By Graham Johnson

Life Before Carbon Wheels

After healing up from a crash that kept me off the bike for 11 weeks with a few broken bones, I was finally cleared to ride outside. I’d been riding my road bike on the trainer inside to maintain some semblance of fitness and hadn’t been anxious to check my Cannondale Topstone for damage. At first, everything looked alright. Considering that I’d gone down at 30 mph, it seemed almost too good to be true.

After noticing a wobble to the rear wheel that would require some serious truing, I began checking the spokes. That’s when I found the cracks in the rim.

As it turns out, my rear wheel took the brunt of the impact and every spoke on one side of the rim had large cracks stemming from each nipple. The wheel was well beyond repair and I now needed to decide whether to replace the cheap aluminum wheel I’d just trashed or take the plunge and upgrade.

Alva Climb where I gave the Roval’s their first uphill test. PC: Graham Johnson

Wheel Upgrade

The first big upgrade most people make to their bike is a carbon wheelset and like most cycling addicts, I’d been casually shopping my options from the time I bought my gravel bike. A good friend of mine had recently picked up Roval’s CLX wheelset and couldn’t stop raving about them. They sounded amazing until I saw the price tag.

As luck would have it, the opportunity came up to demo the latest Roval carbon gravel wheel offering, the CL. Everything about the wheels resembled the stealthy profile of the CLX and I couldn’t wait to see how they performed. I was stoked!

Viejas Grade near Alpine, CA. PC: Trevor Lien

The Roval CL

Let me begin by saying, I put these wheels through the wringer. I went full gas up big climbs, attacked gnarly washboard roads, bombed mtb singletrack with Neil Shirley, and even sent one of the sketchiest dirt descents of my life with Safa Brian. I can say, with assurance, that they handled everything I threw their way with ease.

Uphill

Despite being a Clydesdale in stature, I love going hard up climbs. At 6’6 and 200lbs, gravity has a severe advantage. Although the CL is Roval’s budget carbon option, at $1,400, it still comes in at a very nice 1,400 grams. This was a huge upgrade from my old wheels that weighed a whopping 2,170 grams.

After a week of getting used to the silky smooth ride of the CL, my legs felt good enough to give the new wheels a fair uphill test. The climb I chose begins straightforward enough on a somewhat sandy fire road. It eventually turns into a rutted-out singletrack, where the line choice becomes as important as keeping a steady pace. The climb stretches 1.6 miles long and averages a painful 11%.

From the get-go, the bike felt like a different animal. The power transfer was smoother and thus my rhythm on the climb felt more controlled. I got into the singletrack and managed to take the wrong line multiple times, forcing me to walk a few sections. Thinking that my PR was unbeatable, I took my time remounting on the second occasion. When I uploaded my ride later that day, I was stunned to see I’d bested my old time by over a minute. Case closed, these wheels fly up hills.

Kwaaymii Point, Julian, CA. PC: Jonathan Miller

Mammoth Singletrack with Neil Shirley

Mammoth Lakes, California is a gorgeous place to be outdoors. When it comes to bikes, it’s most known for the epic MTB park and singletrack. Connor Koch, an alpine runner, pro climber, and friend of mine who lived in town, asked if I’d be interested in tagging along for a gravel ride with Neil Shirley and friends. Although I had no idea what our mileage, vert, terrain or route would look like, I immediately said yes.

Connor and I parked at Tom’s Place, which is near the intersection of Rock Creek Rd and Crowley Lake Dr, to meet the crew. That’s when I got the first hint that the route might get a bit spicy. Josh, another one of Connor’s friends, was leading us and rolled over on a full-suspension mountain bike. Shirley and friends were all on gravel bikes, but looked like the type of riders that had serious bike handling skills. The wheels were about to get a real test.

Lower Rock Creek’s singletrack has three sectors. Each of these is progressively harder than the previous section. We exited the road and dropped into a flowing dirt trail that hinted at sand and rocks to come. I was pleased to have plenty of rubber thanks to a 42m Specialized Tracer on front and a 42m Pirelli Cinturato in the rear. (I had planned to run a Specialized Pathfinder in the rear, but unfortunately, my bike didn’t clear the 42 pathfinder and I opted to throw on what I had in the garage rather than waiting for new rubber).

Once we got into the second sector of trail, the wheels got a true test. I ended up behind Shirley and trusted his lines till he charged through a rock section that I simply thought a gravel bike wouldn’t survive. Spoiler alert: pro bike riders like Neil are able to do things on bikes that us mortals cannot. I re-inserted myself in our pack at a more reasonable pace and began to enjoy how incredible the wheels felt in this wildly underbiked scenario. Even over rock sectors I wouldn’t have dared ride before today, the bike seemed to devour the terrain like it was build for the task.

I came away from Rock Creek with a new appreciation for carbon wheels. Typically, I’ve always thought of carbon for the it’s stiffness and lightweight properties. After Rock Creek, I was more impressed by the Roval’s ability to take some of the bite out of harsh terrain and improve the entire quality of a ride.

Certain Death with Safa

I met Safa before he began blowing cyclists' minds with his daring descent skills on YouTube. We stayed in touch and on a recent trip to San Diego, he asked if I’d want to show him some deep East County gravel. I drew up some routes and on a warm Tuesday morning around 6am, we began riding up Kitchen Creek Rd towards Monument Peak for a wild adventure and final test on the Roval CL wheelset.

Sunrise from Kitchen Creek Rd. PC: Graham Johnson

Our dirt descent began on singletrack with some small rock sectors and sand. The intro to advanced gravel with Neil Shirley from the previous weekend paid off and I knew the wheels would handle these much milder trails with ease.

We escaped the wooded singletrack to find Thing Valley Rd, which sounds cheery and fun. It is not. Thing Valley, which connects to Fred Canyon, is a 5ish-mile downhill stretch that is full of razor-sharp rocks, unexpected rutty sections, and so much sand. The sand seemed to be everywhere you didn’t expect, or want it to be. Despite all this, it is also a very beautiful gravel road and I highly recommend riding up it to enjoy the view.

We flew down the gravel road over the tough terrain at insanely high speeds, while the wheels ate up teeth-rattling, rocky stretches, much in the same way I devour pizza after a long ride. I slid the wheels through rutted corners and caught air off small lips, pushing the wheels as much as I dared.

Somehow, the wheels and I survived.

Black Canyon Adventure near Ramona, CA. PC: Connor Koch

Final Thoughts

As stated at the start of this Roval love story, I pushed these wheels to their limit. Or at least my limit. I wanted to sit down to write a blog and tell you exactly what these wheels handled like and what $1,400 would get you. The short version is this. You cannot get a better wheelset for the price. Depending on what you’re upgrading from, your bike might not even feel the same. Mine sure didn’t.

The detailed version sounds like this.

In terms of ride quality, I didn’t recognize my bike. From the first pedal stroke, I could feel that I was getting better power transfer. I just put aluminum wheels back on my bike a week ago and the difference is not close.

Over deeper sand, the wheels seemed to hold their line much better. With my old wheels, I often felt like my wheels would go wherever the sand felt like taking them and it was game over. This is probably due to the carbon layup on these being the same used on Roval’s top-tier, CLX wheels.

As for hills, rocks, and drops, I think I gave you enough info above to make up your mind. These wheels can really do it all and if you’re on the fence about whether a mid-range carbon wheel upgrade is worth it, the Roval CL is worth every penny and then some.

Happy riding.