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Damn, had the finest ride today. I decided to do the first part of my Secret Meerdael loop. This consists mainly of narrow trails and singletracks, only occasionally taking bigger tracks and just a few hundred metres of cobbles and tarmac. The trail conditions were absolutely perfect and the twisty trail had my spirits high. So high in fact that after 20K into the ride, when the hilly bit is about to begin, I decided to turn my bike around and ride the trail again, in the opposite direction back to the start. The dry conditions really make these trails stand out now.
I was curious about my rear wheel, a Mavic Crossmax SL , which had been making 'funny noises' during the Nandrin ride. Noises I recognized from my first SL wheel, when the inner freehub body axle was worn and I had to replace it, which meant replacing the whole wheel. I only have this new wheel for 14 months, and didn't use it during the winter, so I was prepared to be very bad tempered toward Mavic. But I tightened the tension on the bearings somewhat and they didn't give a peep during this ride. Still, if the wheel does fail, I will not replace it by another Mavic wheel but opt for a Shimano XTR wheel instead. I have an XTR wheelset that has been rolling since 1992 and is still going strong. Mavic Crossmaxxes are essentially roadwheels that have been adapted for offroad use, making them light but the design is bad and the inner freehub body axle wears out , causing play on the freewheel hub that cannot be fixed.
The only option is to replace the whole wheel since Mavic policy is against selling only the hub.
Oh well, enough of that, I want to end on a positive note, I thoroughly enjoyed my home trails today and the wheel was fine. Lets hope it stays that way for some time.
Ride Stats : 40K and 420 heightmeters in 2h09mins
3840/31935
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