I rode about 5000Km on Mavic Ksyrium Elite Wheels and changed them for inexpensive Prime race wheels.
The difference in ride comfort is huge. The Mavic wheels provide a very harsh ride. The prime wheels are very smooth.
I use the exact same tires (Continental GP4000S II) on both wheelsets at exactly the same tire pressure (90psi). Nothing else changed on the bike.
This left me wondering as to what exactly contributes to a comfortable wheel. The Prime rim is deeper than the Mavic rim. So it should be radially stiffer and provide less comfort instead of more comfort.
My own thought is that the biggest contribution in wheel comfort is provided by the type, and maybe the number of spokes. The Prime wheels use DT Swiss Competition spokes. The thin middle section of this spoke will move radially more under load than the robust Mavic spoke, thus absorbing more vibrations. This would imply that the same rim with a higher spoke count would be less comfortable.
Would this be a correct assumption? Can somebody shed some light on this?