Scanning the mechanics’ work stations at the Tour de France, I thought I spotted a familiar sight. The Saunier Duval-Scott team is using Mavic’s R-SYS wheel system, one with which I believed I was quite familiar. I was wrong. The team is using a special pro version of the R-SYS and one that addresses many of the concerns I have with the production model.

If only it were available to the rest of us. Fortunately, it looks like Mavic will incorporate many of the improvements into a new model in its 2009 product line.

Saunier Duval’s Ricco was seen on the new wheel in the first stages of the Tour.

For the past eight months, I’ve ridden the production version of the R-SYS clincher. While marketed as the French wheelmaker’s top “multi-performance” wheel, it really should be slotted into the specialty category of a climbing wheel: aerodynamics were totally ignored in the name of inertia, stiffness and weight. It is, nonetheless, something of a confused product. It’s light, but not unbelievably light. The same goes for its perceived stiffness: it’s stiff, but there are other wheels that rival it.

In producing the pro version of the wheel, Mavic turned the R-SYS into what might just be the ultimate climbing wheel. How?

Well, first off, according to Mavic, a pair of the pro version weighs in at only 1080 grams. For purposes of comparison, our upcoming review of six steel-spoked carbon climbing wheels (due out in VeloNews Issue 14, which arrives on newsstands July 14), only one model weighs less than Mavic’s claimed weight for the pro R-SYS. In fact, this new version of the R-SYS is even lighter than Mavic’s Cosmic Carbon Ultimates that we reviewed in issue number 12.

The pro R-SYS combines all of the attributes that make a perfect climbing wheel and ignores the one — aerodynamics — that makes no difference on a steep mountain climb, where even the best climbing pros’ speed rarely tops 15 miles per hour. The problem with the production wheel is that it isn’t quite light enough to compete with the carbon climbing wheels on the market.

The good news is that many of the changes Mavic made in developing the pro R-SYS will be available to consumers in 2009 under the label of the “R-SYS Premium.”

While the pro R-SYS resembles the consumer version, it incorporates some features that cut nearly 200 grams from the total weight, including a titanium driveside axle cap for the rear wheel and carbon bearing covers for both front and rear. The hubs, too, have been lightened through more aggressive machining. The pro R-SYS utilizes the same type and number of tubular carbon spokes for the front wheel and the same combination of tubular carbon and Zicral spokes in the rear wheel. The big difference, however, is in the new alloy rim. Because mass distributed further from the axis of rotation is harder to move, rims are the perfect place to cut weight on a bicycle wheel. As a result, lighter rims offer quicker acceleration and translate into a “lighter feel” on the bike.

The new R-SYS rim appears to have a different finish from the production version.

The rims appear to have some sort of shot peened or hardened surface and a slightly lower profile, but aside from that it’s quite hard to tell a difference from the current model. Low profile rims are generally a good choice for a climbing wheel, not only because they tend to be lighter for the way up, but the smaller profile also offers a more stable ride on the way down, especially when one takes into consideration the strong and unpredictable winds on a high Alpine col.

Finally there’s the issue of braking. If all else is created equal, why ride a carbon wheelset when alloy offers inherently better brake performance?

After seeing the improvements Mavic has made to the wheel I may have to rethink my originally lukewarm impression of the R-SYS.