New Roval gravel wheels caught

The latest gravel season races leave us with juicy sightings in the form of what could be the imminent launch of new gravel wheels by Specialized. Two sets of wheels that, on one hand, would evolve their excellent Terra CLX II and on the other hand, would be the introduction of a purely 100% aero competition model.

Aerodynamics come to Roval gravel wheels

In one of the last gravel tests of the season, new sets of wheels were seen on Matt Beers' and Sofía Gómez Villafañe's Specialized Crux, both members of the Specialized Off-Road team, which, judging by the finishes, look like a pre-series of what should be a more or less imminent launch by Specialized.

Matt Beers' wheels bore the name Roval Terra Aero CLX and a rim with a generous profile around 50 mm, the first aerodynamic gravel wheels within Specialized's range. Meanwhile, both hubs and carbon spokes seem to be directly inherited from the Roval Rapide CLX III road model they would have been based on, with the corresponding adaptations to achieve the necessary resistance required for gravel.

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On the other hand, Sofía Gómez Villafañe used wheels that could well be the evolution of the Roval Terra CLX, which are currently the reference gravel wheels among the options offered by the Californian brand. Like the aerodynamic version used by her teammate, these wheels seem to inherit spokes and hubs from the flagship road model to improve their characteristics and performance.

What also seems to be consolidating within the Specialized range is the use, even in this case, where we are talking about pure competition, of high-volume tires since both sets of wheels mounted the renowned Specialized Pathfinder tires in an unprecedented 700x50c size, a new size compared to the 47 mm ones that were previously the thickest option available for these tires.