Those ultra-secret Roval wheels on Mark Cavendish’s Specialized Venge that he rode to victory in Stage 3 of the 2022 Giro d’Italia? They’re out of the bag and now available to those of us that can’t generate 1280 watts in a sprint.
Roval’s new Rapide CLX II and Alpinist CLX II wheels are the latest evolution of the ‘winningest wheels in the world’. No wheels have won more on the biggest stages in professional cycling since their release. Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Rapide and Alpinist wheels have won more races on the World Tour than any other wheels—155 to be exact (as measured by ProCyclingStatds). Cobbled monuments, Grand Tour stages, high mountains, sprint finishes, and World Championships—the record is crystal clear. Roval wheels are the winningest wheels in the world.
For 2022, the Rapide CLX II and Alpinist CLX II are now tubeless-ready. To the wheel’s already undeniable performance and stunning palmares, Roval is bringing the lower rolling resistance, incredible handling, and flat protection of a tubeless system.
Rapide CLX II : Complete Speed
Meet the new Rapide CLX II. Combining the aerodynamics of a deep-section TT wheel with the light weight of a shallower climbing wheel and mixing in the superior efficiency and sublime handling of a tubeless system—the Rapide CLX II delivers maximum speed for real-world riding. It elevates aerodynamic efficiency and climbing performance yet remains masterfully stable and confident handling, regardless of wind conditions.
The Rapide CLX is actually two wheels in one, each optimized for the unique aero challenges of its position—a 51mm-deep front rim with a 35mm external width and a 60mm-deep rear rim with a 30mm external width. The result is a tubeless wheelset that’s faster than most 65mm wheels but is 25% more stable than Roval’s CLX50 in heavy wind.
They created the shape using the same optimization algorithm that developed Specialized’s FreeFoil library. Like any algorithm— garbage in, garbage out. What our team did was build a computer model that accounted for the rider and their reaction time. It’s the first algorithm that doesn’t assume the rider is a passenger.
From extensive automotive and aeronautical reaction timing studies that it’s wind gusts between 0.5 and 2.0 seconds that riders struggle with. Essentially a rider can’t react to wind gusts shorter than 0.5 seconds; they are too short. A rider can react to gusts lasting between 0.5 and 2.0 seconds but will react after the wind gust is over. This causes an overcorrection that needs to be corrected again, which is why blustery crosswinds feel so sketchy. So we instructed our algorithm to optimize stability in the 0.5 to 2.0 second window time. Faster than that, and you can’t react quickly enough to overcompensate. Slower than that, and you can easily adjust to the side force of a crosswind. For days, the algorithm randomly mutated, virtually kicking out low performers and iterating on high performers.
The resulting Rapide shape was the best combination of pure drag reduction and stability within the reaction time frame that matters for a rider.
Specifications:
- Rim Dimensions: 51mm deep/35mm Wide F: 60mm deep/30mm Wide R: 21mm Int F/R
- Weight: 1505g, 1520g w/ tape and valves
- Aero Flange Hubs with EXP Internals and Sinc Ceramic Bearings
- DT Swiss Aerolite Spokes 18F/24R
- Tubeless Ready
- 110PSI Max Tubeless with 26mm Tires
- 275lb/125kg Weight Limit
- Handbuilt
- MSRP: $2800 | Product Page
Alpinist CLX II: Elevate Your Ride
Feel your bike come alive on the open road with the new Alpinist CLX II—the lightest, best-handling clincher wheels we have ever made. Hyper-responsive acceleration, magic in the corners, sublime over rough roads, all elevated with the performance of a tubeless system. There’s no room for a single excess gram when chasing ride quality. Perfection is only achieved when there is nothing left to take away. The Alpinist CLX II is the epitome of functional minimalism.
Roval designed the wheelset as a system with their engineers controlling and testing every part of that system – hubs, rims, spokes, lacing – and developing it hand in hand with Specialized Tubeless tires. The result is a 1250-gram tubeless wheelset with an otherworldly ride quality designed for real-world road pressures.
It features the most precise carbon layup Roval has ever created, the result of over 50 different iterations, hundreds of impact tests, and countless hours on the road. They react to even the slightest increase in power with immediate acceleration and carve the purest of lines in the corners, yet they can also handle almost double the impact standards of every certifying body. This is instant acceleration and supreme durability, two years in the making.
Like the Rapide, the Alpinist is now tubeless compatible with a hooked rim to take advantage of all a tubeless tire brings to the ride. We’ve also shifted the rim’s outer diameter dimensions to create an extra 1.4mm of bead slack in your tire. This delivers a much better install and roadside repair experience.
Specifications:
- Rim Dimensions: 33mm deep/21mm Internal
- Weight: 1250g, 1265g w/ tape and valves
- LFD Hubs with EXP Internals and Sinc Ceramic Bearings
- DT Swiss Aerolite Spokes 21F/24R
- Tubeless Ready
- 110PSI Max Tubeless with 26mm Tires
- 275lb/125kg Weight Limit
- Handbuilt
- MSRP: $2650 | Product Page
Only the Fastest System Matters
Despite the success of the current Rapide CLX and Alpinist CLX wheels, Roval is always striving to improve. The new Rapide CLX II and Alpinist CLX II tubeless wheels have already proved their mettle this season with 80 podiums, including 30 victories.
“We want the fastest option, the next setup—we know it’s tubeless. We raced tubeless already. We won with tubeless already.” – Ricardo Scheidecker, Technical and Development Director, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl
The reduced rolling resistance of a tubeless setup is undeniable, as are the benefits of improved handling and puncture protection. The development of the Rapide CLX II involved the most rigorous and extensive engineering and testing program that Roval has ever undertaken and resulted in a wheelset that almost doubles current industry impact standards while managing to achieve the lightest weight possible. The Rapide CLX II and Alpinist CLX II utilize a hooked rim (allowing for real-world riding pressures up to 110psi, if that’s your thing) for secure tire bead retention and an easier setup and mounting experience than ever before.
This is tubeless done right.
Why Tubeless is Faster
Lower internal friction equals more speed and grip. When the tire rolls through the contact patch, the tire casing must deform. This causes internal friction, which increases rolling resistance and uses energy that could be used to propel you forward. Using a tube means more material deforms—casing and tube—so more friction is created and more energy is lost.
Running tubeless significantly reduces the amount of material that must deform—tire alone—which reduces friction and reduces the energy lost, leaving more energy to propel you forward. Decreased material deformation also leads to a tire that deforms easier in response to road imperfections for better grip and a more comfortable and controlled ride. These are “always-on” benefits, regardless of speed or terrain. If your tire is rolling, you’re faster on tubeless.
How The Wheels Were Developed: The TL;DR Version
The development started with a cracked Alpinist CLX wheel with a dismounted tire.
Peter Sagan had broken a wheel.
Was Peter just being Peter and jumping or skidding or riding off-road? All three at the same time? He had jumped a roundabout and hit the curb; Peter was indeed being Peter. He hadn’t expected the wheel to survive the impact, but he expected the tire to stay on the rim.
Roval went immediately to work analyzing the damaged wheel and found a small crack in the rim bed. Despite passing UCI standards, Roval’s engineering team wanted to reach an even higher internal standard—impact resistance almost double existing standards as a tubeless system. The goal was simple. If a rider could hang on to the bars and ride an impact out, they deserved a wheel that kept the tire on the rim, stayed structurally sound, and allowed the rider to stop safely, even if the rim cracked.
The team created a slate of indoor and outdoor impacts tests and over the course of 21 months, hundreds of carbon layup options and a thousand test wheels, Roval ultimately came up with a wheel system that bested UCI standards by 75%, while still being light enough for the pros to want to race them.
Ron is the chief cook and bottlewasher at Bike World News, doing everything from website design to bike reviews.
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