Roval built the Terra CL III around the reality that gravel wheels live a harder life than road wheels. The rear hoop pairs a hookless carbon rim with a wider internal channel and a hub built for the torque and side-loading that comes with mixed-surface riding. It's the second-tier carbon gravel wheel in Specialized's house brand lineup — sitting below the flagship Terra CLX — and it inherits enough of the upper-end engineering to make the price gap interesting.

The rim measures 25mm internal, which seats modern gravel tires from 38mm up through the 50mm-plus range without distorting the casing profile. Depth lands at 32mm, deep enough to add some lateral stiffness and a small aero benefit but shallow enough to stay manageable in crosswinds on exposed gravel. Hookless construction lets Roval drop weight at the bead and reinforces the impact zone where rocks and ruts tend to do their damage. Tubeless setup is the intended use — the rim bed and tape come ready for sealant straight out of the box.

The hub is the piece that separates the CL III from cheaper carbon gravel wheels. Roval specs their own DT Swiss-built hub with a 36-tooth ratchet system, dropping engagement to 10 degrees. That matters on technical climbs where you need the chain to catch immediately after a ratchet-back or a foot-down recovery. The freehub is XDR-compatible out of the box and accepts a Shimano HG driver with a swap. Bearings are sealed cartridge and serviceable without proprietary tools.... Read More