flex when I first started riding the wheels, because I believe the flex wasn’t there. When I finally got the flex to show it was under extreme load and only while out of the saddle climbing. One of our customers who rode them prior to me who is a larger rider and much stronger then I am notice the movement in the front right from the start. But again as Mavic does they have since remedied the problem.I was very impressed with the wheels until I rode them out in Thurmont. During that ride we did a lot of climbing which the wheels excelled at. Trust me on that day I needed all the help I could get, wheels, compact crankset etc..Where I didn’t like them was on a rough descent they were so stiff that it was not very fun going down the mountain. With the harsher conditions it didn’t dampen the vibration and it transmitted them strait to me. In fairness to the wheels some of it could have been the bike. The Madone 5.2 does not use as much of the high modulus and very high modulus carbon that I am used to riding. I’ll talk about that more when I review the Madone. The wheels were great when I descended with them on smooth roads on the harsher road I was not impressed. So not impressed that I took the wheels off the bike when I got back and placed a set of demo Bontrager wheels we have on them.I do think that for most riders these wheels are hard to beat. If you want a light stiff responsive wheel then these are the wheels for you. They accelerate like a champ. I think they would be ideal for long days of climbing and crit racing. For now I can confidently say they are ideal for midsized riders. If you are on the larger size you might want to test them out before you commit to buying them to make sure the issue with the front hub has been resolved which I am sure it has. If you are on the smaller size you might want to check them out as well to see if they are too stiff for you. For the racing crowd I would find it hard to believe that they could be too stiff for many.I look forward to trying out the wheels now that they are back from Mavic. I’ll do a follow up review after I get some more miles on them.

This is what the Mavic Website says about the wheels:

Introduced one year ago, R-SYS and its revolutionary TraComp technology has been immediately rated as the best wheel ever by pro racers, journalists and every day riders. TraComp technology prevents a loss of tension on spokes to maintain high stiffness under high loads and carbon spokes don’t stretch as much as steel or aluminum ones. Result : the best ratio stiffness/lightness on the market.

Stiff to transform all of your power into pure speed  TracompTM technology prevents loss of tension on spokes to maintain high stiffness under high loads Maximized rear wheel dish increases lateral stiffness  Carbon spokes don’t stretch as much as steel or aluminum which limit wheel distortion Light for instant acceleration Carbon spokes are lighter than their alloy counterpart  Low stress wheels allow extra light rim extrusion and maximized ISM* to reduce inertia. (*ISM : Inter Spoke Milling)