Mavic Aksium Wheel Review

Although I race mountain bikes, road riding is a necessary evil for all year round training. Sometimes you just don’t want to spend an hour cleaning mud off your bike and then yourself when you get home! Truth be told I actually do far more miles on my road bike than the MTB, many of them slogging to work a couple of times a week.

After a couple of rough winters I didn’t think the Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels on my training / commuting bike would make another year. The rims were worn wafer thin and they were already on the third set of bearings. My road bike is really just a workhorse and I spend more than enough of my cash on the Mountain Bike, so I was looking for a quality wheelset at a reasonable price. After speaking to Simon at South Downs Bikes (a conversation that included the use of the shop scales!) I purchased some Mavic Aksium wheels.

These are the base model in the Mavic range but should still be an improvement over the wheelset found on most entry level road bikes. The main advantage of upgrading your wheels is reduced weight, which allows you to accelerate more quickly and also haul less mass up the climbs. Usually there is a trade off between lightness and strength so a slightly heavier but more robust wheel should be ideal for my training and commuting purposes. Although by no means lightweights, the Aksium wheel weights are reasonable, my kitchen scales confirmed the official weights on the Mavic Website which makes a nice change! Mavic Website

I have put 250 miles on the wheels over Christmas and despite some pretty poor road surfaces they have remained straight and true. I haven’t noticed any brake rub when hauling out of the saddle and although it is probably too early to tell how the flooded roads have affected the bearings everything is still spinning freely so far! I did notice a couple of the bladed spokes weren’t sitting straight in the rear wheel, so not really offering the intended aero advantage they are meant to provide.  The wheels come complete with tubes and Mavic’s own brand Aksion tyres, which certainly improves the value for money. The tyres roll well but I haven’t had the confidence in wet corners that I have had on other tyres. Only one puncture to report, from an arrow like flint that I think would have defeated most tyres.

Summary: Sensibly priced entry level wheel from Mavic with the bonus of some decent tyres and tubes. The weight means they won’t hold you back on long rides but should be robust enough to survive a few potholes. No noticeable difference in performance from the Fulcrums they replaced, time will tell if the bearings are more resistant to water ingress.