Mavic

Aksium Allroad Disc Wheel

It's no secret that wider rims are where it's at especially if your riding tends to have an all-road demeanor and you are running healthy gravel tires. If that's the case, the Aksium Allroad Disc Wheel from Mavic is ideal as you can ride them hard and they always come back for more. Plus, these wheels won't break the bank so you can actually afford a second set of wheels for dedicated off-road duty and save your other hoops for skinny road rubber. These wide rims are rated to handle tires up to 62mm wide letting you reap the benefits of lower tire pressures taking the edge off washboard gravel, braking bumps, light singletrack, or whatever else you encounter on multi-surface rides.

The Aksium Allroad is crafted from Mavic's proprietary S6000 aluminum, which boasts more strength than other alloys, helping the hoops stay solid throughout the ride regardless of where it may take you. The rugged alloy rims are laced up with straight-pull spokes that offer more strength for higher tensioning than J-bend options keeping your wheel stiff and responsive and offering ride quality that far exceeds its asking price. Optimizing weight and strength, Mavic's engineers opt for 24 spokes both front and rear, dialing in pedaling forces and brake torque distribution with a disc-friendly lacing pattern.

The rear rim centers around Mavic's new Instant Drive 360 QRM Auto hub, which represents a drastic departure from tradition. The engagement mechanism replaces the usual pawl system with dual-ratcheting rings usually found only on designer hubs anchoring custom hand-built units. The design involves two rings that press together laterally. One face of the ring's teeth is sloped, so they ramp off of each other while freewheeling; the other face isn't, so the rings engage with the slightest pedaling input. The design cuts the engagement angle down to just nine-degrees, a number we might expect to see on a mountain bike hub and are pleasantly surprised to find on this gravel ride.