Mavic announces its first carbon mountain bike wheels

Published May 24, 2016

by BRAIN Staff

OGDEN, Utah (BRAIN) — Mavic has unveiled its first full-carbon rim mountain bike wheels, the XA Pro Carbon. The company also is introducing an alloy-rim mountain bike wheel, the XA Elite, that shares some of the carbon wheels' features at a lower price.

Mavic says the carbon rim layup was designed to be laterally stiff but vertically compliant, and in media presentation, the company showed lab data comparing those qualities to previous Mavic aluminum-rim wheels and a leading carbon competitor.

The XA Pro Carbon will be available in 27.5-inch and 29-inch versions. The full-carbon rim has a hookless, UST Compliant design with a width that is 26mm internal/32mm external. The 27.5-inch version weighs 1,490 grams per pair, the 29ers are 1,600 grams per pair.

The wheels are built with 24 bladed, stainless steel, straight-pull spokes front and rear, with alloy nipples. The rear rim is asymetric to better balance spoke tension. The hubs are available in Boost or non-Boost. The non-Boost configuration can be converted from 135 QR to 142x12 thru axle with included axle caps. The front hub can be converted between standard QR to 15mm thru axle with included axle caps. The rear hub has a standard Shimano cassette body; a SRAM XD Driver is available as an option. The hubs use the six-bolt rotor attachment.

The wheels include Mavic Quest Pro tires, quick releases, tubeless rim tape, valves and sealant. Both sizes will be available in the U.S. on Sept. 1, with an MSRP of $1,849.

The XA Elite wheels will also be available in the two wheel diameters. The alloy rims are 25mm/28mm wide and also have a hookless, UST Compliant design. A pair in the 27.5-inch size will weigh in at 1,695 grams, the 29ers will weigh 1,770 grams.

The XA Elites also use 24 stainless, bladed, straight-pull spokes, laced 2-cross front and rear, and have similar hub configurations as the XA Pro Carbon hubs, except that the XA Elite front hub is also available in a Lefty Supermax version. The XA Elites also come with Quest tires and are shipped with QR skewers, UST valves and tubeless rim tape.

The XA Elites will be available in black, green, or blue color schemes on the rims and hubs.

The XA Elites will retail for $749.99 per pair and be available in U.S. on July 1.