There is a pretty cool article on triathletemag.com about the new specialized tri bike coming out and they feature Roval wheels. Anybody know anything about these wheels? Are they good? Are they fast? Are they available? Here is the link.
I posted a similar question several weeks back. There is no known public wind tunnel data to support their claims that the wheels are faster than the old Specialized (now HED) tri spoke. Also, it is unclear if that claim refers to the aluminum clincher wheel, or the deeper carbon rim.
I did ride a set of the Fusee Star aluminum clincher model. They felt like a decent wheel, no noticeable flex or other issues. They are a little heavy (1700 grams/pair). Until they can back up their aero claims, I am skeptical, particularly of the aluminum model. The rim is not very deep, and the current belief is that for decent cross wind performance you need surface area. So even if they test well at 0 yaw, I cannot believe they will test well with non-zero yaw. But then again, that is pure speculation; I would just like to see some data prior to committing $.
Paul
Thanks for that Paul…
Did you check out the article? The bike looks pretty cool huh? and apparently slowman (Dan) had some input on the development.
Should be worth having a look at when it comes out.
Yes, I did read the article. No doubt the bike looks cool. There have been several other threads recently discussing this bike. Do a search if you are interested in others thoughts.
The only thing I don’t like is that Specialized is making the same “more aero than a tri-spoke” claim on both the carbon rim version shown in the article you reference, and the aluminum rim version. Yet, these rim designs are very different. The frame does look cool though…
Paul
Thats a nice Cervelo P3…oh wait…
Bikes are starting to go through the same things cars have been. People start optimizing for aerodynamics properly and they end up looking similar.
I was the black and yellow frame only…mmmmmmmmmmm
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