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Review: Mavic Road UST wheels - the Road tubeless system
If you’re a Road rider, it is high time you give tubeless a try and doing it with Mavic’s new Road UST wheels make it easy.
Tubeless is pretty much standard when it comes to mountain biking, but Road riders are still sceptical about it. However, riding tubeless has its advantages: lower weight, better puncture protection, increased traction, greater control and more comfort. Sounds good right? Well, it is! For these reasons, Mavic decided to outfit all of their new Road wheels with their UST tubeless technology.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Lower weight | At this point, only two Mavic UST Road tyres available |
| Increased puncture protection | |
| Better traction | |
| Less rolling resistance | |
| More comfort |
Comfortable and fast riding.
Road UST
UST stands for Universal Standard Tubeless and Mavic is the first brand to offer a complete Road tubeless system including wheels and tyres that have been developed to work together. This ensures that the rim and tyre fit perfectly to each other and all the benefits of tubeless are maximised. Up until now, the high pressures put on Road tyres made it difficult to seal them when riding tubeless. Mavic solves this problem with a Kevlar bead that keeps any air from escaping. All I can say, is that Mavic has done it. I have been riding tubeless now for a few weeks and I am never going back!
The Mavic Ksyrium Pro UST WTS wheels
Because I am a fan of lightweight and agile aluminium wheelsets, I decided to test UST with the new Ksyrium Pro wheels.
Together the wheels & 25 mm Yksion Pro tyres weigh 1940 g and are stiff, agile and fast!
Included with the wheelset are both quick releases, tubeless rim tape, one spacer, two Yksion UST tyres, two Mavic wheel tools, two UST valves and tubeless sealant with syringe. All you need to ride is your cassette then it is practically ready to go!
The Universal Tubeless Standard...
No need to worry about tubes again.
Tubeless setup was easy.
I am also a fan of how the wheels look.
Rim braking on tubeless never was a problem.
Sealed in seconds
Getting the wheels ready to ride is super easy. The rim tape, valves and tyres are already on them. All you need to do is remove the valve cores and fill the tyres with 30 ml of tubeless sealant using the included syringe. The valve cores should then be screwed back in, tyres pumped, cassette installed and the wheels are done.
After pumping, the wheels should be spun around multiple times to ensure the sealant is spread around.
When pumping note that Mavic has a max. air pressure of 7 bars on the entire system and honestly you don’t need any more. The times when Road riders would pump up their tyre past an uncomfortable 8 bars are over! You may ask how long the sealant remains rideable, and a good rule of thumb is three months. At that point the tyres should be refilled with sealant to make sure the puncture protection remains.
Riding on bad roads has never been better.
Fast, safe & comfortable
After everything was installed, I headed out for a ride. Immediately, I noticed that the UST system gave me more security, grip and traction. Even though I was only riding 6.5 bar, I was still moving fast. I was really surprised at how much better tubeless rides. I felt like there were only positives, more comfort being one of the biggest.
The ride is more comfortable while my speed remained the same!
After a short test ride, I made my way to Spain for a little training camp. I was curious how well tubeless would perform on less than perfect streets and the little bit of gravel I like to ride in between. I rode over 700 km on partly really bad road and sharp gravel without ever experiencing a flat. I checked the tyre after my rides and noticed small holes that the sealant patched. With a tube I would probably not have even made it home.
UST is the Road standard.
I'm never not riding tubeless again.
Forget your tubes
After the review, I was really impressed at how easy it was to switch to tubeless. I had never ridden tubeless before, however installation was extremely simple and the benefits directly noticeable. I could really feel the increased comfort and it was easy to see that the puncture protection really works. Mavic has done it with the Road UST system. There is no excuse why Road riders shouldn’t be riding with a tube anymore.
