Roval Rapide C 38 review

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The Roval Rapide C 38 wheelset holds a couple of trump cards that boost its appeal – its premium Rapide CLX siblings are highly rated and it’s made using well-regarded DT Swiss parts.

It also sneaks under the £1,000 barrier, and is the cheapest road-going carbon wheelset the Specialized-owned brand makes.

That said, while the design is contemporary and performance satisfactory, there are more progressive road bike wheels available for less money.

Roval Rapide C 38 details and specifications

The Roval Rapide C 38 is the entry-level carbon wheelset from the Specialized-offshoot brand.

The rims feature a contemporary 21mm internal rim width, which Roval says has been “optimised for wider road tyres”, while also making the Rapide C 38 suitable for light gravel riding.

Externally, both rims measure 27.4mm across, and both are 38mm deep – the brand’s more expensive Rapide CL II and Rapide CLX II wheelsets, by contrast, feature differing rim profiles (wider and shallower at the front, and narrower and deeper at the rear).

This is said to optimise aerodynamic and handling performance across the wheelsets, although it’s fair to say plenty of more expensive wheelsets have matching dimensions for the front and rear wheels without falling short in terms of tangible performance.

As it is, the Rapide C 38 rims are narrower (externally) and shallower than either the CL II or CLX II wheels – in terms of aerodynamics, then, they're not quite as progressive.

A hooked design means you can run clincher or tubeless tyres, and Roval supplies the rims ready-taped with tubeless valves installed.

DT Swiss Competition Race J-bend spokes lace to DT Swiss 370 LN hubs. Brass nipples feature at the rim, which are often favoured by specialist wheel builders for their anti-corrosion properties (versus alloy nipples).

The 370 LN hubs represent the entry-level system the Swiss brand offers – two ratchet rings with 18 teeth apiece slide over each other in the freehub, pressed together by a spring on either side.

The 18t rings result in a 20-degree engagement angle – noticeably more than the typical 9 to 12-degree angles most performance carbon wheelsets offer.

The hub shells are standard DT Swiss branded fare, and made of aluminium.

All-in, with tubeless valves and rim tape installed, the wheelset weighs 1,606g.

These specs aren't shocking in any way, but the price is a little disappointing compared to the on-paper figures offered by a couple of key rivals.

Hunt’s 50 Carbon Disc wheels are 118g lighter and £200 / $101 / €201 easier on the purse strings, while Velocite’s Hyperdrive Carbon wheelset cuts another 11g and is £100 / $165 / €381 cheaper again (albeit prices in the US and EU are subject to exchange rates and extra delivery charges) – both despite featuring deeper rims.

The Parcours Paniagua (42mm deep) and Giant SLR 2 50 Disc (50mm deep) have weights in the same ballpark, but they're deeper and significantly cheaper.

Roval Rapide C 38 performance

While the Roval Rapide C 38 only just slides under the £1,000 mark (in a competitive market where many rivals undercut it significantly on price), it feels like a well-designed wheelset.

My test tubeless setup proved reasonably easy – the 700x28c Continental GP5000 S TR tyres, which are known for their relatively flexible bead, took a little manipulation over the rim with a tyre lever, but they popped into place with the use of a track pump and held air well.

Installation with TPU inner tubes for my test rides threw up no unexpected issues.

The ride quality is good – offering up the stiffness you'd want from a wheelset serving as an upgrade from high-performing alloy hoops – without feeling overly rigid.

The more progressive design of Roval’s more expensive sibling wheelsets aids their superior-feeling performance, but the C 38 doesn’t feel disappointing when you consider the money saved.

The 38mm rim depth is enough to offer significant aerodynamic gains versus a shallow alloy wheelset (the Ere Research Explorator GCR40 is even deeper, yet made of aluminium), but isn’t so deep as to present issues in crosswinds.

It’s very stable – as you'd expect it to be.

That said, the inevitable consequence of a shallow rim depth is a concession to ultimate speed in most scenarios – the sense of slicing through the air is more potent with wheels around 50mm deep, and I felt I had to work marginally harder to maintain my speed on the flat.

Given my 28c test tyres measured 28.2mm, 0.8mm over the external rim width, there are signs the rim could be better optimised for the wider tyres many riders are now using (especially in view of the immediate competition, many of which feature greater external rim widths).

Big, explosive efforts are dealt with well, although the gappy-feeling freehub will be noticeable – unless, I suspect, you’re coming from a wheelset that has a similarly high engagement angle.

The effect, when you put the effort in, is a sudden slamming feeling, as your unsupported pedal stroke travels through as much as 20 degrees (around 60mm with my 172.5mm crank arms, not accounting for any additional stack) before the two ratchet rings engage.

All freehubs work on a similar principle (they can’t be engaged 100 per cent of the time, of course), but this feels significantly more jolting than the lower-engagement-angle freehubs offered by most competitors.

Does it make much of a difference to real-world ride speed? No, albeit the slow pickup means accelerations don’t feel as immediate as with rival wheelsets, which isn’t a positive experience.

The freehub is delightfully quiet, though – I’ve found it to be inaudible over the rest of the noise my bike makes, and DT Swiss has a generally well-earned reputation for producing high-quality and reliable components (a small factor that might boost confidence in the purchase, if nothing else).

Roval Rapide C 38 bottom line

The Roval Rapide C 38 is a good-quality carbon wheelset, performing reasonably well.

I’ve been impressed by the overall ride quality, although there are deeper and lighter wheels available for less money.

The relatively gappy freehub isn’t a deal-breaker, although it feels less refined and ‘immediate’ than many competitors’ hubs with smaller engagement angles – something many riders may not wish to compromise on, especially when they don’t have to.

All in, the Rapide C 38 is a good carbon wheelset, but leaves some performance and polish on the table compared to its rivals.

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