After a lot hypothesis, Specialised lastly lifted the covers and revealed that they don’t seem to be an all-new product, however a restricted version model of the Rapide CLX II, with merely 1,500 making manufacturing on high of the professional staff allocation.
The most important headline stat is a weight of 1,390g (with valves and tape), which is actually fairly first rate for a wheelset of this depth, and represents a 130g drop vs the still-in-line Rapide CLX II. The most important visible change is the redesigned low-flange hub, which is clearcoated, and thus left silver quite than powder-coated black, and purports to be 0.5 watts extra aerodynamic with an enchancment in wind-up stiffness and spoke fatigue too.
To purchase them, you are £3,000 / $3,800 / €3,700 / AU$6,000, which is a £500 / $1,000 / €1,000 / AU$1,600 premium over and above the CLX II wheels.
That is not likely the complete image, although. Whereas the wheels are marginally higher than these they’re primarily based upon, additionally they include a bunch of additional ‘stuff’ within the field. However maybe essentially the most alluring facet is that they characterize a ticket into an unique membership.
Like an iPhone or every other premium buy lately, the possession expertise begins within the unboxing, and emblazoned on the vegan-dyed black cardboard field lies the phrases “welcome to the staff” in holographic silver end. It units a premium precedent.
Contained in the black presentation field, you will discover your wheels, two bottles, two tyres, a double wheel bag, and a field filled with spares (Picture credit score: Josh Croxton)
Inside, the 2 wheels are joined by a silver-stitched Roval wheel bag, a full set of alternative DT Swiss Sinc bearings, each Shimano HG and SRAM XDR freehub our bodies, spare DT Aerolight II spokes and nipples, silver alloy centre-lock disc rotor lockrings, a S-Works branded Dynaplug Racer Professional tyre plug instrument, spare tyre plugs, two Specialised Turbo RapidAir tyres, a pair of S-Works branded Purist water bottles, and even a construct card for every wheel exhibiting the spoke tensions, trueness and extra.
Just one,500 will likely be made, which means once they’re gone, Specialised will make no extra. That is not me making an attempt to create a way of urgency although; I am simply stating info. I might document an album and solely produce one copy, however such exclusivity does not imply anybody would pay to listen to me sing.
(Picture credit score: Josh Croxton)
Design and specification
At first look, the wheels are similar to the Rapide CLX II, however the particulars maintain some important updates. The hub shells, designed and manufactured by Specialised itself, are primarily based across the DT Swiss Ratchet EXP internals. Specialised says the low-flange hub design is 50 grams lighter throughout the pair, whereas additionally serving to with wind-up stiffness to the good thing about acceleration and braking response. The avoidance of the black paint is value two of these grams, and about 50 factors in added model.
(Picture credit score: Josh Croxton)
Stepping outwards to the edges for a second, and that is the place you would be forgiven for pondering nothing has modified. The profile is unchanged, with the entrance wheel measuring 51mm deep and 35mm large, and the rear measuring 60mm deep and 30.7mm large. Each nonetheless characteristic hooked beads, 21mm inner widths and have been designed for 26mm tyres, though the model says 28mm and 30mm tyres present very related aero efficiency due to the broader entrance rim.
Nonetheless, the carbon fibre has been refined utilizing totally different resin and smaller overlaps between every layup. The method is alleged to be extra time-consuming, nevertheless it ends in a 40-gram weight saving per rim versus the CLX II.
In whole, Specialised says the brand new wheels are 130 grams lighter than the CLX II in whole, and having weighed the CLX II at 1,520g again in 2022 and the CLX II Crew yesterday at 1,390g, I concur.
1.39kg, precisely what Specialised suggests. (Picture credit score: Josh Croxton)
Connecting the hub and the rim is a set of DT Swiss Aerolite II spokes, which Specialised says have been settled upon after an extended course of that concerned seven different potential choices. Apparently, whereas Specialised discovered that carbon spokes would have introduced the load down additional, the aerodynamic efficiency suffered by round 1.5 watts. Given the main target was on its professional racers, and the S-Works Tarmac SL8 can hit the UCI’s mandated 6.8kg with out an excessive amount of bother, the load penalty was accepted for the extra aero profit.
The wheels roll on DT Swiss SINC bearings; ceramic as you’d anticipate for a wheel of this value.
(Picture credit score: Josh Croxton)
Included within the field is a full set of spare bearings alongside a hoard of alternative spokes and freehub our bodies for each Shimano and SRAM. The worth of the bearings alone is over £200, which works an extended approach to offsetting the extra sale value.
Efficiency
As I see it, I must evaluate this wheelset in two methods. I can evaluate the efficiency of the wheelset itself, which is healthier on paper than the CLX II. I then must evaluate the so-called ‘expertise’ of proudly owning a pair.
On the wheelset entrance, having ridden them for slightly over every week now, I would be mendacity if I informed you I might really feel the distinction. It is about 12 months since I final rode the CLX II, and even when I have been using them again to again, 130 grams can be robust to note, and half a watt of aero not possible.
They’re quick, however indiscernibly near similarly-premium opponents with out the assistance of a wind tunnel. They speed up rapidly, and though they do not really feel fairly as sprightly because the Black Inc 28/32 which I had fitted to the Issue O2 VAM final 12 months, there are different variables at play, such because the body they have been mounted to (I am at present using the heavier OSTRO VAM), tyre alternative, and the way recent my legs are.
However as talked about, my scales agree that the wheels are 130 grams lighter, and I’ve no cause to dispute the remaining claims.
Ignoring the CLX II for a second, the on-paper stats of the CLX II Crew are fairly aggressive, although not market-leading. For instance, you may get the Cadex 50 Extremely for slightly cheaper (£2,650), they’re 40 grams lighter (in accordance with my scales), and their aero efficiency will likely be shut (primarily based on the extraordinarily marginal variations between our wind tunnel wheels testing). I do not know if it could be higher or worse, however I am doing my finest to safe some extra wind tunnel time!
Elsewhere, the Enve SES 6.7 are barely deeper, and due to this fact presumably marginally extra aero, however they seem to be a bit heavier, and price extra at £3,300. Zipp’s 454 NSW are round 40 grams heavier, costlier (at retail) and once more, the aero will likely be across the identical.
It is exhausting to disregard the Hunt Sub50 right here too, which on the considerably cheaper value of £2,289 (with ceramic bearings), are 10g lighter (claimed) however by Hunt’s personal admission, are marginally slower than the CLX II. It is not possible to disregard the Black Inc 48/58, that are additionally considerably cheaper at £2,329, with an assumed related aerodynamic efficiency, and weigh a reasonably spectacular 1,290g.
The field by which they arrive is a (Picture credit score: Josh Croxton)
One factor all of these wheels omit, nevertheless, is the field filled with spares that Roval presents. In case you break a spoke in your Hunt wheels or want alternative bearings in your Enves, you will have to attend till your native bike store can supply some spares, after which pay for them. With the Rapide CLX II Crew, you may stroll in with the spares in hand and have a repair instantly (assuming the mechanic is not busy, in fact. Do not be that man).
That extends to the preliminary setup, too, whereby you are able to roll with freehubs for each SRAM and Shimano, together with tyres too. The gratifying possession expertise continues to the wheel bag, which is a pleasant contact, as are the rotor lockrings, S-Works branded bottles, and Dynaplug tyre instrument.
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The wheelbag is a pleasant contact(Picture credit score: Josh Croxton)
Completed off with this silver stitching on the emblem(Picture credit score: Josh Croxton)
Worth
To start out with, let us take a look at the worth distinction between the CLX II and the CLX II Crew. As I see it, you are paying for 3 issues:
A greater product
Further ‘stuff’
Exclusivity
In case you’re able the place the marginally improved product issues, then to place it frankly you are in all probability able the place you do not really should pay to your wheels.
As I’ve outlined above, you may get lighter wheels for much less. You may virtually actually get quicker wheels for much less too (primarily based on acceptable assumptions coupled with our wind tunnel information), and you’ll fairly probably get quicker, lighter wheels for much less, although I haven’t got the aero information to again this up.
I feel it is truthful to say that if all-out efficiency is your sole metric, and half a watt (one second over 40km) is value $3800 or £3000, you are a professional rider, my opinion would not matter to you since you’re obligated to make use of them, and you’ve got in all probability been using these longer than I’ve. Howdy Remco, I am speaking to you.
With that stated, all the additional stuff goes an extended approach to offsetting the worth hike, and to some folks, that’ll swing the choice.
Within the UK, the place the worth distinction is £500, the maths of what you get within the field stacks up fairly properly. £200 of bearings, £50 of spokes, £130 of tyres, a spare freehub, bottles, and a premium padded wheel bag will whole up pretty near £500. Couple that with the development to the wheels and the worth might be definitely worth the spend.
In Europe and the USA, the place the distinction is €1000 / $1000, the sums do not steadiness fairly so favourably.
Do you want all the additional stuff? In fact not, however you may place sufficient worth on having spares at hand that it is value it to you.
Do you want spare batteries and lightbulbs in your kitchen drawer? No, however you have received some, have not you? If £200 of spare ceramic bearings sit in your shed for the subsequent 4 years untouched, you will be fairly miffed at having purchased them, but when those in your wheels select to implode the night time earlier than your subsequent huge race, you will be as smug as they arrive.
In fact, that is all earlier than we get to the intangible cause to purchase these wheels: exclusivity. I do not suppose they’re going to be so unique that their worth will go up, quite than down, however being a part of an unique membership is one thing that excites lots of people. I do not a lot look after it. I do not purchase artwork, I do not purchase NFTs, however folks did and do.
The truth that in 2018, Burberry burned a reported $37 million of unsold inventory to guard its exclusivity and keep away from devaluing its picture proves that the idea is alive, they usually’re removed from the one ones to have carried out it. It is disgusting, and I hate it, and I’ve gone off on a tangent.
There will likely be only one,500 of those wheelsets. Their silver hubs mission grandeur to the world; an image of luxurious, and little doubt wealthy children will purchase them simply to therapeutic massage their ego through Instagram likes, however such is the world by which we reside.
It irks me when manufacturers launch particular Tadej Pogačar saddles, Paris-Roubaix watches, or Tour de France sun shades which might be precisely the identical because the others, however in a distinct color, and suppose that is value paying additional. Perhaps I am only a cynic.
At the least on this case, the product is definitely higher, and Specialised has gone a good approach to including worth by means of helpful equipment and spares.
Verdict
These marginal enhancements may not be noticeable when using, however my Park Software scales say they’re lighter, and I belief that the remainder of the variations aren’t simply made up. Whilst a standalone wheelset, although, they’re fairly aggressive of their value level.
Whether or not these are definitely worth the added spend over the CLX II is an analogous query to asking whether or not an S-Works body is value the additional over a Specialised body. The distinction is there, if solely marginal, and the associated fee is kind of considerably greater, however the attract of being a part of the figmental S-Works membership is so sturdy that I see simply as many S-Works bikes at my native races because the cheaper Specialised equivalents.
Nonetheless, it would not finish there. The unboxing was extra of an gratifying expertise than you get with different wheels, and the sense of being a part of an unique ‘Crew’ will likely be enticing to some, however for me, the most important profit is within the field filled with spares and equipment, and the simplicity that brings to the continuing possession.
Whether or not or not you suppose it is value the additional price will rely on how a lot worth you place on every of the next three issues: marginal positive aspects, exclusivity, and the significance of available spares. Do they mix to make it a greater proposition than the present wheels? I am afraid I can not reply that for you.
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Testing scorecard and notes
Design and aesthetics
They have been already a superb wanting set of wheels, and the silver hub actually pops.
10/10
Journey high quality
No complaints right here. They’re easy and quick rolling, and the hub has a pleasant buzz.
10/10
Tubeless Compatibility
The entrance wheel’s rim witdh makes getting tyres on a little bit of a chore, however inflation was speedy as soon as ultimately seated. The hooked bead improves compatibility and Specialised’s testing far exceeds the ETRTO recommendations. Specialised says that the one manner a punctured tyre will come off the rim is in a crash so important that one thing else has failed catastrophically.
8/10
Hubs
They give the impression of being nice, they work brilliantly, they’re straightforward to service they usually include spare ceramic bearings
10/10
Worth
Exhausting to quantify objectively. It is doable to get lighter wheels for much less, and extra aero wheels for much less. The worth hike over the CLX II is a giant one. Sure, you are getting added extras, however most of these you will in all probability by no means use, so that you’re paying for peace of thoughts.
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