Roval has dropped three new road wheelsets ahead of the Tour de France, with differential rim heights to chase aero and lightweight gains.
The key concept here is the pairing of a deeper front wheel with a shallower rear wheel. Why? Specialized says up to 90 per cent of the aerodynamic benefit of deep wheels comes from the front wheel.
By pairing a deeper front with a shallower rear, Specialized is aiming to satisfy both aero optimisers and weight weenies with one wheelset.
There are three new wheelsets here:
Roval Rapide CLX Sprint
- 63mm front / 58mm rear
- 1,395g claimed weight
- £1,299 (front wheel) / £1,699 (rear wheel)
Roval Rapide CLX III
- 51mm front / 48mm rear
- 1,305g claimed weight
- £1,299 (front wheel) / £1,699 (rear wheel)
Roval Rapide CL III
- 51mm front / 48mm rear
- 1,555g claimed weight
- £719 (front wheel) / £829 (rear wheel)
Specialized says the design process started when Lionello Bardina, the brand’s R&D aero engineer – aware how important the leading edge is in aerodynamic performance – combined Roval’s previous-generation CLX 64mm-deep front wheel with a 33mm-deep Alpinist wheel in the wind tunnel.
With the baseline aerodynamics of a matched CLX 64 wheelset (front and rear) established at 100 per cent, apparently the 64/33 combination achieved 90 per cent of that baseline, “at a huge weight saving”.
Subsequent testing focused in on three tyre sizes (26mm, 28mm, 30mm), with Specialized’s drum tests (cobbled and smooth) and CFD modelling landing on the need to base any new rim shape on a 21mm internal width with a 28mm tyre (Specialized says the new wheels “work very well” with 26-30mm tyres, though).
As the name might suggest, the Sprint wheelset is touted as the fastest of the three new wheelsets, in terms of aerodynamic performance. It “yields an 18-centimetre lead in a 250m sprint over the previous Rapide II wheels,” according to Specialized.
The CLX III wheelset, meanwhile, is said to retain the aerodynamic performance of the existing CLX II wheelset (which we reviewed in 2022), but with a 215g weight reduction.
Read more – Spotted: New Specialized Diverge breaks cover at Unbound Gravel
Weight reductions
The CLX Sprint and CLX III wheelsets share new spokes developed with Arris Composites.
The Continuous Composite Spoke, as it’s dubbed, weighs a claimed 1.9g and has a titanium end piece. The result, according to Specialized, is a 2.3g saving per spoke, compared to an aero-bladed steel spoke, while also being 20 per cent stronger.
The Roval LF hubs have gone on a diet, too, with a claimed 50g weight reduction versus the Roval hubs used on the CLX II and Control World Cup wheels. The LF hubs have DT Swiss 180 EXP 36t internals and Sinc Ceramic bearings.
The more affordable Roval Rapide CL III wheels use DT Swiss Competition Race spokes and DT Swiss 350 hubs to reduce the price versus the top-end Sprint and CLX III wheels.
FlatStop bead hook
Finally, the new rims have what Specialized is calling the FlatStop bead hook (the rims are hooked, not hookless).
Specialized says its data shows a 21mm internal rim width combined with a 29mm outer rim width at the bead hooks creates more space to incorporate wide bead hooks, and the larger radius distributes force on the tyre across a larger area.
