A new line of wheels from Mavic is no great surprise. What's perhaps more surprising is a whole new range of shoes and clothing. At first sight this appears to be an odd direction to go in, but if we may bore you with a little bit of corporate history then things become a little clearer.
Until 2005 Mavic was part of adidas-Salomon AG. In late 2005, that group sold off the Salomon bit of itself to Finnish sports group Amer. Alongside Mavic in the Salomon brand grab-bag were outdoor gear manufacturers Arc'teryx and of course Salomon itself. Despite no longer being part of adidas, the Salomon group continued to license the adidas name to apply it to bike kit. That arrangement has now come to an end, and clothing will shortly be coming out bearing the (rather more familiar to cyclists) Mavic branding.
What's certainly not happening, though, is that it's all the old adidas stuff but decked out in grey and yellow. This is a whole new line-up, and from what we've seen so far it's a whole lot more interesting than the adidas kit of yore...
This is the Mantra, part of the all-new Mavic shoe range. Immediately obvious from the pictures is the roomy (and well-protected) toe box and chunky lugged tread. What's less obvious is a load of clever constructional gubbinses. Inevitably there's a load of buzzwords to go with it all. The "Energy Outsole" forms the chassis of the shoe, aiming for maximum stiffness and minimum thickness - by using carbon fibre and titanium the top-of-the-range shoes have a sole just 4mm thick, putting your foot closer to the pedal.
Similarly, Mavic shoes don't just have a heel counter, they've got Energy Lock. Actually, this is quite smart - rather than a full, moulded counter, Energy Lock is a T-shaped carbon piece up the back of the shoe that's just enough to hold the calcaneous bone (the sticky-out bit at the back) and no more.
Up top, nearly all stitching has been eliminated in favour of lighter and more supple bonded seams. In a vaguely similar manner to carbon frame construction, the uppers feature multiple layers of material for "for minimal
deformation during the upward pedal phase". You'll also find Ergo Strap doofers to keep the shoes on your feet, using Kevlar cables (adjustable on the high-end shoes) in combination with Velcro tabs.
Inside there's a multi-layer insole, which gets more sophisticated the higher up the range you go, culminating in the five-piece Ergo Fit 3D insole complete with low-density vibration-absorbing inserts. Interestingly, Mavic will also be producing its own overshoes specifically designed to fit snugly on the Mantra.
Over on the clothing side, Mavic will be carrying out a two-pronged attack. As well as well-known materials like Gore-Tex Paclite, Gore Windstopper, Primaloft, X-Static etc, it'll also be using its own range of magical fabrics under the Dura Lite banner. With names like Dura Lite Warm and Dura Lite Rain you won't be left in much doubt about what does what.
There'll be a full line of shorts, jerseys and jackets for both road and MTB use, all featuring the aformentioned high-tech fabrics and strategically-placed vents. Pictured is the Creek jacket and Stratos not-all-that-baggy baggy shorts. The full line won't be available until January 2009, with the shoes arriving in October of this year.
Want to know more? Keep an eye on www.mavic.com.
