Deeper at the front, shallower at the rear: Roval’s new wheels just flipped aero convention around

In a move that turns thinking around wheel depth conventions on its head, Roval has updated its Rapide Sprint wheelsets to focus on the bike’s leading edge.

The new models from Specialized’s wheel brand feature a deeper rim depth at the front and a shallower one at the rear, defying conventional wisdom that has for years seen the industry do exactly the opposite.

The Sprint CLX wheels now pair a 63mm wheel up front, with a 58mm out back, while the lightweight CLX III model has a 51mm deep rim combined with a 48mm depth at the rear. The more affordable CL III is a “direct descendent” of the CLX and uses the same rim sizes.

The project was lead up by Lionello Bardina, Specialized and Roval R&D aerodynamics engineer with the deadline of this year’s Tour de France. Ready to challenge the status quo, Bardina took what he’d learned from redesigned Specialized’s WorldTour race bike, the Tarmac, most notably that by optimising leading edges you can significantly reduce drag. Roval says the principle was applied to wheels resulting in thousands of shape iterations before Bardina and his team hit on the right combination for both the Sprint CLX and the CLX III.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of Bardina’s “aerodynamic coup” for the Rapdie CLX III wheels was the significant drop in weight compared to the existing CLX II model. By dropping a claimed 215g for a set weight of 1,305g, Roval says it’s been able to maintain the aerodynamic properties and stable handling of its predecessor but now deliver faster acceleration thanks to it being so much lighter.