0

Yesterday, I checked out a Cannondale Synapse with Mavic Aksium wheels. One strange detail caught my eye - the rear wheel had bladed spokes on the drive side, and regular, cylindrical spokes on the non-drive side.

Is this a feature or did the shopkeeper mess around with the wheels?

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    It would be ridiculous to "mess around" with a wheel to produce a spoke setup that didn't come from the factory. The wheel itself may have been swapped, but not the spokes.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jul 25, 2019 at 23:52
  • Is this a new bike or a used model they are selling?
    – mikes
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 8:31
  • @mikes it's a brand new bike.
    – Harshil Sharma
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 8:42

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Your first, and possibly best, place to start researching is the Cannondale website. It appears that 2 models of the Synapse, the Synapse Carbon Disc Ultegra and Synapse Carbon Disc Ultegra DI2 come standard with Mavic Aksium Disc wheels. You could then refer to the Mavic website to get the specs on those.

Improve this answer
6
  • the bike was a rim brake one, not disk.
    – Harshil Sharma
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 1:48
  • 3
    Looking on Mavic's own website, they do ship it with round spokes on rear non-drive side and bladed on drive side - shop.mavic.com/en-int/aksium-rr0988.html#1028=3283. Navigate to specifications > Spokes. This is really strange to me and I've personally never seen something like this. I'm really interested in understanding the reason for this mixture of spokes.
    – Harshil Sharma
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 1:49
  • Do bladed spokes provide any benefit other than reduced drag?
    – Harshil Sharma
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 1:50
  • @HarshilSharma Maybe, the reason is just "because it sells". But if anyone knew a better reason, I'd also be very interested to read about it...
    – cmaster - reinstate monica
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 7:00
  • 2
    The real explanation is likely under NDA, but I can come with three plausible ones: a) Cost/benefit: flat spokes are more expensive than round, so on a budget wheelset it makes sense to put those only on the side that is more in the wind. b) Marketing: asymmetric spokes at rear look technical and this is a cheap way to get the effect and possibly make people think of option a. c) Logistics: Mavic had lots of mismatched spokes in inventory when the first production run was made, and since the wheels sold well, they kept the spec
    – ojs
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 16:48

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.