Roval CLX 50 Disc wheels

Since I tested the Roval Rapide CLX 40 wheels two years ago, the US wheel brand owned by Specialized has been busy, and its new CLX 50 wheels are their spiritual replacement. They're a marked improvement, too, with better aerodynamic performance and an impressively low weight for the disc brake version I've tested here.

The aim for the new Roval CLX 50 was to marry the aero performance of the deeper section CLX 64 with the lightness of the shallower CLX 32. At 1,415g with a 50mm-deep rim and disc brake hubs, they would appear to have achieved that objective.

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> Buy the rear wheel online here, the front wheel here

This is a very attractive weight in a hugely competitive wheel market. They're not much heavier than the £4.8k Lightweight Meilenstein C Disc wheels, for example, and only a smidgen heavier than the so-called lightweight, shallow, rim-braked FFWD F3R carbon clinchers. You can have aero and low weight it would seem. And a Zipp 404 Firecrest Disc wheelset? That's a comparatively portly 1,715g.

A lot of good boxes are ticked. It's a full carbon fibre construction, tubeless ready and available in disc or rim brake versions, with a fashionably wide and bulbous profile rim. Internal rim width is 20.7mm, external is 29.4mm, ensuring wider tyres are happily accommodated; between 22 and 47mm can be used. Compared with the DT Swiss ERC 1100 Dicut DB Endurance wheels I tested a while back, the Rovals are wider, deeper, lighter and cheaper. Things really are off to a flying start.

With a choice of rim and disc brake versions, you might think Roval has simply changed the hub. It hasn't. The disc wheelset has a different rim – the same essential profile but a modified carbon fibre layup that results not only in a stronger rim but one that is also 20g lighter. That helps narrow the disc brake weight penalty. The clincher rims are tubeless-ready, using a hookless bead design that is favoured by a few other wheel brands, and claimed to provide a stronger rim with less weight.

At the centre of the wheels are new hubs with a design brief to minimise drag. That accounts for the smooth shape which Roval is calling Aero Flange. A wider bracing angle helps to increase wheel rigidity. Inside the hubs are DT Swiss 240 internals with upgraded CeramicSpeed bearings. DT Swiss also supplies the Aerolite spokes – 21 front and 24 rear – with a 2:1 lacing pattern and aluminium Prolock nipples. The freehub is Shimano/SRAM compatible; SRAM XD (for use with a 10-42t cassette) and Campagnolo options are available.

With a multitude of axle standards in the road disc brake market at the moment, Roval supplies the wheels with different end caps, providing compatibility with quick releases and 12mm thru-axles. The end caps are easy to remove and swap for the ones you need. Disc rotors are affixed via the CenterLock standard which offers easy and quick rotor installation and is vastly less fiddly than tightening six bolts.

A lot of changes then, but what are they like to ride? Not so hasty. First you need to install the tyres. Naturally I opted for tubeless, and this meant installing the small plastic plugs that fit into the spoke holes. Roval says this accounts for a lower weight than rim tape but isn't half bloody fiddly. I tested one wheel with some rim tape to test both approaches and had no issues with either system.

I installed new 25mm Hutchinson Fusion 5 tubeless tyres, and with the help of a tubeless inflator (a regular track pump just couldn't get enough air out to inflate the tyres) the tyres sealed on the rim. There was no satisfying bang and pop, but visual inspection showed the beads were locked into the rim. Air retention has been excellent, with only occasional topping up needed.

To really get a feel for the wheels I tested them over several months on two very different bikes: the comfortable Specialized Roubaix and the savagely fast Cervelo S3 Disc, to put them through their paces in a wide range of scenarios.

Testing on two completely different bikes was eye-opening. On the Cervelo, their aerodynamic performance was really well highlighted. They're superbly fast in a straight line and maintain excellent momentum when you're really pushing hard on the pedals. They're comfortably in the same league as an Enve or Zipp wheelset in real-world riding.

On the Roubaix, the Roval wheels showed that they can also be tough and dependable. They easily shrugged off bad road surfaces; I've smashed into potholes and ridden them along gravel tracks and they've taken all the punishment with no sign of loose spokes or going out of true.

They're also smooth and comfortable for a deep-section wheelset, something you really appreciate when riding along a washboard or chattery surface, where the rapid vibrations can easily unsettle an otherwise smooth ride, and especially if you head off onto gravel or dirt roads. The wide rim makes the most of a wide tyre and contributes to the performance.

It seems to be eternally windy where I live and I'm always battling headwinds and crosswinds. I'm quite a light rider too, but the Rovals handled the winds superbly. The rounded rim profile provides exceptionally good stability with little sign of buffeting even in the strongest gusts, and they're as good as, if not marginally better than, the best carbon wheels I've tested in similar conditions.

Handling is impressive too. There's ample lateral stiffness to ensure they feel sharp and decisive through corners or when making sudden direction changes, such as when in a fast moving peloton or chaingang. On climbs the weight is low enough to flatter any bike they're fitted to, and the extra stiffness they provided over the Roubaix's stock aluminium clincher wheels was noticeable on the steeper gradients when really honking on the handlebar.

> Buyer's Guide: 22 of the best 2017 road bike wheels

Roval is owned by Specialized and is often called the company's in-house wheel brand, but Roval has its own engineering team and its own dedicated website (for the US market, anyway). The aim is to draw a clear line between the two, in the hope that people who might otherwise be worried about mixing their brands will be tempted to choose Roval even though they don't own a Specialized. It's a big ask... but I had no qualms fitting the wheels to a bike without Specialized written on the frame. The understated decals go a long way to helping, and they looked sharp on both bikes I fitted them to.

I've tested a lot of carbon wheels over the years, but the Roval CLX 50s really impressed with their combination of outright speed and stability in strong winds. There are probably more aero wheels and there are definitely lighter wheels, but these strike a really good all-round balance that works well in every situation.

Add the impressive durability and competitive price, plus the aftersales support, and you have a thoroughly decent carbon disc brake wheelset option. It would definitely be on my shortlist.

Verdict

Fast, light and wide, these tubeless carbon disc brake wheels offer excellent performance