- The Roval Terra CLX is a high end ($2,500) and extremely light (1,296g claimed, 1,313g observed) gravel and all-road wheelset.
- Optimized for tubeless and tires between 28mm and 42mm.
- Passes a new Roval impact-testing standard that is more rigorous than the brand’s road impact standard.
- Lifetime warranty against material and workmanship defects; two-year free crash replacement warranty.
Everyone loves a sexylight wheelset. Roval’s new Terra CLX brings sexy lightness to the gravel and all-road space in the form of a 1,313 gram, 32mm-deep carbon wheelset with 25mm internal width. Surprise, it’s not cheap—$2,500—but it is backed by a two-year no-fault crash replacement warranty. Break a wheel or rim, and Roval fixes it for free.
Weight Champ
The standout spec is the Terra CLX’s 1,296 gram claimed weight. On my scale it weighed a bit more, but 1,313 grams with valves and tubeless strips installed is still pretty damn light for a disc-brake, tubeless-ready, wheel with 25mm internal width.
Comparable(ish) wheels include the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3V (1,575g claimed weight, 25mm internal width, $1,300/pair), Enve’s 3.4AR (1,417g claimed weight, 25mm internal width, $2,550/pair with Enve aluminum hubs), Easton’s EC90 AX (1,470g claimed weight, 24mm internal width, $1,550/pair), DT-Swiss's GRC 1400 Spline (1,545g claimed weight, 24mm internal width, $2,436/pair), and theReynolds ATR Blacklabel (1526g claimed weight, 23mm internal width, $2,100/pair).
Based on competitor’s claimed weights, the Terra CLX is lighter than the gravel wheels above by at least 100 grams. And 100 grams is a lot if you’re a gram counter. But if you’re a dollar counter, the Bontrager and Easton wheels aren’t that much heavier and are a grand, or more, cheaper.
UPDATE—A commenter pointed out that Enve's G23 wheelset (23mm internal width, $2,550) is very close to the weight of the Terra CLX. According to claimed weights, the G23 weighs 1,287g with Industry Nine Torch hubs—nine grams less than the Terra's claimed weight. However, that hubset appears to be offered only for 15x100mm front axles. Claimed weight with a hubset compatible with the more common 12x100mm front axle is 1,305g—nine grams heavier than the Terra's claimed weight. Either way, price and claimed weights are very similar to the Terra CLX.—MP
New Test
Roval developed a new impact test for its new gravel wheels. According to Jeff Meyer, an engineer at Roval, the severity of this test, in layperson’s terms, falls between its road and mountain tests.
“Road wheel impact testing is completed with a curb-shaped striker and a small road tire; mountain wheels are impacted with a point-loading striker and fat tires,” he said adding that the new gravel impact test sees the wheel wrapped in the Terra’s minimum recommended tire size (28mm) and impacted with both the curb-striker and the point-loading striker. Using the smallest tire for the testing, “results in the most aggressive tests and ensures durability at larger tire sizes,” he said.
Details That Matter
The Terra CLX hubs use DT-Swiss’s new EXP internals. This system still uses the Hügi star-ratchets but the entire internal design was rethought making it lighter and more reliable, DT-Swiss claims.
Brake interface is Centerlock/splined, and driver bodies for Shimano 11 speed and SRAM XDR are offered.
Recommended tire size for this wheel is 28 to 47mm. Maximum recommended pressure with a 28mm tire is 90psi when used with a tube, and 80psi when run tubeless.
The rims are 32mm deep and made of carbon-fiber composite (of course). The tubeless tape and valves come pre-installed. Though hookless beads have some buzz right now, this wheelset has hooked beads. According to Roval’s information, the hooked bead “ensures” performance with the wide range of tire widths and pressures it was designed to accommodate.
Vertical compliance was a point of emphasis, with Meyer stating that the wheels were engineered to be as smooth riding as possible while still hitting the weight target and testing standards set down for this high-end wheelset.
“A rim with very low vertical stiffness usually experiences broad damage during an impact. On the contrary, if rim stiffness is too high then you’d see a lot of damage local to the impact point. So the name of the game is absorbing impact energy in the rim and spokes without pushing the components beyond their yield points. We designed Terra CLX per this perspective and favoring low rim stiffness,” said Meyer, adding, “The rim’s shape, raw material characteristics, material placement, and fiber angles determine the rim stiffness,” and that arriving at the final mix was the result of “many iterations of the layup.”
Spokes are straight-pull DT-Swiss Aerolite. Front spoke count is 21, laced two-cross on the rotor side and radially on the drive side. Rear spoke count is 24, two-cross on the rotor side and one -cross on the drive side.
Padded wheel bags are included. Yay. They can join the piles of wheel bags gathering dust in bike shops and rider’s attics all over the world.
This wheelset has a maximum rider weight limit of 275 pounds.
Warranty and Crash-Replacement Policy
I love it when a company backs a product robustly. It makes spending money on a desirable premium product less frightening, and you worry less about getting after it on your bike if you know that you’re not hung out to dry if something fails. Roval’s latest wheels have a nice package of warranty and crash replacement policies.
There’s a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, which promises a refund if, after riding them, you’re unsatisfied with their performance.
There’s lifetime warranty against workmanship and materials defects—an uncommon warranty for a carbon wheelset.
The next layer of protection is a two-year no-fault crash replacement policy. If the wheel breaks, it’s fixed or replaced for free.
After two years, the policy switches to “assisted replacement,” which means the buyer gets a discount—20 to 35 percent—off the retail price of the replacement parts. This covers the wheels from year two to five of ownership. After five years, the crash policy ends. As always there are terms and conditions, which you read about on Roval’s site.
Overall this crash replacement policy is good (Bontrager offers a similar policy), but not as generous as Enve’s policy which offers the original owner lifetime no-charge damage replacements. Enve even covers parts, labor, and return shipping costs whereas Roval’s policy states, “Shipping costs are never included, and your Specialized retailer may charge you for labor or administrative costs.” However, Enve’s materials and workmanship warranty is five years compared to Roval’s lifetime.
How They Ride
Roval sent me a set of Terra CLX wheels ahead of today's launch. I wrapped them in a set of 40mm Pirelli Cinturato Gravel M tires and installed the package on my Cervelo Aspero.
(Shout out to the stunning Cervelo Aspero. Freaking love that bike. Review coming soon.)
I then did what I do with all the gravel bikes and gravel products I test—rode some of my favorite mountain bike trails. And some dirt and gravel roads too.
Roval claims these are the lightest gravel wheels on the market. They’re certainly the lightest gravel wheels I’ve installed on my Aspero (so far I’ve had Enve’s 3.4AR, Bontrager’s Aeolus Pro 3V, and Shimano’s Dura Ace and GRX aluminum on the bike).
When I switch to lighter wheels, I expect them feel quick, and to liven up a bike’s handling. And the Terra did. These wheels can make a gravel bike feel as snappy as a road racing bike. And when you’re gutting out a steep slow-cadence climb, they’ll turn over a bit easier too.
But I’m always wary of light wheels because, though they make a bike feel sparkly, they’re usually flexy and compromise a bike’s cornering. But the Terra is different. Laterally, it’s really stiff. Through the steep and rutted downhill switchbacks I rode, I never felt the front wheel load-and-spring-back, or skip—even when the bars were turned almost 90 degrees. And when I was on the pavement with great traction, I never felt the rear wheel sway when I put down full power.
But I did get some occasional judder in the front end when braking heavily which makes me think there’s some windup happening in the front wheel (I didn’t experience this in any of the other wheels I’ve ridden on the Aspero). So perhaps that low weight is not 100-percent compromise free.
They do seem admirably tough. I don’t shy away from riding rocky trails on my gravel adventures, and I doinked several square-edged rocks with both the front and rear wheels. The hits were hard enough to make me wince, but the wheels remain true and undamaged.
The Terra’s vertical compliance seems… fine. I’d say better than the average carbon wheel, but I didn’t find them groundbreakingly smooth—frankly I was expecting something more given that it was a point of emphasis in the wheel's design.
My overall takeaway is that the Terra CLX is an excellent wheelset if you want to take some weight off your gravel, cyclocross or all-road bike. They offer balanced performance, they’re largely compromise free considering how light they are, and they’re backed by a nice package of customer-assurance programs.
Pros
- Possibly the lightest gravel clincher wheelset.
- Surprisingly stiff and durable.
Cons
- Some front wheel windup under heavy braking.
A gear editor for his entire career, Matt’s journey to becoming a leading cycling tech journalist started in 1995, and he’s been at it ever since; likely riding more cycling equipment than anyone on the planet along the way. Previous to his time with Bicycling, Matt worked in bike shops as a service manager, mechanic, and sales person. Based in Durango, Colorado, he enjoys riding and testing any and all kinds of bikes, so you’re just as likely to see him on a road bike dressed in Lycra at a Tuesday night worlds ride as you are to find him dressed in a full face helmet and pads riding a bike park on an enduro bike. He doesn’t race often, but he’s game for anything; having entered road races, criteriums, trials competitions, dual slalom, downhill races, enduros, stage races, short track, time trials, and gran fondos. Next up on his to-do list: a multi day bikepacking trip, and an e-bike race.
