Dropped off by our favorite Fedex driver 4 days ago are the new Roval Control Carbon wheels. These light-weight XC/light-duty trail wheels feature a 29mm internal width, DT Swiss' new 350 hubs with 36-tooth star ratchet guts, 28 straight-pull spokes and a weight of around 1450g for the pair. While not inexpensive by any means, their $1,350 price tag for the pair is less expensive than a rear-only carbon Control SL wheel that's only about 100g lighter. Sure there are hub differences between the wheels in this analogy, and if you're chasing XC podiums, 100g could mean something, but most sane...
When opening this box for the first time, we grabbed the front wheel first and went “damn that’s a crazy light wheel”, then we pulled out the second wheel and went “well looks like Specialized sent us two front wheels”. Then we looked a bit closer and found that thing where the cassette sits, sure enough it was a rear wheel but it was so light that we thought it was a second front wheel. Pretty crazy! Strengths Weaknesses Feathery light Wide, very supportive rim profile Top-level puncture resistance Quick and responsive all around Rim finish tends to crack and peel Rough bearings after a month...
After a few years of real-world testing, Roval went back to the drawing board with their entire series of mountain wheels before launching things last summer in Whistler. The latest Roval series features a number of refinements and has the potential to put the Roval wheelset near the top of everybody’s aftermarket upgrade list. Let's dig in. Strengths Weaknesses Excellent balance between stiffness and compliance Much quieter on trail than previous version 30mm inner width is perfect for most modern tires Tubeless from the box Same spoke length throughout J-bend spokes all of the same length...