Roval Rapide CLX

I suspect they'll launch the same wheel next year but with the "no tubeless" stickers removed and try to get 2 bites of the cherry from gullible punters. 

Absolute bollocks. 

If you can't get tubeless to work on the road in this day and age then it's because you're inept. 
 

I've been using tubeless on the road since 2015, maybe even earlier and I've never had an issue or a puncture. Sure, some rim/tyre combos need a little more attention than others but the technology and the benefits are proven and nothing will sway me away from tubeless. 
 

I've converted even the most ardent anti-tubeless friends (in both ways). It only takes a few punctures out on rides while I sit there watching them change a tube. 
 

Look at the Hunt 48 limitless, Scribe 50 D+ Wide and Parcours Strade. All way way cheaper, not much heavier (taking into account the full system weight when you add tubes) and who says they are any slower than the Rovals? Oh, and all tubeless compatible. 
 

For the sake of what? 20, 30 or maybe even 50 grams Specialized went with tubes? Like the reviewer says, it all comes down to choice. You can run a tubeless compatible wheelset with tubes...

is it though?  I've seen enough fuck ups with tubeless set ups on road to give it a wide berth and guess what the rescue option has always been - an inner tube.  

Road punctures are few & far between so it's completley unrequired.  As I said; keep it to the off road and/or gravel rides where it's absolute gold.

Yeah it is actually. You'd have to be a complete numpty or have incredibly bad luck these days to not sort tubeless out easily. Fair play to those that want stay with tubes as they clearly still perform well. The biggest issue with tubeless is what combination of wheel and tyre will get you the best result and manufacturers of both can't seem to agree on standards

The reason the other wheels mentioned are heavier is that they can support a tubeless tyre.  If you go too light on the rim then you lose the strength required to maintain a rigid rim when you add the radial force from a tubeless tyre - because the tyre pressure is exerted across the entire inner rim channel (rather than contained within a tube), the inward force is greater.  My guess is that Spesh went too light on the rim design then found that their rims went floppy when set up tubeless.  They were obviously designed to be tubeless if you look at the inner rim channel...

That's not entirely true, the new Zipp 303 Firecrest wheelset is hookless, tubeless only and weighs 1350 grams. However I agree that somewhere along the line Roval realised they had an issue and backed off tubeless. Maybe they haven't tested widely enough to come up with a list of certificated tyres like Enve have for their AR series?

Fair point, although when you go hookless you save the weight on the bead hooks.  So not a fair comparison really.

My guess is Spesh couldn't come up with the Hunt solution of making a wide rim light and tubeless, so went with the former.  Bit of a fail in my eyes, and I won't be moving from my CLX50s even if they are better in certain conditions.

Hunt limitless are 200g heavier than these, so let's not pretend there aren't compromises with the "Hunt solution".

Curious to know what else from the DT Swiss hubs have made it over to these wheels, as they're clearly not just rebadged 240's. I wish wheels could be reviewed with some more information on bearings, etc...£1800 is a lot of money to spend on something if it's running on some crappy EZO bearings in some random sizes that can't be readily purchased off the shelf. For that kind of money if want something that was easily serviceable at the bare minimum.

Mathemagician wrote:

Hunt limitless are 200g heavier than these, so let's not pretend there aren't compromises with the "Hunt solution". Curious to know what else from the DT Swiss hubs have made it over to these wheels, as they're clearly not just rebadged 240's. I wish wheels could be reviewed with some more information on bearings, etc...£1800 is a lot of money to spend on something if it's running on some crappy EZO bearings in some random sizes that can't be readily purchased off the shelf. For that kind of money if want something that was easily serviceable at the bare minimum.

As with all of the wheels in the CLX range, these are fitted with CeramicSpeed coated bearings that come with a six year warranty. 

Never said it was faultless - but add the tubes in and the difference may reduce depending on your set up, and the Hunts are £600 cheaper with the Ceramicspeed bearings.  As stated, I think Spesh had a choice to make between the best aero, weight and tubeless compatibility, and dropped the latter.  Apparently they aren't going to do tubulars either, so I think they are putting all their eggs in one basket.  I just think it's the wrong basket.

I wasn't claiming you said it was faultless, but you did say:

Quote:

My guess is Spesh couldn't come up with the Hunt solution of making a wide rim light and tubeless, so went with the former.

Which suggests that the Hunt wheels are wide, light and tubeless. And I'm saying they're not, they're wide and tubeless, but not particularly light. So you're either compromising on weight or you're compromising on tubeless compatibility. FWIW I run tubeless and so also think not going tubeless is a bit of a weird choice, but there are plenty who are happy with tubes so I guess for them it's no great shakes.

I'm more interested in how both the Roval wheels here and the Parcours Strade the other day are now using different rim shapes and widths for the front wheel verus the rear.  Is this where wheel development is heading now?

I guess if we're hitting peak aero then you look at things like handling performance?

The Enve AR series have the same - u shaped front and v shaped rear, deeper rear wheel. Supposedly the rear wheel is less influenced by side winds (which makes sense). Would love to see a comparison of the Rapide and the Strade.

If you don't might a 200g weight difference and a bog standard 4PAWL freehub. I think I'd be saving my cash, reducing my weight and going for a set of Scribe aero wide 50s with a ratchet freehub, with the money saved I could put whatever bloody bearings I wanted in. 

the Scribe wides are 'only' 21mm internal and 30mm external and optimised for 25mm tyres, the Strade is 22.5mm internal and 32.5/31mm external specifically for 28mm tyres which I'd be I interested in. Parcours do DT Swiss 180/240 for an additional charge...Agree the Scribes look good and would be interesting to see them compared with the name brands for real world performance.

Cyclingtips had a podcast section on the wheels that suggested that they were initially developed as a tubeless set but Spesh were forced away from that route, marketing guff to the contrary aside. ETRTO guidelines, due to be updated soon, were posited as one possible reason.