Mavic wheels

Now that I've been riding the Mavic Aksium wheels since March, I can report they are faster. I've gone down the same hills enough times to know at speed they give me an extra 2-3mph. When group rides go down route 62 from princeton center, I no longer get dropped. Instead, I'm right there with the group. Usually I have the wheel inflated to 100-110. When the wheels are under inflated, I notice the crappy roads less. On smooth roads, the Mavic are faster than the stock Giant wheels that came with the bike.

Is Mavic Aksium wheels a good value? I would say yes. Given what I paid at Nashbar and the miles I've logged so far, they've been great. A couple of times I hit a pot hole pretty hard and the wheel didn't go out of true like the Giant wheels. The stock tires that came with it are junk though, but I don't mind that. Once the tires were slightly worn, I replaced them with Gatorskin Hardshell 25. I like the extra air that 25 provides. Oddly, I feel the 25 are faster than 23 tires. The first 1000 miles were on the stock mavic tires and they got 2 flats. If the roads were in better condition, it probably wouldn't matter as much.

Overall, I'm very happy with the Mavic wheels and how they've performed.