Roval’s latest wheels are the Rapide CLX II Team. It’s gone to great lengths to make the wheels lighter and more aero, saving a gram per wheel from the non-coated hubs and a whole second over 40km. It’s also kept the hooked tyre beads, as it reckons that there’s too much risk of tyre blow-off with hookless.
The latest cycling buzzword is all-road – the option to take your road bike off-tarmac, but still get along nicely on the blacktop. As you’d expect, there are a slew of products ready to help you get there and we have two in this week’s round-up.
Fulcrum’s Sharq wheels have a 25mm internal width rim with a wavy profile – but do they infringe on the patent licensed to Zipp? And motorcycle brand Ducati has launched an all-road electric bike that comes with beefy tyres, an FSA hub motor and a set of bikepacking bags included.
Roval Rapide CLX II Team wheels retain their hooked tyre beads
2024 seems to be the year of expensive wheels, with the latest Roval wheels hitting $3,800 / £3,000, the price of a decent carbon bike. Specialized claims that they’re lighter and more aero – well they would, wouldn’t they – but they have also retained hooked beads.
Roval hasn't been a fan of hookless and has eschewed the tech which sees rims for tubeless tyres created without a wheel hook, even as competitors Zipp and Enve have gone all-in. Meanwhile, Specialized says that hookless tech can’t meet its high pressure testing requirements without the tyre blowing off.
Roval says that the new wheels shed 130g from the standard Rapide CLX II for a 1,360g wheelset weight. That’s made up of 40g per rim from a new carbon lay-up, plus 25g per hub savings from a new shell. It’s silver because not coating it black saves a gram per hub.
A modified rim profile saves a claimed 0.5 watts when using tyres between 26mm and 30mm wide, with a one second time saving over 40km.
It’s not only the price tag that makes getting your hands on the new wheels tricky. Roval has only made 1,500 sets available to buy, the rest going to its WorldTour team riders.
Fulcrum’s sawtooth allroad wheels
This week, Fulcrum has debuted its new wheels for all-road riders. Called Sharq, the wheels have a wavy profile to the rim, of between 42mm and 47mm depth, which Fulcrum says makes them less susceptible to crosswinds.
The asymmetric bulges are reminiscent of Zipp’s NSW wheels, which raises an immediate question: has Fulcrum infringed a patent licensed to Zipp?
Princeton Carbonworks had a brush with Zipp's owner, SRAM, over its own wavy rim profiles. SRAM’s case against Princeton went to court in February 2023 and resulted in a mixed judgment, with one of Princeton’s defences dismissed, but its assertion of prior art (i.e. that there were already products using a similar profile) still in play.
We've asked Fulcrum about its own patent, but not heard back. In the interim, the new wheels are for sale for €2,460. They have a 25mm internal rim width and a claimed weight of 1,440g and Fulcrum says that they’re aero optimized for tyres from 30mm to 42mm wide. It reckons they’re a great option for riders who want to be fast on road, but still take on some off-tarmac riding.
The Sharq wheels had a gravel outing at Unbound last weekend too, being ridden to fifth place by Mattia De Marchi.
Ducati heads off-road with its Futa e-bike
Ducati isn’t a name you normally associate with human-powered transport, but it’s launched an allroad bike called the Futa. Powered by a 250W, 42Nm FSA rear hub motor, the Futa All Road has a carbon frame with an internal 250Wh battery in the down tube. You can buy a 250Wh range extender to add some extra mileage.
It’s kitted out with a SRAM Rival 2x12-speed groupset and Vision AGX 30 carbon wheels with 38mm Vittoria Terreno Dry tyres. Ducati claims a size medium weighs just 12.4kg. The Futa All Road is priced at €7,690 and is sold complete with a set of bikepacking bags.
There’s a road-going version of the Futa available too, which can be had equipped with the FSA K-Force WE electronic groupset or an alternative SRAM Rival option.
