Mavic

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Mavic is a French bicycle parts manufacturer whose name is an acronym for Manufacture d'Articles Vélocipédiques Idoux et Chanel founded by Charles Idoux and Lucien Chanel. The company is most noted as a manufacturer of bicycle wheels. Many competitive cyclists such as those in the Tour de France ride on Mavic wheels. Mavic is based near St. Etienne, France.

Throughout the company's history it has manufactured many different components for bicycles including wheelsets, hubs, brakes, mudguards, cassettes, chainrings, headsets, cycling computers, chains, stems, bars, cranks, bottom brakets, and even children's pedal cars; but is best known for its production of lightweight alloy rims. The structure of the company has evolved since 1889 many times over and is currently under the direct ownership of the French ski manufacturer Salomon Sports (which is in turn owned by a Finish conglomerate that also owns the Austrian ski manufacturer Atomic and the tennis racquet maker Wilson). Since 1973 the company has provided its famous "Service des Courses" - Free and Neutral Service - to thousands of bicycle races throughout the world. The bright yellow cars and motorcycles loaded with Mavic wheels and complete bicycles follow riders along the course. Mechanics on board conduct wheel changes, in the event of a puncture, or a complete bike swap, should a competitor crash out rendering their bike unrideable to any of the competitors regardless of their team affiliation. As mavic has never made complete bikes the neutral service framesets are provided by an outside manufacturer, recently Cannondale and Litespeed frames have been used but for 2006 the Scott CR-1 Frames are de rigeur. Some lovely photos of the current bikes here.[1] Since 2001 Mavic has abandoned the production of a full groupset of components while focusing on a line of pre-built wheelsets. They have been instrumental in employing many innovative production techniques with metals and especially alloy materials. In fact, upon acquiring Mavic, Salomon group had Mavic produce the edges for its entire line of skis and snowboards. The most significant innovation Mavic has made to cycling recently is the redesign of a spoke nipple which can be mounted from the inside of the rim, rather than being dropped in from the tire side, with its "fore" technology. This allows a box section rim to remain unpeirced on the tire side with the exception of the valve hole. In the road cycling application this allowed less material to be used in the rim in total. The Ksyrium wheelset was the first road wheelset to utilise the "fore" feature. For mountain bike applications, together with fellow French mountain bike tire manufacturers Michelin and Hutchinson, the 'fore' feature led to a "tubeless" system, similar to that used in cars and motorcycles. The elimination of a separate tube from the wheel allows for far lower inflation pressures, as the threat of pinch flats is eliminated. Thus, a far larger tire 'footprint' can grip the surface. Other wheel makers have followed Mavic's lead to employ similar technologies. Currently Mavic products are available for road cycling, MTB, track, and BMX. Their high-end road wheelsets are the Mavic Ksyrium series -- made popular by Lance Armstrong in his first victories in Tour de France -- and the Mavic Cosmic series. The semi-aero Cosmic wheelsets are often seen on many riders' bicycles, and the latest version uses carbon parts. These wheelsets are reportedly very stiff and aerodynamic, although on the heavy side. Many riders swear that Mavic Ksyriums are the best all-around wheelset available today.

To commemorate the ten year anniversary of the introduction of the Helium wheelset in 2006, the Ksyrium Edition Speciale was introduced. Having little to do with the appearance, weight, or design of the original Helium, the ES pays homage to its revolutionary predecessor through the use of one red spoke on each wheel. The Ksyrium ES has a shallower profile, and therefore, hypothetically meaning a lighter rim for more efficient climbing. This is only speculation, though, as a lighter hub design and obviously similar spoke choice result in the ES having a weight identical to the SL. Regardless of any weight savings, the shallower profile of the ES makes it a more stable wheel in descents, which is reason enough to choose it over the SL for hilly races.

Mavic rims are also very popular among riders and builders. The Mavic Open Pro rim is the de facto, all-round clincher rim, used for training and racing by many riders, and it is still popular among professionals for the grueling Paris-Roubaix race, given its light weight and "dead" feel. The Mavic CXP rims are the semi-aero counterparts to the Open Pro.

Mavic developed an electronic shifting system in the 1990s, first called "Zap," later re-engineered released as "Mektronic" (changing from wired to wireless communication between the controller and derailleur) that was used by several riders including Chris Boardman. However, it suffered unresolved engineering problems --most notably that Boardman's time trial bike would shift without his action-- and was discontinued.

On the mountain bike, the company helped start the UST (Universal System Tubeless) Tubeless system. The tubeless design eliminates the need of an inner tube between the rim and tire. The result is a lighter weight rim and the ability to ride with a lower tire pressure.

[edit] External link

• Mavic official homepage