Mavic

Aksium Allroad Disc Wheelset - Clincher

Skinny rims are great for the disciplined roadie, but when your riding privileges a sense of adventure, it's hard to limit yourself to pristine pavement. The Mavic Aksium Allroad Clincher Disc Wheelset is for those of us who prefer keeping the options open to explore beyond the beaten path and dive down the side roads, regardless of what they're paved with—or if they're paved at all. The wide rims that are ready to take on lofty tires up to 62mm, so the Aksium Allroad Wheelset can run low tire pressure that takes away the sting on chattery, barely-graded gravel, dirt fire roads, and 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 go-to alloys like 6065, helping you stay solid on the ride regardless of where it may take you. The rugged alloy hoops are laced up with straight-pull spokes that offer more strength for better tensioning than J-bend options to keep your wheel feeling stiff and supportive when the road ahead is anything but. Optimizing weight and stiffness, Mavic's engineers opt for 24 both front and rear, dialing in the 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 the dual-ratcheting rings formally found only on designer hubs anchoring custom hand-builts. The design involves two rings that press together laterally. One face of the ring's teeth are sloped, so they ramp off of each other while freewheeling; the other face isn't, so the rings engage with pedal 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.