Roval CLX II / CL II: 18 spokes a problem?

[JMOS]

I find it a bit irritating that Roval CLX II/ CL II wheels only have 18 spokes in the front (while the majority of brands sees to use 24 spokes (non-carbon that is). Has anyone had any issues with them because of that? I just ordered a set of CL2s or a very good price and unfortunately it only occured to me now that they might not be optimal since I have a "system weight" of 95 kg and do a lot of descending. Found a great offer on Reserve 52/63s...

[MarkMcM]

Actually, the Roval CLX II/CL II wheels have 21 spokes in front (and 24 spokes in rear). 20 spokes front/24 spokes rear is actually quite common, but Roval CL(X) II wheels use triplet (2:1) lacing, the the spokes need to be a multiple of 3, so they have 21 spokes in the front. I have a system weight of only 77 Kg, but I haven't had a problem with the 21 spoke front wheel.

[toxin]

Can you take a picture of your wheels, cause from what I can see they're pretty clearly 18 spoke

[apr46]

Rapide should be 18, Alpinist and Terra are 21.

[MarkMcM]

Sorry, I thought you were talking about the Roval Alpinists (21/24), not the Roval Rapides (18/24).

[JMOS]

Anyways, will give them a try. If it's good enough for the pros, it should certainly do the trick for me (hoping that what they "lack" in weight they make up for braking harder and from a higher speed, so that, ultimately, the wheels need to withstand similar force). But that is just me guessing as I do not know how speed and mass interact exactly.

[ads]

Not really related but just found both my sets of first gen CLX Rapides and Alpinists to have seized spoke nipples. They're currently getting rebuilt with brass nipples now.

I only bought them last year FFS but suppose they'd been sitting around for a while being gen 1

[Kevin7767]

My 'system weight' is about 95kg. I ride CLX 1 wheels and have never had any problems. I don't take it easy either.

[Eandreaasen]

Yes, it is a problem especially if you weigh more than 88-90 kg plus bike. Standing up and pushing ahead it causes disc warp. I always thought it was the discs but quickly realised it was the low spoke wheel as any other wheel with 24 spokes never had the issues.

The wheel is 'soft' when sprinting or pushing and bike leans to either side

[bmrk]

Yes, it is a problem especially if you weigh more than 88-90 kg plus bike. Standing up and pushing ahead it causes disc warp. I always thought it was the discs but quickly realised it was the low spoke wheel as any other wheel with 24 spokes never had the issues.

The wheel is 'soft' when sprinting or pushing and bike leans to either side

Disc rub is due to fork flex and has nothing to do with spoke count. The disc is attached to the hub, and the spoke deflection affects the rim in relation to the hub.

[Nickldn]

^ would be interesting to find out how the characteristics of a wheel can cause, or indeed prevent disks warping.

[bmrk]

^ would be interesting to find out how the characteristics of a wheel can cause, or indeed prevent disks warping.

I can imagine that happening with hub walls so thin that would deform under spoke load, or hubs made of plastic

[Nickldn]

C'mon Spec hubs are not that bad.

More OT, the only significant disk warping challenge I ever faced was with full Campy brakes and Bora WTOs. My front disk turned a hue of blue after about 12m use and warped quite frequently after hard stops.This was mostly when riding in Surrey, not the Apls.

Not sure if it was related to the bike it was on (Vitus ZX1), or if there was a fault with the disk. Under the same use on my SL8 with SRAM Red and Galfer disks on CRW wheels have been perfectly fine, not needing truing even once. They are not blue either.

[bmrk]

C'mon Spec hubs are not that bad.

More OT, the only significant disk warping challenge I ever faced was with full Campy brakes and Bora WTOs. My front disk turned a hue of blue after about 12m use and warped quite frequently after hard stops.This was mostly when riding in Surrey, not the Apls.

Not sure if it was related to the bike it was on (Vitus ZX1), or if there was a fault with the disk. Under the same use on my SL8 with SRAM Red and Galfer disks on CRW wheels have been perfectly fine, not needing truing even once. They are not blue either.

I was joking
The hubs are good and there is no way spoke count or lateral stiffness would flex the hub/axle to cause rub. If anything a stiffer wheel would put more load on the hub.

I weight 65kg, have my calipers perfectly aligned and can manage to rub the front rotor on a sw sl8 in out of the saddle intense efforts

[Kevin7767]

C'mon Spec hubs are not that bad.

More OT, the only significant disk warping challenge I ever faced was with full Campy brakes and Bora WTOs. My front disk turned a hue of blue after about 12m use and warped quite frequently after hard stops.This was mostly when riding in Surrey, not the Apls.

Not sure if it was related to the bike it was on (Vitus ZX1), or if there was a fault with the disk. Under the same use on my SL8 with SRAM Red and Galfer disks on CRW wheels have been perfectly fine, not needing truing even once. They are not blue either.

I was joking
The hubs are good and there is no way spoke count or lateral stiffness would flex the hub/axle to cause rub. If anything a stiffer wheel would put more load on the hub.

I weight 65kg, have my calipers perfectly aligned and can manage to rub the front rotor on a sw sl8 in out of the saddle intense efforts

I weigh 86kg and there's no rub when I sprint >1700w (SL7 with CLX 1s)