Mavic R-Sys Recall

I really, really, REALLY wish Mavic would go back to offering hubs for sale! I doubt it will happen since everyone seems to be trimming them from their lines. Campy is down to only offering the Record hubs in their road line. Sram didn’t even bother offering hubs with Rival/Force/Red. Everyone is jumping and prebuilt bandwagon. Feh.

Exactly. I was hoping that Mavic would re-introduce something like the MR601 hubset. For myself, I went buck-wild on Mavic Classics hubs, which in the long turn leaves me somewhat vulnerable to the whims of spoke manufacturers, since I need straight-pull spokes. It boggles my mind how straight-pull can be used in so many wheel systems and yet is so difficult to acquire.

The HEDS are solid for momentum if you have the power to drive the wheels. If you’re a skinny rider, no point in hauling those wheels on a windy day.

@Ron,

Much of the reviews we’ve done on Heds say just that — these wheels roll, and are Roleur wheels.

Also, don’t want to pile on and any recall hits a company hard, but I have heard a few instances of the wheels “unraveling.” The R-Sys were the “strangest” riding wheel I’ve ridden; very French to focus on spokes when everyone else is making wheels roll faster with aerodynamics.

I’m glad Mavic is finally doing a recall. It’s been known for sometime these wheels had some sort of problem. Recently, before the recall, I was at a local bike shop and told one of the sales staff how I read online reports indicating the R-Sys wheels have defective spokes. He looked at me like I was crazy. He went on to tell me these spokes are carbon and “super strong” and you can’t believe what you read on the Internet, blah, blah… I know Mavic has a good reputation, but the R-Sys have a serious problem.

Those Mavic R Sys wheels were a horrible idea to begin with…leave it up to them to come up with great marketing to sell a modern day wagon wheel. Agree that they had some incredibly nice aftermarket hubs before they went to built wheels only. I have a set of the MR601 hubs that Mark refers to and they are indeed top notch.

@ Byron…you quip about the French design reminds me of a joke I heard while traveling in Europe: What’s the difference between European heaven and hell? In European heaven, the Swiss run the government, the Germans design and build everything, the British are the police, the Italians are the lovers, and the French are the chefs. In European hell, the Swiss are the lovers, the Germans are the police, the British are the chefs, the Italians run the government, and the French design and build everything.

Tai

I for one intend to keep my pre-recall R-SYS wheelset. You never know when you’re going to need another excuse for not winning the local Wednesday night Cat 4 crit despite rolling up on a sub 7 kg, full carbon, Red buildup and wearing a sharp-looking team skinsuit…

“Yeah, probably could’ve made the winning move, no- SMOKED the dude who won the sprint finish! … If only my front wheel hadn’t explodified racing for the $5 prime on the early lap.”

Tai… It’s not really a “joke” when it’s true…

@Tai

it was partially my lust for your MR601 hubs that led to the current Classics Pro mania. The Classics hub is has almost the same internals as the MR601 but takes straight-pull spokes. I keep an eye out for those MR601s…I’d buy some just on principle.

I need some sort of Mavic hub for my mini velo!

Note: name and links were removed by the request of the comment author.

So, I bought these wheels sometime last year and did a century and broke the front spoke with like 40 miles left. I thought I heard a crack on a downhill but I just kept on riding, thinking it was nothing. I only noticed it after I was cleaning my bike the next day and realized I the wheel was out of true. None of this occurred during the race. It was only at my local shop that they said I actually broke a spoke.

About 3 weeks later I got the front wheel back after it was made “stronger” by mavic. On a ride that same weekend I then broke the rear bunny hopping a crack in the road. Well thank god for the MP3 warranty. I shipped that back and I have not had a problem since.

Now that they are officially recalling them, I decided to return them. I imagine someone probably really got injured so they decided to take them back. Its hard enough avoiding cars, much less worrying about having a spoke break causing you to go into traffic and get killed.

My local shop hooked me up with their Mavic rep and after hearing my story offered me a comparable trade. I guess they could of tried to stick them to me forever, but the Rep was really great and understood my issue. He swapped me a comparable wheel and I will be getting those new ones this friday.

Let me say this about Mavic. They will stand behind their products. Although this was a pain, I really liked the wheels. Being over 200 lbs and an Ironman finisher, I can tell you that these wheels were so responsive climbing and really overall one of the best wheels I have ever rode. I will buy more Mavic wheels as a result of what they did for me and how they handled it.

@D-C

Thanks for the story and agreed. While the R-SYS was and is a questionable design, Mavic by all accounts stands by the product. Also of note, they’ll rebuild crashed or broken wheels at a fraction of a new wheel. We shouldn’t forget either that Mavic changed the industry with the Helium (I owned and love a pair) and later with the Krysium. Why they focused on the the technology of wagons v. wind tunnels, I don’t know, but I also wonder why Shimano’s pricing is so damn high on DA 7900.