So knowing that the Roval Rapide CL might be around the corner (or not, since they might need all the wheels they’ve got to make sure that they can get the Tarmacs delivered) I sold my Roval CL50s.
Since we have a long winter and spring here in Sweden, they wouldnt’t be used anyway…
So to my question, I am looking at what wheels to get for spring, and seeing that I have a Venge, the Roval Rapide CLX has been on my watch.
What bike they’ll be on:
S-Works Venge during summer
S-Works Roubaix when travelling - lots of mountains when travelling
How I ride:
Lots of rolling hills in Sweden
I am 80kg
Lots of elevation when abroad
28mm Cotton Turbos (Hell of The North) - always
I also know that there are options from DT Swiss, ZIPP and SwissSide…
Firstly,
Don’t worry about wheel weight too much. I have cycled in Sweden quite a lot, and at least where I was, there were only rolling hills. Where I could easily average over 30kph. For speeds like that, you should go as aero as you can handle, to be as efficient as possible.
You say loads of elevation when going abroad, but really ask yourself, at what speeds you are traveling. Low profile wheels are only faster in the filming two cases:
you are going extremely slow. That can be due to extrem gradients (Zoncolan type gradient) or due to the rider producing low W/kg.
the low profile rims give you that much more confidence (descending in strong wind or riding in a hurricane) so you have to brake less/ can pedal much harder
My main question would be: are you racing at all? Then I’d focus my decision around this.
From my experience, the Roval CLX are a great wheel, fantastic handling in the wind, light and all you can wish. But I only use them for very steep races, training (where I don’t care about speed) and for the windiest of days. For everything else, I ride much deeper rims, since they are just plain faster.
Thanks for the really good answer! No racing here, just like to go fast! The closest I get to racing is fast group rides where its a lot of 20-30s sprints upp hills and attacks…
Usually average around 32-34km/h on my rides, depending on wind etc, so makes sense to go for max aero…
I can’t find any tests for the Rovals, which makes it kind of annoying when comparing to other wheels…
I think Tour Magazin recently compared several mid depth wheels and the top 2 where Rapide CLX and SwissSide/ DT Swiss 50mm, separated by next to nothing.
I have the Rapide for the windiest of days but mainly ride 80mm wheels.
If I only had one set of wheel, probably would go with the 62mm DT/ Swiss side from the latest gen also.
Regarding tire width. There is basically no wheel that Tests fastest with 28c and hardly any wheel, that tests faster with 25 than they do with 23c.
My new Swiss Side hadron 2 Ultimate sit flush with a 23c (but a 25 would definitely work just as well).
My rapide would even be okay with a 28c in the front, but for the rear wheel, my 25c slightly wider than the rim.
My Enve SES 4.5 AR (optimized for 28c) look much faster with a 25c (that sits flush) than with a 28c (that bulges over the rim).
So, not really a difference.
Edit: CLX64 might be a very good option too. Super wide, handle well in wine, fast, and you might snag them for cheep, as many people now want Rapide…
Have you had any issues with the bearings on the new Rapides? I heard that some have the same issues as they did with the CLX50, where they would get “tight” and wouldn’t roll freely, so you had to take of the pressure from the thru axle, and then mount again, for it to resolve itself…
62 front, 80 rear is pretty bad ass. Haven’t ridden the 62s yet, but I have the 80 front wheel for my TT bike and it is the best super deep I have had in the wind. As good as the 7.8 and CLX64, both of which are shallower.
Regarding the hubs. It really doesn’t make that much sense that the CLX50 and Rapide CLX have the same hub issues. Firstly, they are different gen DT 240 Hubs, and secondly the CLX50 had ceramic speed internals, which the newer wheels don’t have.
That’s btw another plus for going DT Swiss. They have the brand new aerolite 2 spokes, that look super Bad ass. Like turbine. And the have 180 hubs, whereas Rovals have 240 (fewer engagement points).
@Aeroiseverything: What wheels would you choose for the the new Emonda? I got an incoming SLR6 w/RSL37s but are having second thoughts about the wheels.
Norway isnt very hilly so thinking it might be smarter with deeper wheels. My favourite climb is 5.5km @ 6-7% (PR=21km/h), but Rapides/ARC50/62 might be faster even at those gradients/speeds?
If you are not planning on racing up Alpine Climbs, you do not need shallow rims. I can recommend both, the Rapides and the ARC62 (2021 version). The ARC 62 are a little faster but a little heavier and a little more susceptible to crosswinds. You don‘t go wrong either way!
On my Emonda, I use two sets of wheels/gearing. One is shallow 1300gr Aeolus XXX2 with 12-28 gearing as we have a lot of very steep climbs (up to 26%) in my area. The other set are custom from prowheelbuilder 45mm deep for the fast group rides with an 11-30 cassette. There are no flat rides in my area, so this is a good compromise which does everything pretty well but adds about 300 grams. I use both wheel sets about equally. The aero wheels are definitely faster and last Sunday I PR’d a 17% 8 minute climb on them which I’d just previously PR’d the week before on the shallow wheels…so…the weight savings of 300 grams may not be worth much.
Thanks for your response! You write faster, but do you have any idea what this means in terms of watts? I believe I read that there is 4-5W difference between Rapides and Zipp 303 (not sure if that is per wheel…?). If the ARC62s are faster, could that mean that they are about 10W faster(45kph) than the RSL37s?
I previously had a discussion with an aerodynamicist about this and already posted on this topic on another forum, so let me Quote myself:
“ From the test of wheels (Tour Issue 10/2020) we see that the Rapide CLX tests 4.5 W faster than the 30mm wide/ 40mm deep ZIPP 303S. (Note: the Rapide CLX was tested with Turbo Cotton tires, the ZIPP 303S with Schwalbe Pro One Addix).
He estimates the Rapide CLX will test around 5 to 6 Watts (all numbers are at 45kph, as per Tour testing protocol) faster than the Bontrager RSL37 (28mm wide, 37mm deep) when using the same tire.”
—> The 62mm DTs likely test another 1 to 3 watts faster than the Rapides…
Thanks! Im strongly considering the ARC50s too. Based on data from HADRON² Ultimate (swissside.com) there is 2.5W difference between 50mm rim and 62mm rim (I believe those rims are 99% the same as the ARCs).
The ARC50s is 200g lighter than the ARC62s, that would make my bike very close to sub 7kg, thats worth 2W imo
My only concern about the ARCs is that they are 30-31mm wide, max tiresize on Emonda is 28mm I think. But I believe you have fitted the 35mm wide Rapide on the Emonda @Aeroiseverything?
The ARC 50s are great, I am sure of that. However, they aren’t any faster than the Rapide, which then again are light and less susceptible to cross winds (which isn’t really that big of a problem with 50mm wheels in the first place). Now you must decide on whether tubeless compatibility is relevant to you. It is not for me.
The Rovals fit no problem. You can fit a tire that is effectively 34mm wide, without it rubbing or coming too close.
I have been running tubeless this year, works great, but not a must for me either. Read the Rapides is pretty easy to setup tubeless, but that is not recommended I guess.
My biggest concern about the Rapides is price. I found the ARCs for 1400 euro + 25% VAT, the Rapides would be 2000 euro + VAT… Got a deal on the RSL37 for about 2000 euro including VAT (so basically same price as ARCs)
