Mavic: circling the U-bend?

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Brucey
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Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by Brucey »

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LittleGreyCat
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by LittleGreyCat »

Circling the rim?
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robgul
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by robgul »

Mavic has been moving in mysterious circles for some time - not seeming to want to supply shops with products or spares and being unresponsive to technical/support queries.

Rob
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
Cytech accredited mechanic . . . and woodworker
Brucey
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by Brucey »

once they are sold to owners like that, you can reasonably expect the organisation to lose its technical staff, and/or be asset-stripped. Having done that, the 'name' will be flogged on, doomed to be applied to products that are ever more cheap and shoddy, and ever less related to previous Mavic products.

I had some glimmer of hope that they might once more make something useful, something that I really wanted to buy, like a half-decent rim. But, barring miracles, that faint hope is pretty much gone now.
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robgul
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by robgul »

.... and I wonder what will happen to the Mavic "neutral service cars" (and motorbikes) at the big grand tour races?

Rob
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
Cytech accredited mechanic . . . and woodworker
Jamesh
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by Jamesh »

Sold to Mike Ashley I rekon !!!
Just like karrimor etc!!!
Sad sad news!
hamster
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by hamster »

To be honest as the existing owner wasn't interested in developing the business, it might be the start of better news, provided the private equity owner finds Mavic a decent new home.
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Audax67
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by Audax67 »

We believe that the iconic Mavic brand has strong potential, which would be better realized as part of Regent," said Heikki Takala, the resident and CEO of Amer Sports.


I have an Record spokeshave that speaks volumes about the potential of iconic brands: it works fine since I packed out the bed with Sugru.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
Samuel D
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by Samuel D »

Mavic squandered much good will and reputation in recent years. It managed to simultaneously annoy its customers of traditional rims (by discontinuing good products, no longer improving those products, and allowing quality to drop) and arrive late with the new hotness like wide road rims, all-carbon rims, etc. ENVE was seen as innovative. Mavic was not. Then Amer Sports brought ENVE into the Mavic house and ENVE lost its mojo too.

Now that the Chinese are making decent carbon rims and wheels at half the price of the Western brands like Mavic (or a quarter the price if you buy directly from Alibaba from a factory with practically no brand at all), there may not be a way back to relevance for Mavic. Diversifying into unrelated products like clothing, helmets, and shoes will not save it. There are a hundred strong brands to compete with there. The Mavic brand can only do so much to push yellow overshoes, and every year that passes without visible technical innovation further reduces the value of the Mavic brand at selling clothing.

Of course I hope for the best because I retain a fondness for the Mavic of old.
zenitb
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Fundamentally Mavic are not a rim supplier any more...

Post by zenitb »

Judging Mavic by their rim range is like judging Apple by their desktop PC range.. its what they USED to sell, they still make them, but the business has moved on.

Try typing "mavic -dji -drone" into Google and then press "shopping" to see what Mavic sell nowadays?

Result: Complete wheels dominate. ..in fact I got to page 3 of the results before I saw the first (disc) rim, followed on page 4 by an A319!!

For us the rim range is super important....but for Mavic and their financial backers a £500 wheelset with a £200 profit margin is far more attractive that a £30 rim and a £10 margin.

So maybe Mavic do have a future...its just not selling rims.

I dont agree with it BTW.. its just the way it is..:-(
Last edited by zenitb on 18 Mar 2019, 2:29pm, edited 1 time in total.
mig
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by mig »

i'd think that the profit on such a set of wheels is far more than that. mass produced hubs, very few spokes machine laced to lightweight rims. cost can't be much over £40 for a set i would think.

covering the transport of them would be appreciable though once they are built as they're so bulky.
zenitb
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by zenitb »

mig wrote:i'd think that the profit on such a set of wheels is far more than that. mass produced hubs, very few spokes machine laced to lightweight rims. cost can't be much over £40 for a set i would think.....


Agreed!!!
thelawnet
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by thelawnet »

Ah yes, the wheel vs rim thing.

They have A119 (£20), A319 (£30), A719 (£50), 32/36h 19mm rims. Then the Open Pro Tubeless 19mm 24/28/32h (£60).

And the Open Elite (£30) and the Open Pro C (£50) both 15mm 32/36h, the Open Pro Tubular (£45) 32/36h.

And then the CXP/CXP Elite (21mm high, 15mm wide, £20/£30, 28/32 spokes) and CXP Pro rims (23mm high, 15mm wide, £50 32/36 spokes).

Not all that much diversity - no carbon, no aero rims, if you want those you are forced to buy a wheelset, which range from £200 to £3000.

At this point you might as well buy directly from China

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/carbonspeedcycle
julianm
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by julianm »

Nice historical reminders here from the Mavic site :https://www.mavic.com/en-us/history
Seems nothing has been added beyond 2010. A real shame if it's all lost.
There's even a Module E cross section showing the meaty side walls!
zenitb
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Re: Mavic: circling the U-bend?

Post by zenitb »

julianm wrote:Nice historical reminders here from the Mavic site :https://www.mavic.com/en-us/history
Seems nothing has been added beyond 2010. A real shame if it's all lost.
There's even a Module E cross section showing the meaty side walls!

My old (similar section) MA2s are still running although (note to self) I should check the wall thickness!!!
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