The French mountain bike brand has restructured its product portfolio and is going back to its wheelset roots.
The yellow wheelset people are back. After a challenging period of restructuring, Mavic has relaunched with fewer staff and a rationalised product range.
After a three month of reorganisation, Mavic SAS has become Mavic Group. The French company’s engineering resources remain broadly the same, but its overall staff complement has halved.
Before the events which triggered its restructuring peaked, Mavic had fielded a diverse mountain biking product portfolio, branching into soft goods, apparel and accessories. In an attempt to reduce complexity and cost, Mavic has recommitted to the product which defined its reputation: wheels.
The company is now shipping replacement parts with its new wheels, reducing the frustration of having to source specific spokes.
Familiar tech – at better prices
Loyal followers of the brand will be familiar with the technical features of its aluminium and carbon-fibre wheelsets. Mavic’s alloy wheels retain the benefit of not requiring rim tape for tubeless sealing. This allows for spoke replacement, without having to unseat the tyre or retape the rim.
The company’s Black Shield alloy finish is also claimed to be scratch resistant. If the unsightliness of terrain strike markings on a black rim triggers your OCD, a Mavic aluminium wheelset is a solid long-term ownership prospect.
For committed enduro riders, the Sam Hill signature wheelset remains Mavic’s most desirable product.
These alloy wheels feature a distinctive Sam Hill graphic design around their entire rim surface and feature a 28mm internal diameter. That dimension might be a touch narrower than what most other premium enduro wheelset shape to, but there is no arguing with Sam Hill’s rider input to the design requirements.
Built with only 24-spokes per wheel, the Deemax Pro Sam Hill limited edition wheelset retails for €1000 and includes six replacement spokes. All of Mavic’s other 2021 model year wheelsets are delivered with two spare spokes, which is part of the brand’s new customer support strategy. The entire carbon-fibre wheelset range also uses a single reference spoke length.
The reformulated pricing sees Mavic’s aluminium wheelset range start at €650 and peak at €1000, with carbon-fibre wheels priced in a bandwidth from €1190 to €1850.