mtnbke

I wanted to start a thread on Mavic components and 'tout Mavic' (all Mavic) bikes.

In all the discussion of Campy, Suntour, Stronglight, Simplex, and Shimano I think Mavic gets forgotten about. Which is a shame.

Mavic was first on a lot of stuff. Everyone knows they pioneered the aluminum rim way back in the day. With Dura Ace's foray into electronic shifting that had everyone all a twitter, people forgot that Mavic not only was first with electromechanical derailleurs, they'd actually done it twice before Shimano's attempt recently. While neither Zap nor Mechtronic (wireless) were successful, both had efficacy issues, these two attempts to change the paradigm are too easily forgotten. Mavic had the first anodized rim, the first sealed bearing bottom bracket, were at the front with sealed bearing hubs, came up with the first clincher, first ultralight wheelset (Helium), headed the table for the development of tubeless technology consortium etc.

It could be argued that no bicycle corporation has had a more profound impact on cycling than Mavic.

The Mavic SSC groupe defined the modern standard of what a group is. Prior to that everything was sort of spec'd piecemeal. The ubiquitous Shimanoculture wouldn't exist as we know it without Mavic putting forward the groupe concept.

Mavic had a great SSC groupe before the Suntour patent on slant parallelogram derailleurs expired, and they developed the absolutely epic SSC 8-speed group afterwards. To many the 8 speed indexing Mavic groups for road and mountain bikes are still considered the 'best'. The components could be completely disassembled, while current product every little part (to the smallest retaining clip) could be replaced, and the components rebuilt. They never had a 'second best way' as Suntour, Shimano, and Campagnolo constantly put forward hierarchies of product. Mavic merely had an anodized Pro version and a non-anodized version.

Back in the day only Pro teams could afford Mavic SSC kit. It was more expensive than anything anyone else offered, including Campy. Most people, even now have never even seen a 'tout Mavic' bike.

Which is a shame.

Mavic SSC is great stuff. With both a Tour de France (Lemond) and Paris-Roubaix victories on its mantle it has the race pedigree. However, it also has the 'bombproof' reputation. The Mavic mountain bike group shares almost everything with the road group. The rear hub is obviously wider for 135mm spacing, the rear 845 triple derailleur has a longer cage than the road medium cage 841, the mountain bike shifters are different, as are the cranks, but by an large most things in the mountain bike groupe were directly from the road group and just rebadged (front hubs, seatposts, headsets).

So you have a classic group that is strong enough for mountain biking, yet was light enough for vintage gran tour teams to equip them. Its 8 speed (road and mountain) and perfect for a race bike, touring bike, tandem, or mountain bike, and there was a 6/7 speed predecessor.

So where is the love? Share your Mavic kit and your nearly impossible dream to put together your own 'tout Mavic' bike.

Remember loving Mavic is like loving a French woman. Its complicated, and nearly unobtainable. Any fool with a credit card can have something Italian (components, bikes, or the women - hence the market for Ferraris, Lambos, and Maseratis).

So what do you have?

randyjawa 

I have had only one bicycle completely fitted with Mavic components, Mavic SSC to be more precise and, though the components worked fine, I found them to be somewhat weak.

In the short time that I owned the bicycle, an early eighties Vitus, the left crank broke as did one of the crank ring bolts. That left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth for Mavic stuff. That said, I do like the appearance and quality even though I did experience failures with what I had.

The bicycle pictured was full Mavic but too flexible for a guy my size and strength. The bicycle flexed so much that I was afraid that I would break it.

This is not a dish on Mavic components. I do like what I see and would happily install another SSC grouppo if Lud would sell me the one he has still in a box.

embankmentlb

I'm not sure Mavic was the first at doing anything well. Typical French manufacturing & design.

caterham

as much as i like and appreciate mavic equipment, your mavic history and assesment is full of inaccuracies, hyberbole and outright fantasy.
just for example, you claim mavic as being the innovator of the sealed bearing btm bkt. just off the top of my head, O.M.A.S., edco and phil wood predate mavic's unit by years. i'm sure that others recall many more.
your characterisation of mavic setting the definition of what constitutes a modern road group is just bizarre,even laughable. to even refer to mavic ssc as a complete group is open to interpretation as it was cobbled together using outsourced brakesets for years, first with several generations of rebadged modolo and later rebadged dia-compe , with the original crankset a rebadged stronglight 106 and shift levers borrowed from simplex,etc.

prettyshady

I had a 'tout mavic' but I sold some off the parts off. I like mavic wheels but I wasn't sure on the mavic starfish crankset.

mkeller234

agreed, the starfish cranks are a bit fugly

rhm

Ah, I love the smell of understatement in the morning....

embankmentlb

Just wait, the OP has a very unique perspective on many things.

krems81 

a bit harsher than I would have put it, but I have to agree. Mavic didn't invent the grouppo. Was that Shimano or Campy? I forget.

Mavic does get credit for aluminum rims. That's about it. These days, their rims aren't even so great. I'll go with dt swiss or velocity over a mavic rim in most cases. Soft alloy, etc. The CXP 33s are an embarrasment, though the 22s are alright.

Keep that starfish away from me!

kbjack

I always thought the 33s were a fairly well-regarded rim. What's your reasoning?

mtnwkr

https://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/bik/1429007193.html

gomango

I think I'll send the kids to the parts bin in the basement to dig the old Mavic stuff out again. I smell a sales opportunity. Thar she blows! Um, I do love their rims though. Just purchased a set of Reflex rims (tubs) and built a wheelset for my wife's bike. In addition, I really do love Open Pros. Too bad about getting Continental clincher tires mounted though.

Chombi

I agree, Mavic built beautiful stuff (except maybe for the "starfish" crank which I never did warm up to), but they are definitely not superior to other brands when it comes to mechanical performance.

This Mavic "Erector" type RD and FD on my Peugeot shifts nowhere near as well as the Simplex, Suntour and Campy derailleurs I had on the bike in previous years.....but dang it looks fantastic on the bike, and I'm not racing anytime soon in the future anyway....
I still wish I could one day put together a full SSC gruppo for another French bike I'm soon to take delivery for, but I'll give the Dura Ace gruppo on it a try first before starting the hunt for the SSC components for it..I suspect that the DA components might stop my quest for the SSC gruppo after a few rides....
Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV
85(?) Vitus Carbone Plus 7 (Coming soon!)

nick burns

To each their own, I suppose. Though I've never owned them, I've always liked the way they looked.

Citoyen du Monde

I have owned a bike with full SSC groupe for over 25 years ("gruppo" is an Italian word and IMHO should only be used for Italian components, "groupe" should be used for French components and "groupset" for others ;-) )

The Mavic SSC components are indeed a mixed of outsourced components.

The erector set rear derailleur works very well on very tight corncob freewheels if you move the cage all the way to the top of its adjustibility, but is hurt by the Simplex retrofriction levers that require much more movement than most other levers with bigger barrels. If you go to wider range freewheels it works better than Campagnolo. The loose derailleur stop clip is a stupid design as they invariably get lost when you remove the derailleur from a bike. It should have been attached to the derailleur in one way or another. Most people are also not aware of the fact that you can adjust the height of teh cage to suit your particular freewheel. It is more durable than most Japanese and other French derailleurs, but not quite as good as most Campagnolo derailleurs. Overall judgment: OK!

The front derailleur is no better or worse than any number of other derailleurs on the market. Overall judgment: OK!

The original SSC brakes were simply rebranded Modolo Master Pros and were every bit as good as anything else available at the time in the early 80's. I prefer them to Campagnolo because of the better lever hoods, but it is a subjective matter at best. By the late 80's, there were many far better brakes available. Overall judgment: OK to better than OK!

The headsets were among the best around, but required special tools that are hard to come by. They also require very precise machining of the frame and fork (much like King headsets). Once they are installed correctly, it is pretty hard to damage them. If you have access to the tools: Overall judgment: Exceedingly good! If you don't have the tools fuggedaboddit!

The BB's were equally among the very best available, however did require special tools for installation and once you had installed a Mavic BB, it was at times difficult to use anything else. I'm not sure of how easy or difficult it is to get replacement bearings for the BB. This is however definitely not a wear item and is very robust and long-living. If you have access to the tools and plan to leave the BB in forever: Overall judgment: Exceedingly good! If you don't have the tools fuggedaboddit!

The SSC hubs are also among the longest living components around, both as regards bearings and finish, but the skewers are not up to the same quality standard. I would take most other skewers over Mavic skewers. The non SSC hubs had the freewheel side bearings inboard of an adjustable cup that made it last a bit less than the SSC model that had the bearings outboard. Overall judgment on hubs: OK to better than OK! Overall judgment on skewers: fuggedaboddit!


The original SSC cranks are nothing special, but did use 144 BCD, so to find replacement rings is very simple. There is nothing wrong with the cranks, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy them unless the price was interesting. I offered a clean set for sale at the recent Trexlertown swap for $60 a pair (less than the value of the chainrings!!) with no takers. The starfish cranks came subsequently and I too agree that they were ugly. Overall judgment: OK!

The original SSC quill pedals are also extremely long living and on a par with TA pedals in my eyes. There were surface oxidation problems with the chromed bits but that was minor. They are also slightly larger than Campagnolo and clones. The hard anodization also lasts considerably longer than the black anodization on Campagnolo and clones. The subsequent Look-produced clipless pedals are acceptable but nothing special and wear out like all Look pedals. Overall judgment: OK to better than OK!

The Mavic handlebars are a matter of personal preference. They are reasonably rigid and enough differetn patterns were available so that you could likely find something that makes you happy. Overall judgment: OK!

The Mavic stems were a bit more flexible than those of many other manufacturers. Overall judgment: OK!

Overall, nothing bad bad. It is more a groupe that suits itself to those who want to be contrary and anti-conformist; however, if you can get yourself a deal on the whole groupe it is definitely worth it, especially if you have access to all the proper tools.

soderbiker

to the OP'er
I also admire mavic .
as you stated ,mavic has pioneered many things and along the way has been sort of forgotten , by some but not all .

i have many mavic parts rims , wheels etc .
one thing i would love , i mean really love is to find a mavic 501 front hub in 32 holes so i can get my Eddy Merckx corsa extra ( well one of them ) on the road in a complete Mavic set up.

Cheers
Viva Mavic

T

embankmentlb

Nice post Citoyen du Monde. Mavic was designed similar as Campy for durability. Durability was THE most important feature of components in the 1980's. Mavic was also like Campy at that time in that it was not very innovative, at least not in a meaningful way.

mainducoyote

Mavic SSC parts were also super expensive, here's a Vitus that came with the original receipt

kpeezy

That looks to be the same FD and RD that I have on my Marinoni. I have the Mavic DT shifters too.

edit: I have the Mavic 840 and Mavic 862. Those might be something else.

krems81 

The alloy is very soft. All i've got is person experience, and observation of various rims. Also, I've built wheels using them, its very soft alloy and bends more than it ought to under some spoke load.

SoreFeet

Mavic Module were some of the best damn box rims ever made. To say that Mavic was beyond Suntour is a bit of a stretch. There is not one suntour derailleur in the 5$-75$ range that does not work great.

prettyshady

, I agree with your whole post and this skewers thing made me laugh. I have to crank the skewers so tight when putting on a rear mavic wheel because if i dont it slips. I like that mavic tried to make their parts look different.

mudboy

All of my bikes use Mavic hubs -- 3 sets of 571/2's, and a set of 501's. There's nothing smoother.

mtnbke

Regarding the sealed bottom bracket I think Mavic beat Campagnolo, Shimano, and Suntour to the punch though did they not?

Mavic didn't manufacture everything in house. Of course they outsourced stuff, they always have. At the same time that they saw fit to sell kids pedal cars and experimental kit airplanes they also made use of others manufacturing capacities to produce components for them.

Sure Stronglight, Simplex, and Modolo helped produce stuff (and in some cases like the brakes the stuff was merely rebadged without being Mavic engineered) but it was Mavic kit.

Your argument is contrary for the sake of being contrary. Its like saying modern Campagnolo really isn't Campy, but rather Qin-San Lo or something. Where something is manufactured isn't what it "is". There aren't many factories in the world left that produce high end stuff, and many of them produce for competing concerns. If you think we should just start referring to stuff by factory name then run with that soapbox, but I think I won't be joining you.

If it says Mavic its Mavic (just know that you can source hoods from a Modolo Professional, for instance).

mtnbke

I always liked the Mavic 631 crank too. From the erector set 7 speed group there was a more traditional looking crank.

I thought about picking up a 631 the other day. A set of 180mm 631 crank arms sold for something like $45. I really like Mavic stuff, but with cranks that short I'd never want to ride the 'tout Mavic' bike.