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 in Annecy, France, about 45 min from Geneva.
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 brackets, and even children's pedal cars; but is best known for its production of lightweight alloy rims.
The structure of the company has evolved many times over since 1889 and is currently under the direct ownership of the French ski manufacturer Salomon[1] (which is in turn owned by a Finnish conglomerate, Amer Sports, 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. Bright yellow cars and motorcycles loaded with Mavic wheels and complete bicycles follow riders along the course. Mechanics onboard will conduct wheel changes (in the event of a puncture) or a complete bike swap (in the event of a crash, rendering a bike unrideable) regardless of 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. For 2006 the Scott CR-1 Frames are de rigueur. Cannondale CAAD 9 frames are what adorn the roof of the vehicles for 2008.
Since 2001 Mavic has abandoned the production of a full groupset of components while focusing on a line of pre-built wheelsets.
The company has 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 unpierced 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 and track. Their high-end road wheelsets for many years were the Mavic Ksyrium series -- made popular by Lance Armstrong in his first victories in the Tour de France -- and the Mavic Cosmic series. The Mavic Ksyrium series has given way to the Third Generation of the wheel, the R-Sys. The R-Sys utilizes tubular carbon fiber spokes that work both in Traction (like a traditionally spoked bicycle wheel) and Compression (like a wagon wheel with wooden spokes). The spokes are held in place via "fore" technology at the rim and the TraComp ring at the hub. This allows wheels to be built with lower spoke tensions, which in turn allows for the possibility of creating a lighter weight wheel because of less stress on the whole system. The semi-aero Cosmic wheelsets are often seen on many riders' bicycles, and the latest version is made of all carbon sans the rear hub shell. These wheelsets are reportedly very stiff and aerodynamic. 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 sells many ready built wheelsets to bicycle brands for them to assemble into their bikes. For road bikes the Ksyrium Elite and the Ksyrium Equipe are quite popular; they are cheaper and lower spec versions of the famous racing Ksyrium wheels such as the SL. After requests from mass-market bike makers, Mavic produced a budget wheelset named Aksium, which has proved very popular, and is the reference wheelset in this category.[citation needed]
On the track Mavic has made a carbon fibre deep section front wheel with five wide carbon spokes called the Io. The Io wheel has been used to win many gold medals, at the Olympics and the World Championships. Some pro racers have used it for road time trials, but this is not officially approved by Mavic as the sides of the rim are not designed to be used for braking.
For the 2007 Tour De France, Mavic produced some all carbon deep section wheels to add to their Cosmic series. These wheels have solid carbon spokes bonded in place, in a similar way to the groundbreaking Lightweight wheels used by Armstrong, Zabel, and many other star riders. Already these wheels have been used to win races, such as stages in the 2007 Tour De France.
Mavic rims are also very popular among riders and builders. The Mavic Open Pro rim is the de facto, all-around 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.[citation needed] 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 and released as "Mektronic" (changing from wired to wireless communication between the controller and derailleur). The Mektronic 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.
For mountain bikes, the company pioneered the UST (Universal System Tubeless) Tubeless system. The design eliminates the need for 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] References
- ^ For Cyclists, Easier Shifting. The New York Times (1999-03-11). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
[edit] External links
- Mavic official homepage
- Velo Retro:Mavic Timeline
- Bicycling magazine review of R-Sys Wheelset
- VeloNews article on Mavic Service Course
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