Specialized’s Roval components brand has officially launched its carbon one-piece Rapide Cockpit today. It says that the new cockpit is its fastest ever, and shaves four watts over the separate Roval Rapide bar and the stock stem of the S-Works Tarmac SL7 race bike ridden by its men’s and women’s pro teams.
With a separate bar and stem, there are almost always exposed bolts and hardware that spoil the airflow at the front end of the bike, where aerodynamic improvements can have the greatest effect; a one-piece design avoids this.
Roval says that the new design is not just aero, but also light and stiff, claiming that the one piece design reduces weight by 50g for a 100mm x 420mm bar size, which it says weighs 310g. As you’d expect, there’s full internal cable routing and compatibility with electronic groupsets.
It says that its high modulus carbon one-piece construction results in a higher stiffness-to-weight ratio than any of its two-piece bar and stem combinations and that this allows the bar to handle the stresses placed on it by its WorldTour pro sprinters.
Roval has used Specialized’s Retul bike fitting database to ensure that the Rapide Cockpit’s ergonomics also fit a wide range of riders. There are no less than 15 different length/width combinations offered with stem lengths from 75mm up to 125mm and widths from 380mm to 440mm, all with -6 degree stem angle.
Roval says that the radius of the drops, with a 125mm drop and 75mm reach, is designed for optimum wrist clearance both in an aero tuck and an out-of-saddle sprint.
As you’d expect, Specialized’s sponsored pro riders have been let loose on the new Roval Rapide Cockpit ahead of its official launch. Both Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky used the cockpit in their Spring campaigns and Fabio Jakobsen rode it to victory on Stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico.
The new Roval Rapide Cockpit is available immediately and priced at £475, $600, €580 or AU$850.
