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mavic yksion pro ust tubeless tyres

mavic yksion pro tubeless tyres

a rule of thumb when defining the quality of a road bike was often simply to take a look at the fitted tyres. quality usually arrived with name brand, 700 x 23c affixed to at least moderate quality wheels. if the rubber featured more of a tread pattern, amber sidewall and 25c cross-section, fewer numbers on the price tag would indicate a more economic choice could be made. in the absence of any collateral evidence, this disparity in tyre widths seemed mostly to rest upon an ancient myth, one that could easily be categorised under the heading 'old wives' tales'.

though i'm pretty sure i've mentioned the following on more than just one occasion, at the time of gracefully accommodating the velocipedinal way, it was understood that, the narrower the tyre, the faster you'd go for the same input of energy. i have no earthly idea who may have decreed as such, but that was my understanding and also that of others just as seriously misguided.

more recent investigations, however, have totally undermined this mass misapprehension, to the extent that the serious roadie ought now to be discarding any bicycle wearing less than 28mm tyres. gerard vroomen's recently introduced single chainring bicycle offers sufficient clearance for up to 30mm tyres, those extra few millimetres allegedly allowing greater speed than hitherto understood, often accompanied by a welcome and improved degree of comfort.

for the average road-going cyclist, it seems therefore that everything we knew is wrong, learned just in time to make the subject of choice even more complex that we already thought it was. apart from deciding which gps unit best suits our strava aspirations and whether the display of watts on our handlebars is a necessary accoutrement to modernity, now we are only a smidgeon behind formula one in having to choose tyre width, tyre tread and now whether to go tubed or tubeless.

we'll leave tubulars to the professionals for now.

mavic yksion pro tubeless tyres

the standard clincher that's been around for decades needs no real introduction. pop in an inner tube, inflate to the desired pressure and cav's your uncle. and then there's tubeless, a class of tyre that has gained a dramatic increase in popularity over recent years, with more major manufacturers offering road-going models every few months. of course, these can't simply be fitted to any set of wheels; there is a compulsory need for rims that are compatible with this style of tyre. and now it's mavic's turn.

available in two widths - 25mm and 28mm - their minimal packaging would have you believe that, unless you simultaneously purchased a set of mavic wheels at the same time, the yksion pro ust are all but useless. that, however, can simply be placed at the foot of some slightly misleading marketing, for the instruction booklet subsequently advises that you need only have tubeless compatible rims. in my case, i placed the 28mm version on a pair of derek mclay's excellent wheelsmith ascent tubeless-ready wheels.

it seems a bit odd that, having purchased a pair of mavic tubeless tyres, they do not arrive with the presta valve stub required to have them inflate. granted, providing a couple of valves every time you buy new tyres might seem a tad redundant, but there's nothing on the packaging to advise that such valves might be required in the first place. and though the website and booklet advise inserting 30mm of tyre sealant, there's no indication that mavic make such a product (they do).

the easiest means of seating any tubeless tyre is to liberally spread washing up liquid along the bead and assuming you have now obtained appropriate valves, inflating requires only a couple of powerful pushes on the track pump to seat the edge of the tyre, then proceed as you would with a regular tyre. having checked that both tyres seated and inflated correctly, i deflated both, unscrewed the valve core (for which you'll need an appropriate tool) and dripped 30ml of sealant inside before re-inflating.

it should be pointed out that the foregoing is applicable to all tubeless tyres and any apparent iniquities experienced are not exclusive to mavic.

i confess that my previous experience of tubeless tyres had me initially concerned that the tyres would blow off the rims anytime the bicycle experienced less than pristine surfaces. of course, we all know that to be yet another old wives' tale, verified by the fact that i made every effort to have it happen, just to prove me right.

i was wrong.

mavic yksion pro tubeless tyres

the minimal tread on the yksion pros places more rubber on the road which i think is always a good thing and so far i've experienced no apparent loss of traction even on wet and gritty uphill surfaces. it's hard to tell whether the almost frictionless roll downhill is due to superior bearings in the wheelsmith hubs, or the reputed lowered rolling resistance of the yksion tyres. it's probably a bit of both. tubeless do offer an attractively saleable noise as they roll across any nearby road surface, not quite as desirable as that produced by bona-fide tubular tyres, but definitely more approachable than that of your average clincher with an inner tube.

so far, i've only managed a few hundred kilometres on the yksions, a less than meaningful distance on rubber that's probably designed to field a few thousand before needing replaced. however, they are quite impressive, particularly in respect of their cornering ability. an unexpectedly proximitous meeting with a rather large audi while descending, resulted in the sort of manoeuvre that would usually be accompanied by a 'don't try this at home' admonishment. the resilience of the tyres undoubtedly prevented my having 'vorsprung durch technik' heavily imprinted on one leg of my bibtights.

since the tyres are fitted to a yet to be reviewed ritchey logic steel frameset, there will be more about these sooner rather than later, but it's definitely looking good so far.

mavic's yksion pro ust tubeless tyres are available as 700 x25c or 700 x 28c versions and retail at an rrp of £52 each.

mavic yksion ust tubeless tyres

sunday 10 december 2017

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