Product Review: Mavic Ksyrium SLE Wheelset 2015

Ksyrium SLE starts with the great performance and exceptional reliability of Ksyrium SLS and add to it our most exclusive technology: Exalith 2 for improved braking performance in all conditions and stunning look. Our new Yksion Pro GripLink and PowerLink tyres outlines this personality.

Features:

• Weight:
• Front: 605 grams
• Pair: 1395 grams
• Pair wheel-tyre system: 1935 grams
• Pair front wheel-tyre system: 875 grams
• Rear: 790 grams
• Pair rear wheel-tyre system: 1060 grams
• Rims:
• Material: Maxtal
• Height: front 22mm, rear 25 asymmetrical
• Joint: SUP
• Drilling: Fore
• Brake track: Exalith 2
• Weight reduction: ISM 3D
• Valve hole diameter: 6.5mm
• Tyre: clincher
• ETRTO size: 622x15C
• Recommended tyre sizes: 19 to 32mm
• Spokes:
• Material: Zicral
• Shape: straight pull, bladed, front double butted
• Nipples: Fore integrated aluminum
• Count: front 18, rear 20
• Lacing: front radial, rear Isopulse
• Hubs:
• Front body: carbon with aluminum flanges
• Rear body: aluminum
• Axle material: aluminum
• Adjustable sealed cartridge bearings
• Freewheel: FTS-L steel
• Tyre:
• Yksion Pro GripLink (front) & PowerLink (rear) – 190g
• Link: GripLink
• Link: PowerLink
• Casing: 127 TPI
• Breaker: Front Kevlar, Rear nylon
• Dimensions: 23-622 (700x23c) or 25-622 (700x25C)
• Max. Pressure: 9 bar/130 psi

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Mavic Ksyrium Sle Review:

The Mavic Ksyrium SLE’s are hands down my favorite road wheelset of all times, and that’s saying a lot! You guys know that I’m kitted out with a Pinarello Dogma 65.1 Think2 for the way I ride (= very fast and demanding) and even still I don’t look at or think about wheels much anymore, unless they cause me some kind of grief.

Performance:

Well, race day at Louisville, Kentucky (NCCX) it was +100F and the air thick as molasses. The town metro was out of order, and the venue is in the middle of a city with no safe place to ride. It’s pretty traumatic for any rider. I’ve been riding tubulars and they are touchy in the heat.. or so I thought. We lined up for a staggered start, and I shot to the front and stayed there. I opened up a big gap, and was still closing it out in the last km. The performance of these wheels in the conditions was nothing short of mind blowing. My 75mm training tubulars saw better performance that day than they have in the previous RAAM, for sure.

Fast forward a month; it was Sunday, one week before my birthday. It was race day in Lousiville, Kentucky and it was PR day. It’s an NCCX race, but my buddy who organized it filled the field with a lot of experts hoping to get some points for the season. Here’s how the course went down; climb a short section for about 150 meters, average tempo for about 1.5 miles, low steady climb for 2 miles finishing with a nice pitch for about half a mile. I was thinking a 5:30-6:00 climb on average. I can climb much quicker on my TT bike, but I’m understanding that a PR ride is better performed on a road bike in normal shoes. I lined up in the back to save a bit of energy. The start was strung out, but after a few pedal strokes, I could see I was 2-3seconds off the front. I grabbed a U-tube GoPro video for you to enjoy. Please watch it and enjoy:

Yep, the RED face is me. It’s the first time in a race that I got that red! I was charging it since the start and I think it shows. I love that it’s clear that I’m in a different game than the other riders. I’ll admit that it’s a small field and I recognize that it’s not world championship material (and it’s not), but I’m just thrilled with the ease in which I rode that course and the results that followed. Heck, I was just hoping to finish strong and PR in the Cat3 or 4, but I took the Cat3 title by almost a minute with a 9:38 performance. I won by 1 and 10th’s of a second. I took the field by just over 50 seconds. The 6:00/mile pace would have won three of the four NCCX races in the state for the year (1:15 short of winning a fourth). Obviously, I think that’s my best performance on a bicycle yet.

As I said, I’m not new to riding fast. I know what it takes, what to expect and how to pace. Still, I was power/heart rate pacing and it means very little to what happened. There were times I didn’t want to look at my power meter because I didn’t recognize it. Yeah, it was a PR day, and I’ve spent a lot of time and effort on getting things right but it was so much fun. It changed the way I ride forever. I’m a guy who’s always been a proponent of the philosophy that it’s gotta hurt to get better. I always felt that if I can turn anything into a routine, then it’s going to cost me on the weekends. Riding fast relaxes me.

If you want to get to the NCCX podium, you have to get a PR ride. It’s the only way. You can’t hope that you’ll place. If you want to win a race, then you have to create an opportunity, something that you can control, just like I did that day in Louisville. It’s not something that you put on for the opening act; you have to stay on it every day, every week, every month, every year. I’m making meaningful decisions every day now to get the most from my body and mind so that I can get that ride or book or finish ahead of that person.

It’s funny, practice rides can be a chore. They’re slow, the weather’s hot, you’re getting dropped off the back, and the descents hit you hard. You’re riding at low speeds, but you’re in the crouch position. It’s not working!

Sometimes, doing something that you’ve done before can seem as if you’ve gone through the motions. You lack enthusiasm, you don’t try as hard, and there’s no sense of accomplishment whether you improve or not. It can be laborious, and by the time you reach the course, you’re exhausted and you’re gone. It’s a good thing that it’s not your day!

How often is it that you’ve made a decision to go to your PR course, and you’ve planned your ride route according to your PowerTap, but it’s always you against the clock. You get there and it’s hot, and you’re sleeping. It’s 100 degrees. This is a course that works. By the time I get there, I’m already cooked. The workout followed by the climb and the descent somehow works in my favor. I didn’t get to choose the course that day. Well, it was just a little different than my training days, but it produced results that I didn’t expect. I love that! I also didn’t have to force it. I don’t know what the wind was doing that day, but I didn’t have to force the issue and make it happen. I just rode and it happened. I hardly shot any power, but it went out faster than I thought. It came easier.

When I threw my leg over the bike that day, I thought, “Well, let’s see how it goes” and I’ve never been more surprised. It was one of those days that you just don’t see coming. I mean, I didn’t change anything that morning. It was one lucky thing after the other, and I took it a little further than I usually do.

Reliability:

I wrote that I rode to the points, and nothing wrong happened. I want to be clear. That day was hot and the roads were rough. Three laps of the course traversed a railroad track that was rock hard. I read about those tracks years ago and I’ve stay away from them. It’s easy with my endurance bike with clincher wheels, but not so much with my road bike, so I just didn’t go there. The remainder came with lots of transitions that had plenty of elbow rubbing. It was fast and I hit them hard. Going all out in those chairs makes for some hard power and stresses the bike and the rider. I had concerns, but there was nothing wrong with my bike or me.

I’ve been doing this for almost 4 years now and I’m constantly tweaking my bike, my setup, and my diet. I do my stretches and breathing exercises, but I know I’ve reached a plateau in terms of what I need to do. I’ve been getting faster and faster, but not stronger and stronger. I’ve been fortunate to have survived some pretty big crashes in that time, but nothing serious, and I’ve been conscious from all of them and able to walk away. Now, I know I have to strengthen my body to handle the intensity that comes with riding at high watts and high heart rates.

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