Mavic R-SYS front wheel safety recall

[sogood]

http://www.mavic.com/road/news/news.762.aspx

Problem lies with those tubular CF spokes and affect only the front wheel.

Free Aksium wheel for those affected owner.

[cavebear2]

Not surprised, a friend had these (very expensive) wheels and funnily enough had many problems with the CF spokes. Another reason to wait until a new model wheel has been tested on many unsuspecting laboratory cyclists.

[MichaelB]

Interesting discussion on the Weight Weenies forum

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... hp?t=51897

Especially the test results of energy consumed (Watts) (AT) 50km/hr

[Hebden]

I wonder if this was the result of one of those recalled wheels...

[Aushiker]

G'day

Australian recall notice/details now published here.

Regards
Andrew

[Aushiker]

G'day

A shattering experience all round with a post recall Mavic R-Sys.

Regards
Andrew

[im_no_pro]

G'day

A shattering experience all round with a post recall Mavic R-Sys.

Regards
Andrew

Bet Mavic were packing themselves when they got the first phone call..... Its already cost em a set of aksiums per R-sys owner (as well as the usual recall costs), another recall is gonna hurt.

[sogood]

R-SYS is dead as far as a product line is concerned! Or there'll be lots of super cheap CF wheelsets on K-Mart bikes.

[twizzle]

Interesting that the kevlar 'tethers' ALL failed in the crash.

[rkelsen]

CF spokes?

How much weight would they save compared to stainless steel on a wheel with only 16 spokes anyway?

You'd probably negate any weight benefit by wearing socks!

[Kalgrm]

CF spokes have a lot more bling factor than socks ...

Twizzle's point about the failure of the kevlar tethers should worry Mavic much more than whether or not this was a case of user mis-use of their product. All 16 spokes failed in both the normal mode and the redundancy safety "feature". I'd rather have standard spoke, thanks.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Chaderotti]

Spinergy wheels re-run?

[vitualis]

That's one scary wheel.

Regards.

[toolonglegs]

I was warned off those wheels when they very first came out..suprise surprise

[trailgumby]

Tension AND compression forces on a little brittle carbon tube = a recipe for a short life. I thought the "standng on an aluminium can" analogy was singularly apt. Strewth, what were Mavic thinking? +1 for letting others test out the bleeding edge.

Broken scapula from them for the guy penning the Velonews article - - urgh that must have hurt.

[MichaelB]

Passed this article onto a mate's boss who rides a nice Colnage with the R-SYS wheels.

Wonder what Mavic will do, if it decides to end the R-SYS range .....

[toolonglegs]

Mavic's response...
http://www.velonews.com/article/93240/m ... se-article

[Aushiker]

Mavic's response...
http://www.velonews.com/article/93240/m ... se-article

Thanks Toolonglegs. Very interesting reading.

Regards
Andrew

[sogood]

Mavic's response...
http://www.velonews.com/article/93240/m ... se-article

It would appear that the Mavic engineers have worked hard to identify the initial cause of the accident with all the focus on tyre and tube. But they have largely avoided the question of why the R-SYS wheel disintegrated in that fashion. A well designed wheel when involved in a crash should not fail in this fashion. The present failure mode of the second gen R-SYS wheel is just unacceptable. As a matter of fact, UCI's equipment rule specifically prohibits it.

Article 1.3.018:
- On impact, no element of the wheel may become detached and be expelled outwards.
- The rupture must not present any shattered or broken off elements, or any sharp or serrated surfaces that could harm the user, other riders and/or spectators.
- The rupture characteristics must not cause the hub to become separated from the rim in such a way that the wheel becomes detached from the forks.

I say R-SYS is dead as a dodo and can't see how Mavic can reverse the market perception.

[vitualis]

That's what I thought too when I read that article. Mavic has perhaps brought up a convincing argument that their wheel didn't spontaneously self destruct but rather failed secondarily to something else. Nevertheless, that doesn't excuse the failure mode of this wheel.

Regards.

[AllDan]

Anything that fails that badly for any reason is pretty unacceptable, short of someone throwing a javelin through your front wheel.

I wouldn't ride them even if you paid me, my health is worth more to me than any 'cool' wheelset. Mavic's abdication of all responsibility is a little scary considering...

[Andrew69]

Interesting that the kevlar 'tethers' ALL failed in the crash.

What crash?
The wheel failed while the guy was going around a corner, THEN he crashed

[Andrew69]

That's what I thought too when I read that article. Mavic has perhaps brought up a convincing argument that their wheel didn't spontaneously self destruct but rather failed secondarily to something else. Nevertheless, that doesn't excuse the failure mode of this wheel.

Regards.

[trailgumby]

The Mavic engineers seem to be assuming fork contact with the ground caused him to go over the bars. Ain't necessarily so. Could easily be that enough spokes failed to cause the front wheel to lock solid in the front forks/brake assembly long enough to flip him, break a few more and the rest let go in the ensuing endo. Ovalised wheel and broken-off valve stem is a clue.

Edit: Arrghm, I'm stupid! (slaps self on head) Of course! The fork crown dropping down into the tyre is definitely gonna shoot the guy over the bars well before the hub hits the ground or the rim.

If the spokes of the wheel had simply failed while the cyclist was riding, then the fork would have dropped straight down with the hub secured in the fork. Under such circumstances, the hub should show evidence of a severe impact, which is not the case here.

-- what utter rubbish.

Here's the pic showing where the fork crown dropping onto the tyre has left braking marks:

[MichaelB]

Seems like they are trying very hard to say everything else could have been at fault.

Very good lawyer wording in the extensive uses of words like may, preliminay indication etc....

If it smells like fish, looks like fish, tastes like fish, then 99.99% it bloody well is fish.