Mavic

Crossmax Pro 29 Boost Wheel

Cross-country riding and racing requires some specialized equipment if you want to get the most out of your experience or plan on doing well in competition. Parts need to be light so you aren't lugging around unnecessary weight up and down the mountain while remaining durable (to finish first, you must first finish), and not be so flimsy that it adversely affects the ride or your confidence. And while carbon hoops usually fit the bill for the above requirements, not all of us can afford some bling composite wheels. Thankfully, Boost spacing has become the universally agreed upon option for dropout spacing and its increase in lateral stiffness and responsive handling gets you oh so close to the performance of carbon without forcing a refinance. With its Crossmax Pro 29 Boost Wheel, Mavic provides a worthy non-carbon option for that new Boost bike build or an excellent upgrade option over your existing wheelset with the company's legendary expertise in building fast, light, snappy, and nearly bombproof wheels.

Another feature boosting the stiffness of these wheels and having us forgetting about carbon wheels altogether is its use of Zicral spokes. On almost every wheelset, steel spokes are used as they have proven to be very reliable but are a touch heavy and fairly elastic. Zicral was first used on its iconic Ksyrium wheels and, being alloy, it allows Mavic to build up the Pros, with only 24 of them on each wheel, so much stiffer and lighter than steel spokes with a surprising amount of durability. Naturally, the trade-off comes from a slightly harsher ride, however, utilizing a lower-than-clincher tire pressure and the low profile alloy rim helps minimize this.

For additional weight savings, Mavic instills its Inter Spoke Milling 4 Dimensions (ISM 4D) process, which is the latest version of its signature rim milling process. ISM involves removing unnecessary rim material to eliminate grams and reduce rotational mass along the wheel's outer diameter. The original ISM limited milling to the rim's spoke face only, while its successor, ISM 3D, expands its attention to the sidewalls, and ISM 4D takes things a step further, smoothing the rim's transitional angles to further reduce weight without sacrificing strength.

While Mavic's ISM 4D keeps rotating weight low, the Instant Transfer System 4(ITS-4) rear hub ensures that efficiency isn't wasted to sluggish engagement. ITS-4 is a four pawl system that's phased and splits the engagement between two pairs of pawls. Since both pairs engage at different points in the freehub's rotation, the gap between engagement points falls to just 7.5 degrees of free play, with a significant reduction in drag while coasting. The quick engagement is further complemented by the stiff, 17mm monobloc axle, which tapers down to 12mm to take advantage of the new, more efficient standard of wider dropouts.

The Crossmax Pro's rims also incorporate Mavic's Universal Standard Tubeless (UST) design, which eliminates tubes and tape when running tubeless with Mavic's UST tires and is compatible with nearly all tubeless and clincher tires. Increases in traction and comfort, with a reduction in flats is what you can expect if you're not familiar with running tubeless.