Another day, another wheel build (and so on).
A customer brought in the rear wheel from a Roval Alpinist CL.
They wanted it rebuilt.
The hub is Roval-branded, based on the DT 350.
It's 24H, all aero spokes, forced 2-cross lacing on both sides.
With their CLX 50, they distinguish it with aero spokes and aluminum nipples,
whereas the CL 50 gets aero comp spokes and brass nipples—
a pretty clear downgrade.
But the Alpinist doesn't follow this pattern;
even the CL comes with aero spokes and aluminum nipples.
In my opinion, Roval's 2:1 lacing hubs are
inferior to standard hub designs, so
if the spokes and nipples are the same,
the CL will ride better than the Alpinist CLX,
and has more room for improvement when rebuilt.
The CLX is lighter due to spoke count and lacing pattern,
and the aerodynamics around the hub might be better on the CLX,
but compared to spoke arrangement
and spoke gauge selection,
these factors are pretty minor details.
This CL is the previous generation compared to the current CLII.
If I were buying a complete bike with an Alpinist CLXI
and someone offered to swap it for a CLI,
I'd jump at the chance.
Doesn't matter since I'm taking it apart anyway,
but the wheel center was off.
The rim profile is clearly tubeless-ready,
but something unfortunate happened right before launch,
so they suddenly made it non-compatible.
Rebuilt it.
I went with CX Sprint spokes on the drive side
and did asymmetrical lacing.
I'll handle the spoke twisting later.
A customer brought in the rear wheel from a Roval Alpinist CL.
They wanted it rebuilt.
The hub is Roval-branded, based on the DT 350.
It's 24H, all aero spokes, forced 2-cross lacing on both sides.
With their CLX 50, they distinguish it with aero spokes and aluminum nipples,
whereas the CL 50 gets aero comp spokes and brass nipples—
a pretty clear downgrade.
But the Alpinist doesn't follow this pattern;
even the CL comes with aero spokes and aluminum nipples.
In my opinion, Roval's 2:1 lacing hubs are
inferior to standard hub designs, so
if the spokes and nipples are the same,
the CL will ride better than the Alpinist CLX,
and has more room for improvement when rebuilt.
The CLX is lighter due to spoke count and lacing pattern,
and the aerodynamics around the hub might be better on the CLX,
but compared to spoke arrangement
and spoke gauge selection,
these factors are pretty minor details.
This CL is the previous generation compared to the current CLII.
If I were buying a complete bike with an Alpinist CLXI
and someone offered to swap it for a CLI,
I'd jump at the chance.
Doesn't matter since I'm taking it apart anyway,
but the wheel center was off.
The rim profile is clearly tubeless-ready,
but something unfortunate happened right before launch,
so they suddenly made it non-compatible.
Rebuilt it.
I went with CX Sprint spokes on the drive side
and did asymmetrical lacing.
I'll handle the spoke twisting later.