Mavic has something of a reputation for a cautious approach to product development. It wasn’t until 2016 that the French firm launched its first full carbon clincher wheelsets, long after carbon wheels became lusted after by riders worldwide, while road tubeless has also been another slow burner for the Annecy-based brand.
That, in part, has been down to safety fears, when it comes to both carbon clinchers and tubeless. While Mavic was quick to develop a tubeless line-up for the mountain bike world back in 1999, only 18 years later has the road equivalent arrived. Admittedly, road tubeless has only emerged as a genuine trend in the past five years, but Mavic’s relatively slow adoption has been due to concerns about compatibility (the ease with which the tyre can be fitted to the rim) and the quality of the seal, given the high pressures road tyres run at compared to off-road rubber.
Mavic says the UST wheel-tyre system, launched last month, solves those problems and we’ve just received the Ksyrium Pro UST wheelset to test.