It’s been almost three years since the Mavic Cosmic Ultimate 45 wheelset launched, and we’ve spotted an updated version at the Velofollies tradeshow.
The new version of Mavic’s top-of-the-line wheels appear to share much in common with their predecessors, but they have one change which brings them bang up to date.
While the previous wheels had an internal rim width of 19mm, these unreleased Cosmics Ultimate up that figure to 23mm.
This brings them inline with many of the best road bike wheels and should mean they fit the latest – and widest – road bike tyres, while ensuring a drag-reducing interface between the rim and your rubber.
Previously, the Cosmic Ultimates could fit tyres up to 32mm wide. We don’t know what the official maximum tyre width is on the new version of the wheels, but the likelihood is they could fit tyres up to 35mm wide.
The wheels have also gained ceramic bearings. These bearings are a common feature on boutique wheels – the new Cosmic Ultimates cost €4,399 – thanks to their claimed lower rolling resistance and increased lifespan over metal bearings.
This is the second wheelset from Mavic to use ceramic bearings as standard following the Cosmic SLR 45s which launched in September.
When we asked whether ceramic bearings were actually worth it back in 2021, Mavic’s Maxime Brunand explained that their purported claims make sense on paper, but often don’t translate to the real world. Because of this, he said Mavic only offered them as an upgrade. But the French company must be convinced that it’s now worth offering these bearings as standard.
Elsewhere, the new wheels seem to be unchanged from the previous versions. As their name suggests, they still have 45mm-deep rims and carbon spokes.
While the carbon spokes play a role in keeping the weight down, Mavic said it actually used them on the previous wheels to increase stiffness.
The wheels use Mavic’s rim-to-rim (R2R) construction which threads the carbon spokes from one side of the rim to the other through the hub.
The new Cosmic Ultimate 45 wheelset weighs a claimed 1,260g, which is just 5g more than the last set despite the wider internal rim width.
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