Mavic Ksyrium Pro UST Disc Wheelset

The Ksyrium range from Mavic has always had a good reputation for offering decent performance whatever your type of riding: a true set of all-rounders. These aluminium alloy Pro UST Disc models further confirm this with a solid build quality and plenty of stiffness, all at a decent weight.

• Pros: Well built set of wheels for road and light off-road use, easy tubeless setup
• Cons: Entering 'carbon' money at this price

I love the feel of the Pro Disc wheels. They give a firm ride while managing to keep things just on the good side of harsh, almost carbon fibre like.

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With 24 spokes front and rear, the build certainly feels stiff. Climbing out of the saddle or fast cornering doesn't see anything in the way of flex. The two-cross spoking pattern on the front wheel handles the high braking forces from the disc, while at the rear you get two-cross for the drive side but because of the lower braking forces here, Mavic has gone for radial spoking on the non-drive side.

For the rim, Mavic uses Maxtal, its own specification of aluminium alloy, which it says gives a higher strength to weight ratio than the more commonly used 6061 grade. This keeps the weight down too, to just 1,650g without tyres and valves, which is pretty good for a wheel of this type and strength, if not exceptional for the money. The £459 Miche Syntium DX wheels, for instance, are the same weight but almost half the price.

At 2,260g on our scales, with tyres included, the Mavics do still feel light in use, and you don't feel hampered at all when you get out of the saddle for a quick sprint or to tackle a short, sharp hill.

The 22mm rim depth suits a lot of different terrain and conditions, with only those seeking any form of aero advantage going to be left wanting.

The 19mm internal width stretches the tyres out a little from their nominal size, with the fitted 25s sitting closer to 26.5mm. Most disc brake-equipped bikes have plenty of tyre clearance but it's worth bearing in mind when speccing tyres on wider wheels.

> Why you need to switch to wider tyres

I didn't just use these wheels on the road as I took a few diversions onto gravel bridleways, towpaths and other rough tracks and they can take a kicking. Rocks and potholes have done little to affect the trueness of the rims, and everything still feels as tight and smooth as when I first started riding them.

With just nine degrees of rotation between the engagement points on the freehub, the wheels respond straight away when asked and if you are a track stander at the lights you won't feel any of that 'float' when you are rocking the bike backwards and forwards.

The freehub body itself looks to be plenty strong enough to cope with hard accelerations or any efforts that see a high amount of power going through the cassette. I can easily gouge softer alloy options, with the cassette splines digging into the body, but the Ksyriums are barely showing a mark.

As standard, the freehub comes in a Shimano/SRAM setup but there are options to change to Campagnolo or SRAM's XD Road.

Included in the box are quick release adaptors if you aren't running thru-axles (the Ksyriums are set up for 12mm as standard, but you can adapt the front to 15mm) plus the tubeless sealant, syringe, valves and the various tools to keep the wheels running smooth.

Yksion tyres

You get the tyres too: Mavic's own Yksion Pro UST. You may have seen UST appearing on a lot of Mavic's wheels lately and it's the move across to tubeless setups for its higher end models.

Mavic has offered wheel/tyre combinations for quite a while now, which allows the company to keep tight tolerances on both. I wasn't a massive fan of the non-UST tyres, which I found lacked grip and punctured frequently, but the new models are a marked improvement.

These are the same tyres I've been running on my wet weather bike, fitted to Ksyrium UST Elite rim-braked wheels.

I've yet to pick up a simple puncture or nick on those, and I haven't on this set either. The only downside to that is that I can't tell you how good the Mavic branded sealant works...

Grip in the wet and dry is pretty consistent and they offer decent rolling resistance and braking performance.

As you'd expect, fitment to the wheels is seamless and very easy, and initial inflation after adding the sealant was faultless even with just a standard track pump.

> How to fit tubeless tyres

When we look at value, £899 might seem pretty pricey for a set of aluminium alloy wheels when you can get excellent carbon fibre rims and lighter weight from the likes of Just Riding Along's excellent Gecko wheels for £850. They are very impressive and a solid build, too, just like the Ksyriums.

You are getting the tyres in the Mavic package, mind; if you had to buy them separately online they would set you back about £90, plus you've got to take sealant into account, so you could say the Ksyriums are around £800.

Still, I called those Miche Syntium DX wheels up top pricey against the opposition at £459, and while the Mavics are a much better wheel all round, there are plenty of cheaper alternatives - not least Mavic's, 1670g the pair, Ksyrium Elite UST Disc and 1690g the pair Ksyrium UST Disc at £585 and £450 respectively.

To sum up, the Ksyriums are really well built, they ride really well, and in my opinion look really smart, but I think I'd pull up short of buying them at full rrp. Find them with a decent discount and I'd definitely recommend them.

Verdict

True all-rounders with a solid build quality but you do have to pay for it