Roval has achieved impressive wheel system developments road, allroad and mountain riding but the Control SL has been created as the ultimate XC race wheelset and it is one of the most impressive accomplishments Roval has built. The R&D team at Roval engineered the updated Control SL wheels to be sharp handling, smooth riding, extra durable, and 22% less likely to pinch-flat your tires, in addition to being some of the lightest weight production wheels on the planet. 1240 grams is an obscenely light weight when talking about mountain bike wheelsets, and is the kind of weight that XC racers dream about. But light weight alone is no longer enough, as courses have gotten more challenging, racing has gotten harder, and the competition on the course has never been more talented. A top echelon XC race wheel must be able to handle all of the above with utter reliability.

It all starts with the hoop. The 358 gram Control SL carbon rim ensures you start with an incredible advantage. Every step of the Control SL design and prototyping process has lead to this; thousands of hours of grueling lab tests, simulating exaggerated real world forces generating relevant data regarding strength, stiffness, weight, and other critical measures. The carbon, 2Bliss Ready, Zero Bead Hook 4mm FlatTop design has been optimized for tubeless use, impressive inherent compliance and a 22% reduction in pinch flat risk, allowing you to run the lower pressures afforded by tubeless systems. The 4mm width refers to the thickness of the rim wall at the flat top section. For XC riders that means you can stay under a 2.3" tire and still get a wide footprint with a tire with proper shape and sidewall abrasion protection with little risk of pinching. Should you be considering some of the new tire accessory available, please know this rim design is not compatible with tire inserts.

But the Zero Hook design is only part of the rim story. The asymmetric design of the Control SL rim offers some subtle but important benefits. With the spokes offset to one side of the rim, this allowed the engineers to reduce the spoke offset that usually occurs at the hub. In turn, this means the set-up allows for greater bracing angles for the spokes between the hub and rim, while also minimizing the spoke tension differential that often occurs between drive- and non-drive side spokes. The end result is a wheel that is stronger, laterally stiffer, more durable, and in the case of the Control SL this is a 24 hole 2x/2x (1:1) lacing, utilizing the same DT Aerolite straightpull spoke length throughout the whole wheelset- an optimal tension and load balance situation.

When building wheels as a system, Roval carefully chooses the best hub option for the intended purpose and overall integrity of the end result wheelset. In the case of the Control SL, Roval was seeking super light weight, low rolling resistance and proven, fast engagement. That result? These are the lightest Roval hubs ever made. Straight pull spokes use slightly less material than j-bends and offer other benefits, so they were used here. The spoke holes are drilled at a precise angle to match the rims directly without any undue stress. The CNC machined alloy rear hub features premium-quality DT Swiss 180 internals and the EXP mechanism; with 36T engagement, and fewer moving parts than before, resulting in less drag. The outboard bearing placement and use of SiNC (silicon nitride) ceramic sealed cartridge bearings ensures great hub shell and axle stiffness from bearing-to-bearing. All of these components work to ensure that these wheels deliver strength and durability without any excess flab or internal resistance. As amazing as the rear hub is, the front has it's own innovative qualities.

The front Roval hub of the Control SL is an exercise in engineering minimalism. Roval's engineers eliminated the front axle, allowing the thru-axle of the fork handle that duty, and in so doing were able to reduce the size of the bearings and the diameter of the hub shell itself while eliminating weight many have speculated about since thru-axles started to become dominant with disc braking. The end result here is an entire hub that weighs less than the hub shell of its predecessor. The bearings are spaced as wide as possible, as in the rear. Strength, stiffness and reliability are all present and accounted for, without a single gram of excess material.

The 1240 gram wheelset is weighed when taped with tubeless rim tape. Tubeless valves, a replacement spoke kit and other hub end cap options and a Lifetime Warranty are included with the wheels. The latter requires registration through the link on the Roval website under Support>Warranty>Register Here. This is a wheelset that can become your greatest ally on the training trails or race day, not only because it is fast light, but because it also capable at a level more often found on true trail wheelsets. Now you don't have t consider if your wheels can handle the more aggressive line or more technical terrain at speed.