Mavic Cosmic Ultimate 45 Disc

The little word "Ultimate" has always stood at Mavic for the best that each product line has to offer. With the new Cosmic Ultimate 45 Disc it is no different. It is said to be the best wheelset in its class – 1,255 grams (according to the manufacturer) light, costing 3,900 euros.
In return, Mavic also offers a lifetime warranty including a generous crash-replacement program and ships the refined pair in an exclusive wheel bag.

Until now available only for tyres with inner tubes, the French company now also lets tubeless or clincher fans enjoy a carbon disc wheelset for demanding riders.
The 45 mm high NACA rim profile, optimized in the wind tunnel – already advantageous aerodynamically, yet still relatively easy to handle – will make many happy; the low weight will too.

66 prototypes and eight different designs, which, among other things, were aged in a climate chamber, stand between the first draft and production readiness, plus hundreds of tensile and impact reviews. And every wheel that leaves the factory, according to the manufacturer, will have completed 35 different laboratory reviews in which it must prove itself for everyday use.
A total of three years were spent tinkering and building on the new development – including the training of a ten-person team responsible for the manual production of the wheel range at the Annecy factory.

Mavic uses a hooked rim with a 19 mm internal width and an undrilled rim bed. That way no rim tape is needed to make tubeless tires airtight, and a wide variety of rubber tyres can be mounted. The manufacturer lists tyres 25 mm wide as ideally suited.

Finished in the characteristic UD^2 finish, five types of carbon fibres are combined in the 28 mm wide monobloc construction, each arranged according to the best stiffness/weight ratio, to form carbon hub bodies with axles made from dual 2014 T6 aluminium and double-sealed industrial bearings with automatic bearing preload (QRM Auto). The hubs are designed for thru-axles (convertible to quick-release with adapters) and are only compatible with Center-Lock brake discs.
For the freehub, the Instant Drive 360 — compatible with all common mounting standards — is used. Its 40-tooth engagement with a 9° engagement angle guarantees quick power transfer and low friction losses.
The narrow hub flanges are intended to provide aerodynamic advantages; the fact that they are also tall should be beneficial to lateral stiffness.

Tech Specs

The connection between rim and hub, as well as the required tension on the front and rear wheel (according to Mavic, by the way, 150 daN), is provided by 20 slender, elliptical aero spokes made of unidirectional, non-stretch carbon fibers each — also a reason for the manufacturer-claimed stiffness of the wheels.
They run, according to R2R technology, continuously from one rim side to the other and are not firmly anchored to the hub, but rather simply run around it (see images 30 and 3). On the rim side the spokes are fixed in cast-in Fore inserts made of CNC-forged, heat-treated aluminum.
As for tensile strength, Mavic claims that two such spokes can lift an entire car. In addition, the new R2R are said to be four times stronger than their predecessors.