Published by Tristan on 14 Jun 2009 at 04:28 pm
New t-shirt
Thanks to BikeSnobNYC for the idea, background reading and the original quote from Velonews here and here.
The R-Sys was a bad idea from the start. They’re not that light, they’re not aero, they’re horrendously expensive, and the carbon spokes will try to impale you should you crash. Spending money on a poorly-performing wheelset is almost understandable when they look cool, but spending money on a downright dangerous product is just dumb.
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Ben on 14 Jun 2009 at 11:30 pm #
It always stumped me why folks would want these for the same reasons you mention. BUT I figured maybe they knew something I didn’t. Clearly the collective punters out there haven’t been voting with their wallets, even after the very public recall.
Mind you.. haven’t we seen this before with the old Spinnergy Rev-X?
We’ve seen plenty of crashes across the various pro-photog sites where these things broke but it seems over at velonews they finally reported when it happened to one of their own.. but as Mavic’s defense suggests its not clear cut. Which came first the chicken or the egg? Would you want to risk that? AND then have that sort of warranty response?
Oh, and it looks like the NEW kevlar tethers do jack too. NICE. Can’t see how these pass the UCI impact test.
Tristan on 15 Jun 2009 at 9:41 pm #
Ben, my knowledge of the UCI tests is limited but from what I can tell the majority of their tests are designed to emulate a wheel hitting an inanimate object without catastrophic failure. I think the way they run these tests is to apply a large load to the tyre / rim.
Most wheels, including the R-Sys, are extremely strong when impacted straight-on at the rim. It’s not uncommon to see frames and forks destroyed from front-on impacts while the wheel is still perfectly true in both directions. These types of impacts are like a road cyclist t-boning a car or a dirtjumper / DHer casing a jump.
The problems with the R-Sys seem to center around the spokes being quite brittle and being overly rigid in compression. A steel spoke will bend a LOT before it breaks whereas it appears the R-Sys spokes simply fail. Once the wheel is starting it’s destruction path the other spokes remain intact and could potentially puncture a rider which is extremely dangerous. I have not heard of anyone being hurt from this but there are certainly some close calls: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_urSQl6wUA5g/R8778SarJ6I/AAAAAAAABXY/l9vYYjxCosQ/s400/14.jpg
A wheel should be built so that the failure of a spoke or two does not cause the wheel to fail.
I think this could be a fantastic opportunity for Mavic to step-up and amaze people with it’s customer service: Recall the R-Sys wheels and replace them with the excellent CCU! Explain to the Board why profits for 2009 evaporated but keep the respect and trust of millions of users and potential customers.