Ready for Damn Near Anything

Very little weight, lots of strength and rigidity. That about sums it up.

WHAT: Mavic CrossMax XL WHERE: www.mavic.com HOW MUCH: $675

You may have read my review of these wheels in the print mag….which begs the question, “Why am I writing about them again?” For starters, I’ve put another 4 months on these hoops and I thought a longer-term test was in order. A sort of, “How they are holding up after nine months of abuse” review. Second, these wheels are really friggin’ great and, as such, deserve as much ballyhooin’ as I can give them. So there.

Although I’ve broken the cardinal rule of writing (leaking the conclusion within the intro), I invite you to read on. Then again, you can be my guest to search the web for more titillating content…like pictures of Tori Spelling naked (which I hear are quite compelling, despite the fact that the girl bears a startling resemblance to her father, Aaron Spelling, and seeing Aaron Spelling in the buff is not an appealing proposition at all). But hey, on with the review.

Everyone’s nuts about everything “All Mountain” these days. What? Haven’t heard the term? Well, the last time I checked All Mountain refers to anything with five to six inches of travel, a reasonably efficient suspension system and a fighting weight in the neighborhood of 30 pounds. I think Specialized actually coined the term three years ago, which isn’t surprising since 90 percent of the bike industry’s buzz words are the bastard brain children of either Specialized Bicycles’ marketing division or one of Gary Fisher’s coffee breaks. But I digress yet again…

So, All-Mountain is the flavor of 2005 and likely the flavor of 2006. Fine and dandy, just one nagging problem—it’s damn hard to get a six-inch travel bike under that 30-pound mark, what with the brawny frame, stout forks, and so forth. A light set of hoops is therefore in order when it comes to cooking up that “light yet burly” wonder bike.

The XLs feature round, Zicral spokes in a straight-pull, 2-cross lacing. You're either a fan or you're not. Either way, they held up just fine.

Enter Mavic’s CrossMax XLs. The XLs are basically a beefed-up version of Mavic’s long-standing, cross-country CrossMax SLs. In a nutshell, this huskier version of the CrossMax tips the scales at a damn respectable 1,800 grams, sports 24 aluminum (Mavic’s proprietary Zicral material) spokes in a 2-cross lacing pattern and can be run with a standard quick release or a 20-millimeter thru-axle set up.

Other factoids? The rim is a slightly triangulated shape—approximately 21.2 millimeters high. All things being equal, triangulated rims tend to be tougher than box-shaped rims. Then again, they also tend to be heavier, though Mavic seems to have somehow dodged that particular bullet. Since these are Mavics, they’ve got UST written all over them. If tubeless is your thing, you’re in luck. No leaky rim strips to curse at here. The spoke holes are drilled through just one rim wall, which keeps the wheels airtight (well, assuming your tire bead isn’t damaged) and (according to Mavic) more rigid than conventionally-drilled rims.

Okay, enough of the catalog crap. Here’s the deal. While the CrossMax XLs aren’t truly bombproof, lift-access fare, they do hold up to a hell of a lot of abuse. I’ve beaten these silly and have yet to take a spoke wrench to them. They also track impressively well for a wheelset this light.

At just 1,800 grams, these wheels are as light as many companies’ cross-country models. In fact, I’d recommend that Clydesdale-caliber cross-country riders bypass the SLs altogether and jump straight into these wheels. Sure, they weigh 115 grams more, but the increased strength and rigidity are worth it if you’re the kind of guy who puts a hurting on chi-chi, wispy wheels. The ability to run these wheels with a thru-axle fork is also pretty cool and, hell, these things retail for almost $200 less than the SLs. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

What don’t I get all effusive and glowing about? Well, while I have yet to break a single Zicral spoke in the last eight years, I still would love to see these things built with J-bend stainless steel spokes—just for the ease of replacement. Of course, that’d probably bump up the weight, but peace of mind ranks high in my book. I also wore out the cartridge bearings on the rear wheel—probably due to the wet and mucky conditions that prevail in my neck of the woods. Fortunately, replacement bearings were cheap, simple to swap out and readily available at my local bike shop.

If you’re a true-blue, freeriding, hucking kind of rider, these wheels may well prove too insubstantial for your needs. If, on the other hand, you’re typical jaunt consists of some aggressive cross-country riding—with a few small drops and stunts mixed in for good measure—these wheels are hard to match. In fact, I don’t think there’s anything on the market that rivals them on a pure price to weight ratio. In short, I’m a big fan.