Which wheelset does the bike come with?

The bike comes with Roval CL 50, the upgrade in question is the Roval CLX 50.

Wow, spokes and bearings for $1000. I know you are being serious, but that that may be the single most ridiculous 'upgrade' cost about which I have ever read. The performance difference will be indistinguishable. Not that most performance "upgrades" will be distinguishable, but that one might not even be able to be measured by advanced equipment. I have a wheel that I keep around just to remember the good old days, with a Suntour Cyclone hub from 1984 and I can't tell the difference between how it spins even 35 years later. Since you sound like you are new to cycling, I'll toss out my experience after spending way too much time on reading about cycling equipment.
1. Weight loss is never a good upgrade unless you don't do anything but climb up hills that are really steep (and don't ride back down). Now, the bike industry will never say that out loud, because for years and years and almost a century, the only way to say one component was better (and therefore worth the money) was to say it weighed less. Let me clue you in, even ten pounds is not that much on a rolling triathlon course. I've tested it with a power meter.
2. Aero stuff can make you faster but really only the fork, bars, frame and wheels. For your body, your suit and helmet. The rest of it does not really matter as long as it is functional. Given the quality of Shimano 105, I don't know how they manage to sell Ultegra and Dura Ace.
3. Carbon fiber is not better except where it replaces something that you can't reasonable make with aluminum or steel. Like aero frames and deep aero wheels, and... well, pretty much that.
4. Choosing the right tires for the job is more important than anything you do expect make sure your body position is good (for triathlon). The wrong tires can undo everything you spend on expensive wheels. I know. I bought a new set of Zipp tubulars back in 2004 (404 front, rear disc) and then promptly glued on Tufo tires, using Tufo glue strips and then pumped them up to 160 psi. It that does not make your cringe then I'll just say that I never really felt faster on my race wheels because the horrendous rolling resistance of that combo more than made up for any aero advantages.
If you are new to cycling, this place is good to ask some questions. Much of what I learned about aero, tire rolling resistance and other performance factors, I learned from ST or folks I met on ST.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

Tell them to deduct the original CL50 wheels from the bike at $1,500. Then get a set of HED Ardennes Black 45 wheels for about the same price. Massive upgrade over any Roval wheels. I would never race a criterium on Carbon Clinchers.

I've got a set of Roval CL50's. They have been a truing headache. Especially the back wheel. I've had to true it after every hard race, or training ride, for the first year. They are finally settling in. I ultimately put them on my old training bike, and got a set of Flos for my race bike. To do it again, I wouldn't have gotten the Rovals. I would have gone right to the Flos... and the set was $500 cheaper.

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Athlinks / Strava

Either it's a bad build, or you are putting so much stress on it that parts are yielding and will soon fail. Either way it's inexcusable.

I agree with the spirit of your post, but not the particulars.

I think a good set of $500 training wheels and $1000 carbon tubulars would be a better way to spend the money.

You would race a criterium on carbon brake tracks? I wouldn’t, ever. Either aluminum brake tracks or disc brakes for a criterium.

I no longer espouse the value of training wheels. Life is too short, and wheels are too good. Train and race on great wheels.

Ceramic bearings are highly over-rated. I have some, but only for TT stuff where that 4-5 seconds (1-1.5 watts) you save can make the difference between winning and losing. I also only purchased some after I had pretty much exhausted every other sensible upgrade.

November Cycling tested their wheels in the windtunnel with and without bladed spokes. The difference was 1 watt, so those are also a pretty minor improvement.

I would save your money and spend it on a decent aero road helmet (Evade is maybe 5 watts over a regular helmet) and a good short sleeve skin suit) (maybe 5-10 over a very tight fitting jersey. Add in some ribbed aero socks (3-4 watts). Then before racing season switch to a decent set of tires like the GP5000 (maybe 10+ watts over the stock tires on that bike). Use latex tubes if you don't run tubeless (~ 4 watts saved of regular tubes). Those purchases are way more helpful.

I don't think the Ardennes will work. The bike has disc brakes.

Which year are your CL50s from? 2018 or a previous model?

Aaah, totally different equation. In that case, still delete the CL50 wheels and get about any other set of carbon disc wheels. Almost every set of wheels on the market come with bladed spokes for less. Ceramic bearings are not much value. I’d lean toward FLO or HED Vanquish.

Thanks for the insight on the bearings.



Yep.. Got an aero helmet, super tight kit, and plan to run GP5000 tubeless.

I would use the GP5000 clincher tires with latex tubes.

Sure, why not? If you are braking in a crit, you're doing it wrong.

And if you are road or crit racing on something besides carbon tubulars, you aren't optimized. Life is too short, indeed! The $500 wheels I mentioned would perform just as well as the $1500 Heds you recommended.

I ordered them from the LBS in Dec. 2017, and picked them up in Jan 2018. So manufactured in 2017.

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Athlinks / Strava

Good advice.

Grins on the 105. 105 doesn't come in Di2 lol. You are right as the feel and performance of 105 is very satisfactory.

By the way, what tires do you use or find acceptable?

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

It sounds like your criterium experience is vastly different from mine. Braking in a criterium is your life blood-- and it is not clumsy, oafish braking. It is subtle, dependable braking. Also, I would not use tubulars in a criterium anymore either. I caught a pedal in a corner once and rolled a tubular. Clinchers are good enough anymore to obviate tubulars in most applications.

Also, I am super curious what $500 wheels you recommend as good as a set of HED JET 4 or JET 5?

How has everybody forgotten about wattage to spin??
Bladed spokes are like THE biggest, cheapest wheel sets upgrade ever.. 10-14 watts per wheel in terms of power to rotate at 30mph, plus a watt couple watts savings in translational drag.

I would NEVER, EVER, EVER buy a wheel set with round spokes for any price, even on a mtn bike you should go with ovalized/bladed spokes as there is quite literally no technological cost and potentially slight gains in some conditions.

Now that I've had my rant, what company is building carbon 'aero' wheels with round spokes? All of them should know better unless they are just using this as a way to leverage a forced upgrade path on consumers.

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I race crits on carbon brake tracks all the time. Hell, half the field might be on carbon brake tracks. I see no issue with it as long as I am using good brake pads.

Other than in the rain, I've never had a problem with carbon brake tracks in crit racing. All my wheels have had plenty of stopping power. It's never been a thought in dry conditions while I'm racing. I train on ceramic coated aluminum and race on carbon. The difference between aluminum, ceramic-coated, and carbon fiber is tiny when it comes to braking.

I will say that the Roval CLX 64s I have are the worst performing brake tracks in the rain that I've ever experienced. In dry conditions they are just fine. My Zipps are not as good in the rain as aluminum, but about 1000x better than the rovals.

Interesting... I raced criteriums a very long time ago on tubulars long before carbon wheels existed. After racing on carbon rims on my TT bike, I would not have wanted that if I reentered criterium racing again. (Everyone told me no to criterium racing in general, that is a bad idea for an old man.)

Also, the OP is building a disc bike, so this side thread is kind of moot, but satisfying my curiosity.

Roval CLX 50 wheels have the aero spokes and ceramicspeed bearings @ $2500. Their CL50s have round spokes and steel bearings for $1750. Same rims on both wheels.