Sprint finishes are decided by centimeters, and Roval built the Rapide Cockpit to reclaim as many of them as possible. By eliminating the hardware junction where a traditional stem meets a handlebar, engineers were free to shape the entire leading edge as a single continuous airfoil. The result shaves four watts off the already ultra-quick two-piece Rapide Bar and Tarmac SL7 Stem , and while that number sounds modest, it adds up to 32cm advantage over a 250m final sprint . When races are decided by a bike throw, that is the difference between winning and second wheel.

The Rapide Cockpit uses premium high-modulus carbon fiber with titanium stem bolts , and the layup is tuned for the kind of stiffness that World Tour sprinters demand out of a final kick. The Rapide Cockpit has a higher stiffness-to-weight ratio than any two-piece system Roval has ever made , and the weight savings are real too — by removing the stem's hardware cluster the Rapide Cockpit is 50 grams lighter (100mm x 420mm) than a two piece Rapide bar and Tarmac SL7 combo . If you are already committed to an aero build and want to clean up the front end without giving up structural feel, this is where the gains hide.

Fit is the traditional weak point of one-piece cockpits, and Roval worked around it by offering more combinations than most competitors bother with. Roval offers 15 different stem and bar combos, all at -6 degrees, and the radius from tops to drops has been sculpted for wrist clearance, whether out of the saddle in a final sprint or tucked in an aero position, while bend and flare reflect their favorite Rapide bar . Bar geometry mirrors the standalone Rapide with a 127mm drop and 75mm reach, plus four degrees of outward flare at the drops that opens the wrist angle slightly during sprints without changing the feel too much from a traditional bend.... Read More