Specialized sponsored riders appear to be sporting a new set of wheels, spotted at both the Vuelta Femenina - which finished on Sunday, and the ongoing Giro d'Italia.
The current racing stock for Specialized sponsored teams includes the 50mm Roval Rapide CLX II, and the Roval Alpinist CLX II, designed for the hilliest of stages. Both feature DT Swiss Aerolite T-head aluminium spokes, and Roval's own hubs.
However, the Roval Rapide CLX wheels run by Specialized sponsored teams at recent races appear to differ from the current iteration, launched back in 2022.
Firstly, zooming in on the spokes, they appear to be flatter, and fatter in the middle - implying to us that there's been a material move, from aluminium to carbon. Whilst the spokes on the existing wheels are bladed, these appear to be much more dramatically shaped - something made possible, again, via the use of carbon.
Carbon spokes are not only lighter, they can also be much stiffer, and a move to a carbon spoke would see Specialized draw even with - or, surpass, spec dependant - other brands within the very crowded race wheel space.
The hubs - silver on the potentially new wheels - have very different flanges, too. Where the flange on the Roval Rapide CLX II wheels currently on sale is rounded, these wave inwards between the spoke holes. The redesigned hub would point to a need to redesign around an alternative entry point design.
Otherwise, the wheels look similar, with a radial spoke pattern on the drive side and one-cross on the non-drive side at the front, and one-cross/two-cross on the rear, with 18 and 24 spokes respectively.
The rim depth, equally, is similar and likely to be around the 50mm sweetspot.
When we last reviewed the Roval CLX II wheels, CW's North American editor gave them 4/5, Anne-Marije Rook praised them for their stiffness, handling and ease of tubeless set up (whilst maintaining a hooked rim). We marked them down for the price - they're currently on Specialized's website for £1,050/$1,175 (front) and £1,450/$1,625 (rear). It seems unlikely adding a carbon spoke would bring that down, but it likely would impact the ride quality and weight.
