Conventional wheel design has followed a simple rule for decades: deeper rear rim, shallower front. Roval's engineering team questioned that assumption and built the Rapide Sprint CLX around the opposite arrangement, running a 58mm rear rim paired to a 63mm front. The reasoning centers on where aerodynamic gains actually originate. Since roughly 90 percent of a wheel's aero benefit comes from the front cutting through undisturbed air, the rear rim's job shifts toward acceleration rather than pure aero, where rotational mass matters more than depth. Roval claims the arrangement puts a rider 18cm ahead over a 250-meter sprint.

The shallower rear profile carries a 34.4mm external width and a 21mm internal width built around 28mm tires, following the wider-rim direction that has reshaped road wheel design. The rim is a carbon clincher with hooked bead construction, tubeless compatible, and disc-brake specific with a Center Lock rotor interface. Composite spokes developed with Arris replace steel, and Roval reports they save 2.3 grams per spoke while running 63 percent stronger, translating to 96.6 grams of system weight reduction across the wheelset. The rear laces 24 of these composite aero spokes with titanium T-head end pieces in a 2:1 pattern, one-cross on the non-drive side and three-cross on the drive side.

FlatStop bead hooks address tire security under hard cornering and impact. Roval widened the bead hook contact area, and the company reports the design requires 39 percent more force to unseat a tire compared to standard hooked rims. That reinforcement matters at the rear, where rider weight and drive-side torque concentrate load. The wheel is ISO 5775-2 and UCI approved, with a system weight limit of 275 lbs (125 kg), and the box includes 4 spare spokes and nipples plus a Roval wheel bag.... Read More