A customer dropped by the workshop to see us in the middle of this Mavic Aksium Race wheel rebuild. He asked why we would spend all this time on an older mid level factory wheelset?
Like much older Mavic, these wheels were 11s capable from before 11s was a thing. The hubs are very reliable (though not super light). This particular set of rims had seen very little use, but the spokes had become rusty (whilst sitting in storage) and started breaking.
We replaced the basic rusty flat bladed spokes with lovely new Sapim Sprint straight pull spokes (a bit thicker Race on the rear driveside) and brass nipples for stylish looks and ongoing reliability.
All at less than the price of a new pair of heavy factory wheels, and saving quite a few grams (and landfill) in the process. Makes sense to us.