I broke a spoke on my rear Ksyrium wheel last night. This is the older version when there was just one model (the SSC, I think). The spokes are aluminium. The wheel went so badly out of true that I had to remove a brake pad to get enough clearance. Luckily, I was only 8 miles from home.

From what I can see, these look impossible to fix yourself. Does a LBS do it, or do they have to be sent back to Mavic? Back to France??

Anyone have experiences? From the sheer volume of these wheels I see out there, I hope repairs are simple and done by a LBS.

Thanks

It would be faster to IMO to have a LBS fix it. Then sell them to some poor soul, who doesn't know Mavic stuff sucks. . Other than their rims that is. You're much better off with a nice set of DT R1.1 Swiss rims, laced to some nice hubs. At least you can fix them quickly yourself! ;)

It would be faster to IMO to have a LBS fix it. Then sell them to some poor soul, who doesn't know Mavic stuff sucks. . Other than their rims that is. You're much better off with a nice set of DT R1.1 Swiss rims, laced to some nice hubs. At least you can fix them quickly yourself! ;)

That hasn't been my experience. I have an older pair of these wheels that must have 20,000 miles on them. I've ridden them across Italy, Colorado, Virginia and countless centuries and commuting miles.

A good LBS should be able to take care of you. We have a local roadie shop that stocks Ksyrium spokes and will have you back on the road in less than an hour for 10 bucks if all you need is a spoke.

I broke a spoke on my rear Ksyrium wheel last night. This is the older version when there was just one model (the SSC, I think). The spokes are aluminium. The wheel went so badly out of true that I had to remove a brake pad to get enough clearance. Luckily, I was only 8 miles from home.

From what I can see, these look impossible to fix yourself. Does a LBS do it, or do they have to be sent back to Mavic? Back to France??

Anyone have experiences? From the sheer volume of these wheels I see out there, I hope repairs are simple and done by a LBS.

Thanks

I broke a rear drive-side spoke in a 2001 Mavic Ksyrium SSC during a race last year. Yep, they go WAY out of true....the tire hit the chainstay on the bike I was riding (it had bad clearance to begin with).

The spoke replacement is not too difficult, I got the spoke from my LBS did it myself but I consider myself to be a good mechanic and I prefer to do most repair work myself. Things I remember doing: To get the retaining ring removed from the hub, I just used small needle-nose pliers. I put blue locktite on the threads of the nipple. And, I was very careful when threading the nipple into the rim so I did not cross-thread it. This would basically ruin the rim. I tensioned the spoke using the Mavic-supplied spoke wrench and the "spoke holder" to keep the spoke from twisting. (The plastic wrench is OK, but be sure it is seated completely on the nipple and grasp it firmly. It does flex a bit and I think the aluminum one that a lot of shops have is probably better).

I tensioned the new spoke until the wheel was true and round (within reason, but I'm pretty fussy). I did not even have to adjust any of the other spokes. In terms of tension, the new spoke seemed very close to the other drive-side spokes when I checked the tension by plucking the spokes and listening to the acoustic pitch. However, I'm not sure this method works as well with the aluminum spokes as it does with conventional steel spokes as the sound is more muted. At any rate, I raced the wheel for another year without problem and recently sold them to a friend and he's had no problems.