Another wheel day (and so on).
A customer brought in the front and rear wheels from a Roval CLX50 for rebuilding.
They wanted them rebuilt, and today I'm working on the front wheel shown in the image above.
If someone's first road bike happened to be a recent Specialized complete build and they have no other wheels to compare it to,
they might not question this wheel.
But if you're someone with personal experience of a decent range of wheels—both rim brake and disc brake—
this wheel would almost certainly not rank high on your personal list.
In fact, if this particular customer felt this wheel was among the best they'd ever used,
they probably wouldn't have brought it to our shop in the first place.
Separately, I did ask the customer a question:
"If you could only have one wheel rebuilt—front or rear—which would you choose?"
They said "the front wheel."
For Roval disc brake wheels, this is currently a 100% consistent answer to that question.
The customer also mentioned they use a Rapidé CLX as well, and with that one too,
they noticed the front wheel felt out of true and the bike's behavior in corners varied between left and right turns.
The weight of that rim might become an asset at certain high speeds if you keep it spinning in the right cadence range,
but most Japanese amateur riders don't meet those conditions.
Also, the front wheel's spoke count is ridiculous—6+12 for 18 spokes total.
If it were 7+14 for 21 spokes, the rigidity gains would actually outweigh the weight and aerodynamic losses.
As I always say, they've got their priorities backward on what matters and what doesn't.
Unlike the all-Comp CLX50, the CLX50 reuses the Aerolite hub on the multi-spoke side,
but stripping it completely still gives better work efficiency and ultimately a better finished wheel.
I'm definitely not stripping it just to meet the "another wheel day" requirement. Not at all.
It's built.
Can you see it in the image—I've gone with a CX Sprint hub on the low-spoke side.
I'll do the lacing later.
A customer brought in the front and rear wheels from a Roval CLX50 for rebuilding.
They wanted them rebuilt, and today I'm working on the front wheel shown in the image above.
If someone's first road bike happened to be a recent Specialized complete build and they have no other wheels to compare it to,
they might not question this wheel.
But if you're someone with personal experience of a decent range of wheels—both rim brake and disc brake—
this wheel would almost certainly not rank high on your personal list.
In fact, if this particular customer felt this wheel was among the best they'd ever used,
they probably wouldn't have brought it to our shop in the first place.
Separately, I did ask the customer a question:
"If you could only have one wheel rebuilt—front or rear—which would you choose?"
They said "the front wheel."
For Roval disc brake wheels, this is currently a 100% consistent answer to that question.
The customer also mentioned they use a Rapidé CLX as well, and with that one too,
they noticed the front wheel felt out of true and the bike's behavior in corners varied between left and right turns.
The weight of that rim might become an asset at certain high speeds if you keep it spinning in the right cadence range,
but most Japanese amateur riders don't meet those conditions.
Also, the front wheel's spoke count is ridiculous—6+12 for 18 spokes total.
If it were 7+14 for 21 spokes, the rigidity gains would actually outweigh the weight and aerodynamic losses.
As I always say, they've got their priorities backward on what matters and what doesn't.
Unlike the all-Comp CLX50, the CLX50 reuses the Aerolite hub on the multi-spoke side,
but stripping it completely still gives better work efficiency and ultimately a better finished wheel.
I'm definitely not stripping it just to meet the "another wheel day" requirement. Not at all.
It's built.
Can you see it in the image—I've gone with a CX Sprint hub on the low-spoke side.
I'll do the lacing later.