Hi. No - they are GP5000 TLs in 28s. The Roval internal rim is 21, which means that when inflated they look and behave more like 30s though, hence can run lower pressures and are very comfortable and grippy whilst still fast. Win, win!!
1 Like
Thanks for the input. While I’m sure I could “get by” with one wheelset, I’m very much a beginner, trying to get faster and lose weight, so I’m trying to set up the bike to help me as much as possible. I’m in the middle of Miami, and I expect 90%+ of my future rides to still be all-pavement with a few long gravel group rides thrown into the mix at defined dates (i.e. no impromptu gravel).
Seems to me this situation argues strongly for a good road wheel/tire where I’ll spend most of my time, and a good gravel wheel/tire to help me as much as possible so I can be safe, enjoy it, and do more of it.
A couple of personal notes/suggestions/ways I would do it - just saying that as a disclaimer, because you do what you want to do:
-
Why not safe 3k $ and get the Diverge Comp model with GRX 2x if you want 2x? Converting the new bought bike from 1x to 2x will cost you quite a bit on top.
-
personally I would stick with the 1x. It actually gives you a lower gear in that setup than your 2x. And 42-10 is fast enough (I run 42-11 atm - if you don’t race don’t worry).
-
Since you value comfort: Go tubeless. Since I recommend tubeless: Stay away from light weight casings of Rene Herse (no personal experience - Rides of Japan on YouTube).
-
44mm on the road and 48mm on gravel would be too close together for me. I’m waiting on my 28mm tires and run my knobbly 650b 48mm WTBs on my gravel wheelset on the road atm. Works just fine but I’m looking forward to some smaller and lighter wheels (ran 25mm before). If you get two wheelsets I would make one light and fast. Otherwise I don’t really see much advantage in having two.
3 Likes
post deleted, post deleted
Sorry - no. Not sure.
Spot on.
2 Likes
I think your road and roudy tires are too similar, especially for FL. 44c tires for road are too big unless your entire right is down a bad sidewalk. 35c is generously sized for comfy pressures and you won’t be catching nearly as much wind.
Not sure how muddy or rough you’re getting on the roudy side, but I’d go with the RH 44c knobbies for all gravel. 44c is good for floating on firm sand and short mud puddles; you’d need to go way bigger to float on mud.
For the road - I take it this is road with light off road, Id go something closer to 35c (RH/Panaracer something or another, Challenge something, G-One Speed or Allaround, Conti Terra Speed). If you’re true 100% road, I’d look at 30-32c (RH/Panaracer something, Challenge something, Conti GP5k, Schwalbe Pro One or gone speed, Vittria Corsa Control) - going any larger and you’re going to be bouncy, catching wind, going slow for no real reason.
Normally, I’d use the stock wheels for the roudy tires, but those Roval wheels would make better road wheels for 28c+ road tires.
On the wheelset, getting a 2nd wheelset, disc, cassette is the way to fly. The gravel tires/conditions aren’t as sensitive to the wheelset as aero isn’t a big deal, nor are they taking a pounding. It sounds like you’re going with big fat fatty tires, so they’d likely be about the same wheelset anyway. If you want something sorta aero that you can use with road tires as a backup-use, I’d look for the deepest rim-section ‘gravel’ wheelset you can, which is probably 25mm. They’ll be wider than advised, but everyone (tire/wheel mfg) agrees these numbers are very dated - running a 32c tire on a 24mm internal is not a big deal.
If these are gravel only wheels, then just pickout anything that makes you happy as the shape doesn’t really matter, but you might want to consider XC MTB wheelsets (non-boost and you’d need to convert the front hub to 12mm), as you can put a really wide rim under those tires.
Id point you to the DT Swiss g1800 or GR1600; Fulcrum Rapid Red; Easton AX wheelsets. The Swiss wheelsets are probably the best value from Merlin. These will be good for both jobs, as aero as you’re going to get at the lower pricepoint, and be solid wheels.
The DT Swiss wheelset uses the same freehub as the Rovals, so you can easily/conveniently just move the freehub/cassette from one wheel to the other, saving yourself some $$$. Just pull it off, make sure you’ve got the right number of springs on the inside, plunk it down on the other wheel, and clean your hands.
Thanks for the input. I definitely want 2x to get smaller steps between gears: I’m still not very strong and my cadence envelope is not very wide yet, so I find the jumps on my hardtail’s SRAM 42/10-50 drivetrain quite uncomfortable. I agree with you that 1:1 lowest gear is fine for my needs, and I won’t be pushing the top end of any gearing setup any time soon.
I’m trying to end up with a road-optimized drivetrain that can handle gravel, since I’ll still spend 90%+ of my time on the road. And I’m in love with SRAM’s Red eTap shifting from my Synapse, and selling both my Synapse and my hardtail gives me the funds to build a killer Diverge with 2x SRAM Force AXS. But you’re right that from 11-speed GRX mechanical to 12-speed Force AXS electronic is a $4000 difference, fully doubling the cost of the bike, and I’ll need to think through that choice carefully.
Trivia question: is there any way for a Wahoo ELEMNT to know which gear is selected on a mechanical drivetrain? I would assume not, but maybe there are sensors I don’t know about.
Nope…
1 Like
FWIW, I just bought a second set of wheels for my Trek Checkpoint to go in a similar direction to you. But I went a little more extreme - my road wheels are 56mm carbon rims with 28mm GP5k (measure 30mm on a 31mm outer rim). The stock Bontrager Paradigm Comp wheels will stick with 35mm Schwalbe G-One Allrounds until they are more worn then get swapped for something bigger. Most like in the neighborhood of 45mm.
Still getting a feel for the new wheels, but it feels much more like past road bikes now, as opposed to the cushy feel on the factory wheel setup. Definitely changes the feel of a ride!
thats the way to go i reckon. I have 38mm front, 50mm rear carbon wheels which I used on the road on my CX bike with 28mm tubeless Schwalbe Pro Ones
Dual role Trek Checkpoint in action - at the top of a 5000ft road climb. Bit nicer than doing it on 35mm Schwalbe Allrounds on gravel rims. The descent in particular.
11 Likes
As a German living in Asia this is my quite fitting one bike to rule them all with a mix of German and Far East components:
Rose Backroad
Road Setup (7.9kg incl. pedals, powermeter, bottle cages and wahoo/light mounts)
Noteworthy components:
- GRX 800 mechanical groupset - 1x (42t - 11-42), 160mm rotors front & back
- Farsports Feder wheelset (45mm) with 28mm GP5000TL
- Fasterway handlebar/stem combo (black inc copy)
- Specialized Power Arc Pro
- 3d printed Garmin Varia mount (homemade)
- homemade gopro / light solution in the front
- 4iii powermeter (left side, 105 crank arm and 2mm spacer on pedals for Q factor)
- Shimano XT PD M8000 pedals
Cassette, pedals, crankset, tires, and saddle would actually have quite some room for more weight savings. But comfort and budget considerations had quite some influence on the built as well 
.
Gravel / Offroad Setup (ca. 9.3kg)
Changes compared to road setup:
- Rose R-Thirty 650b wheelset with WTP Venture 47mm (tubeless)
- Redshift Shockstop Stem and Ritchey VentureMax handlebar
- Shimano PD EH 500 pedals
The gravel setup is tried and tested (also on tarmac) and I love it. The road wheelset arrived yesterday - so no verdict yet. I really like the clean fully integrated cable setup (external on the handlebar, so I can swap handlebar / stem without recabeling). All in all the complete built incl. power meter and the two wheelsets etc. totals at around 4000EUR/5000USD. I’m happy, this is really my dream built and quiver killer and replaced my 7 year old aluminium roadbike.
14 Likes
Great bike! I wanted buy one but…I was interested previeus model. The previous one was closer to “road plus” idea than this one. In my vision (and it’s only my opinion 
) GRX just doesn’t match to this concept. I own Canyon Grail with GRX and it’s great for the gravel job, but the gearing and weight for the road is not optimal for me. I would rather prefer Ultegra RX option with road gearing (like 50/34 at the front and 11-30 rear). Ultegra configration is not available anymore. I’m wondering if I can fit 650B wheels to new Rose Reveal 
1 Like
This is a great looking bike in both configurations, and at a great cost all in. Do you think you will be frequently changing bars? To change them out you have to move the brifters and re-tape every time, right? Or am I over thinking that?
1 Like
The previous Backroad model was a CX bike with more tire clearance (that can be a good or bad, depending on what you are after).
I’m not sure if GRX 800 (especially 1x) is heavier than Ultegra (Disc). My guess would be it’s roughly the same weight, but I didn’t really find a conclusive answer. I wanted 1x and the GRX levers, so no choice for me. Regarding the gearing you a totally right, that is something quite personal, we will see how it works out in the long run for me. I already have a XDR freehub for the carbon wheelsset - so I might change to a SRAM 10-42 cassette (with my 42t chainring) in the future. Gear jumps are obviously bigger than 2x11. I understand people who don’t want that.
The Reveal has a tire clearance of 30mm (officially, probably 32mm are no issue) and the seat stays look rather narrow. I doubt a much wider tire (in 650b) would fit in there. But the colors of the Reveal are super nice.
1 Like
You are missing nothing. The Redshift Shockstop / Ritchey VentureMax combo came with the bike. It’s nice and was fun to try, but doesn’t excite me as a daily option since I’m more often on the road than single track. I might mount it back on for a longer bikepacking trip or a special event. But like you said, moving the shifters and retaping is necessary. I actually reused the old original tape on the aero bars. It worked rather well, but probably not sustainable in the long run if done too often.
Sure, It’s all about your needs and preferences. No doubts, your bike looks great and it’s super option for the money!
1 Like
Good point. It’s nice to have if you ever DO need it. I really like the look of your bike!
1 Like
I wonder how good Rose’s manufacturing quality and overall reputation is compared to Canyon for example.
They seem to have dropped the ball since Covid according to trustpilot and their sites bike ratings etc.