Peloton - August-September 2011

wash, Ksyriums are a zero-headache wheel. The Cosmic Carbone, all 1,185 grams, has been tested to withstand the same punishment as a Ksyrium. If you were so inclined, this featherweight racer could be your every day rider.

Well, if you needed your everyday wheel to be a flat out speed machine in every situation the road, or the group can throw at you, the Cosmic Carbone Ultimate does everything unbelievably well. You want to bunch sprint and need instantaneous acceleration when you jump out from behind your lead-out man? Check. You want to jump from the lead group as the climb pitches to 12 percent? Check. You want to press the pace on a technical descent to put some pressure on the good climbers? Check. You want to spend a few hours on the front dragging back a break or softening up a field? Check. Don’t believe me? Just ask Farrar, Basso, Nibali, or Hushovd. Every one of these riders has executed some of their epic rides on these

wheels. Fit a set on your bike and you will get a glimmer of just how these riders do what they do. It is heady performance indeed.

There are dedicated wheels that may do each one of these things better, but the list of wheels that do all these things as well as the Cosmic Carbone Ultimate numbers one or two. An important thing to keep in mind is the unified construction means that if you do suffer spoke damage, your local wheel builder won’t be able to help. You’ll be shipping the wheels back to a service center.

Mavic is making an addition to this equation with something they call SSC, packaging their Yksion tubulars with the wheels. The concept is to provide a tire perfectly in tune with the wheel. Since the wheel in question is a stunner, the tubular needs to be just as good, and it is, with a 290-tpi casing for a supple ride and front/rear specific tread compounds, focused on grip and low-rolling resistance respectively.

While Yksion tubulars are good, will you see less performance if you mount a comparable high-range tire from another brand? Not at all. A great tubular is a great tubular, and there is nothing so specific about the interaction between a Mavic tire and rim that precludes another quality tire from delivering equal performance. ]p[