Forged aluminum shaped into a squarish profile gives the Roval Rapide Stem its balance of steering precision and just enough give to take the edge off rough pavement. This is the alloy stem Specialized specs on the Tarmac SL9 and Crux 5, and it's built around a 4-bolt faceplate and a steerer clamp that's shaped to work with internally routed frames. If you're replacing a length on your SL9 or Crux, or building one of those frames up from a frameset, this is the stem that's meant to sit there.

The forged, machined, and shot-peened aluminum construction is what lets it stay light without giving up durability, so it holds up to rough roads and gravel alike. The wide 4-bolt handlebar clamp spreads the load across the bar, which means you don't need heavy torque to keep the bar from rotating. That's the reason it plays nicely with lightweight aluminum and carbon handlebars that don't tolerate over-clamping.

Where this stem earns its spec is the cable routing. The bottom of the steerer clamp area is contoured to match Specialized's headset spacers on internally routed frames, and a cable guide assembly channels housing cleanly into the frame, headset, and spacers. On a bike designed to hide its cables, that tidy front end is the whole point, and a generic aftermarket stem won't give you the same clean integration.... Read More