Mavic GP4 & Mavic SSC...experience?

[William]

Too Tall, Big Mac, Jerk, dbrk, or anyone else who may have experience on these tub wheels. Any comments would be appreciated:

Mavic GP4
Mavic SSC

A local has these (front wheels only...he's looking for the rear SSC) that he offered to sell me. Both 32 hole on campy Record hubs with UFO 23mm (I think that was the size) tires.

Wants $50 for the GP4, $75 for the SSC. These are obviously older but in good shape.

Thanks!

William :banana:

[dbrk]

I have never had either a GP4 or SSc fail on me and I've put both through trauma, neglect, and other forms of indignity to which I would not subject other wheels (or rims). The GL330 were nice too but not as stalwart. The GP4 get all marked up for the anodizing and the brake pad placement needs to be more precise for the narrow margin of error (in comparison to the SSc). GP4 are lighter but my 36h seem unable to come out of true. SSc simply offers the best weight to performance ratio I can imagine, they being virtually unbreakable (hence their being a favorite at old Paris-Roubaix, and their other name). Generally the P-RSSc is considerably more expensive than the GP4 but for _used_ rims, the prices you were offered seem a tad high unless they are NOS (then they are fair or even cheap, that being a good thing). I'd not pay this much for them used because you might well find them for this price NOS if you are not in a hurry. Hasty Ents notwithstanding, it's not unfair and there is merit to having these in your hands...still a bit dear.

dbrk

[boneman]

I've got SSC rims and a lot of both versions of the GP4. Older version, non-yellow/purple sticker, are lighter (395) vs new version (480). The older version weighs in at the same as the SSC but is narrower. Prices, they're all over the place depending on where you live. I've been in London for the last 6 years and you can still find NOS at reasonable prices. Stateside, no idea. You can't go wrong with either. For the newer GP4's, I would not go crazy if they're expensive. None of them have machined sidewalls (pre-that era) FWIW.

These are some NOS SSC's, 28 hole in blue that I got from Eindhoven, Netherlands as well as some Campag Omega Clincher rims from the same source.

[Too Tall]

GP4s I have experience with wayyyy back. Like the man said they are strong.

[William]

Thank you gentlemen. :cool:

The price seems a little high for a used front wheel. They are in decent shape and the record hubs look period. But, I just need a front to match up to the flip/flop tubie wheel from TT. This is for my fixie project and I'm looking to keep costs low, I have fixie rep points to think about here. ;)

I might have to take BD's advice (Whoa, Imagine that ;) :D ).

Must mull this over...

William :)

[vaxn8r]

Well, I destroyed an SSC tubie rim. It was the front on my tandem. Dang it! That was a solid wheel. 36 spoke.

I gave the rear one away a year or two ago. Too bad William. :(

[William]

Too bad William.

:crap:


William :)

[jerk]

the gp4s are pretty horrid..tough as nails, too heavy for what they are and most bike shops still sitting on them will give them away for a song...all that being said their simply sublime compared to the current tubular rim offerings....ssc are a different story particularly the paris-roubaixs....better metalurgy, stronger and lighter and seemed to ride a hell of a lot nicer than the fairly harsh weird ride the jerk experienced on gp4s...if you can find the paris-roubaixs buy them all....they're the freaking holy grail of rims.....believe the jerk on this one. (hmmm....ada hubs on those last two 28hole paris-roubaixs the jerks got hidden in the attic....mrs. jerk where's my nippel driver?. :) )
jerk

[William]

(hmmm....ada hubs on those last two 28hole paris-roubaixs the jerks got hidden in the attic....mrs. jerk where's my nippel driver?.

What else are you hiding up there Sir Jerk? :confused:

Thanks Sir J. :cool:

William :)