With just weeks to go, Monday brought us a late contender for one of the strangest stories of 2025 — social media filled with confusion and disbelief after screenshots from Specialized’s website began circulating featuring a disc brake rotor fitted on the same side as a rear derailleur and… a cassette on the front wheel.
While some questioned if a poor photographer had actually managed to build such a horrorshow (and others pointed out it just wouldn’t work), the leading theory was that Specialized had deployed AI for its Roval Rapide CLX III web page and something had gone (quite significantly) wrong.
At the rear, people noticed the disc rotor was on the same side as the drivetrain, while up front there was a cassette pictured neatly fitted between the forks. Bizarre. Just to top it all off, Specialized’s marketing copy for the wheelset meant this rather strange pic was accompanied by the headline: “Everything you thought you knew about wheels was wrong”. Quite.
That then added another layer of social media speculation, some suggesting it’s all an attention-grabbing ploy for eyeballs.
Well, having spoken with Specialized this morning, a spokesperson for the brand said the truth is actually none of the above, the rogue cassette and rotor apparently not AI, not a marketing gimmick, and certainly not what a photographer actually photographed.
That particular part of the product page is meant to be a GIF, not one image, seamlessly alternating between a front and rear view of the bike, all to demonstrate that Specialized has made the front wheel deeper than the rear for aero gains, going against what some people used to believe and thus justifying the tag line “everything you thought you knew about wheels is wrong”.
The bike brand’s digital team is working to get it fixed. Interestingly, the US site is working as a GIF… but on one of the images there is still a cassette up front and a disc rotor on the wrong side at the rear.
Needless to say the person we spoke to at Specialized says something has broken on the website. They also explained this page has been up since the wheels were launched.
Once the internet did spot it, social media was typically quick to jump all over the bizarre image…
“Actually amazing: Specialized has an image of a bike using their $1500[*] wheelset, where the front wheel is on backwards, and features a cassette. The back wheel has an integrated disk brake rotor aa part of the cassette itself — as well as the brake itself integrated with the chain?” someone else wrote on social media.
From there the great AI vs deliberate marketing vs real photo debate began and Specialized scrambled its digital team. Not AI, not deliberate marketing and not one real photo is apparently the answer…
* Just to correct the OP, that $1,500 is just for the front wheel ($1,499 to be exact). It’s priced at £1,299 in the UK and the rear wheel is £1,699, meaning the set would cost £2,998 (or $3,398 in the US) at full recommended retail price.
5 thoughts on “Specialized blames faulty GIF for much-ridiculed website image of bizarre front wheel cassette, not AI”
It’s still on the website!
It’s still on the website! Why on earth, wouldn’t you pull that short “video” and replace it with the valid image from the front.
If you pause it, you can even get a “push me pull you” version with two handlebars.
The image from the rear is still wrong and has a loose chain, so I suspect that someone did ask AI to generate a reverse image.
https://www.specialized.com/gb/en/roval-rapide-clx-iii/p/1000256237?color=1000256242-1000256237
Is that the new golden
Is that the new golden standard: a quadruple-diamond frame?
Torsionally stiff, vertically
Torsionally stiff, vertically compliant…
Also, the actual rim depths
Also, the actual rim depths are different 48mm rear vs 51mm front, but in the video the sizes are identical. 3mm is a 16th so would be noticeable. The video is surely not showing the actual wheels but a mock-up.
Specialized in corporate BS
Specialized in corporate BS