Specialised’s notoriously robust carbon Roval Traverse HD wheels get a high-engagement DT Swiss 240 DEG improve, boosted virtually 3 times to 90 POEs with out sacrificing DT’s confirmed Star Ratchet sturdiness. Not solely are they robust sufficient to get spec’d on Specialised’s new high, high-powered S-Works Levo eMTB, they’re additionally lots light-weight for any bike you may pedal to the highest of a mountain and smash down the gnarliest observe on the opposite facet.
Roval Traverse HD 240 DEG quick & robust carbon MTB wheels
From simply 1780g for the carbon mullet setup we’ve been driving on and off since mid-January, Specialised says the brand new Roval Traverse HD 240 DEG wheels aren’t solely their hardest, it’s the “strongest carbon path wheel [they]’ve ever examined“!
A lot of their secret energy falls on Specialised’s patent-pending Flat High carbon rim design, with broad 5mm vast beads and easy radii that declare to “require 85% extra power to pinch flat” vs. a standard bead. The 30mm inside hookless tubeless carbon rims stay light-weight with a light-weight fiber infill for these vast beads, and have a boxy 24mm deep trapezoid form for good total stiffness.
What’s new?
And now, DT Swiss 240 DEG ratchet internals ship fast 90 POE / 4° freehub engagement with out the sturdiness considerations of tiny tooth or fragile pawls. DT solved the puzzle of quick engagement and sturdiness final summer time by rising the diameter of their iconic Star Ratchet rings by 36% to create the new DEG ratchet – rising their variety of factors of engagement from 54T to 90T with out making their ratchet tooth smaller. And Specialised jumped on the likelihood to enhance reliability over their earlier fast-engaging Traverse HD wheels, whereas saving some weight on the identical time.
Tech particulars & pricing
- Traverse HD uneven carbon rims with vast patent-pending Flat High beads
- 30mm inside hookless tubeless-ready
- 40mm vast exterior x 24mm deep
- optimized for two.4″ Specialised Butcher or Eliminator Grid Path T9 tubeless tires
- Roval ThreadBed Vale – distinctive Specialised tubeless valve threads straight into an alloy insert co-molded within the rim (no outdoors nut seen)
- DT Swiss 240 DEG Enhance 6-bolt hubs with sealed stainless cartridge bearings
- 90 POE / 4° freehub engagement
- SRAM XD driver solely from Specialised (MicroSpline & HD accessible individually from DT Swiss)
- entrance wheel 29″ solely, with 28 spokes laced 2x
- rear wheel 27.5 or 29″, with 32 spokes laced 3x
- handbuilt with DT Swiss RevoLite butted & fluted spokes and alloy DT ProLock nipples
- 1682g mullet wheelset weight, 1795g 29er wheelset weight (claimed weights with alloy tubeless valves & 32mm tape, included)
- 780g 29er entrance wheel, 902g 27.5″ rear wheel, 1015g 29″ rear wheel (claimed weights with valves & tape)
- restricted lifetime guarantee (if registered inside 90 days of buy)
The Roval Traverse HD 240 DEG wheels are bought individually, so that you get the right setup in your bike or eMTB. Both 27.5 or 29er rear wheels promote for $1300 with the brand new DT 240 DEG hubs. Matching 29er entrance wheels promote for $900, making this a $2200 wheelset. Get yours now out of your native specialised vendor bike store or delivered straight to your door from Specialised.com.
Driving Assessment
These new Roval Traverse HD 240 DEG got here spec’d on the S-Works Levo 4 that we’ve been testing – first in Madeira, then on our dwelling trails, and even a sneaky enduro race a few days forward of their official launch. And we’ve put them by the ringer, with three completely different check riders turning back-to-back laps, as quick as the brand new Levo’s Tremendous Charger may juice that highly effective ebike again up.
I already had a good suggestion the place we have been going to start out with the DT 240 DEG hubset, since I bought an unique likelihood to check out this new hub tech for greater than half a 12 months earlier than final summer time’s launch. The engagement of those hubs is fast and stable. Precisely what you need from a hub that’s going to see numerous exhausting technical path driving. Sure, there are different faster-engaging hubs on the market. However only a few can match the reliability of a DT Swiss begin ratchet, and virtually none ship ratchet reliability and quick engagement.
Preserve Your Premium Hubs
The one problem I noticed with the Roval DEG wheels was not truly by myself setup. It was one other rider testing the identical wheels. You see, the tooth on these 90T DEG ratchets are fairly small – about the identical measurement as DT’s authentic smaller-diameter 54T high-engagement ratchet rings. And so they’re a bit inclined to over-greasing. Even utilizing DT’s purple “Particular Grease”, protecting the tooth with an excessive amount of grease makes it potential to slide below load. If that occurs, it’s not the top of the world. Simply pop the cassette off tool-free, wipe the surplus grease away with a clear, lint-free rag, and reinstall to journey. However too little, and also you’ll shorten the lifespan of these ratchets, too.
After all, these are premium wheels, so you need to maintain them, particularly the hubs. That doesn’t imply you could go gently when you’re driving. Simply on the finish of the season, clear & regrease the internals, wipe the seals and examine the bearings. And you need to get a few years out of them.
Parting Ideas
As for these Flat High carbon rims… Specialised additionally talks about these being almost indestructible. They formally charge them for Aggressive Path, Enduro & full-power eMTB use, however then go on to say they may information you to bettering as a rider “within the bike park, on a path journey, or on an Enduro World Cup tracok”. That appears like opening them up for actually any kind of mountain bike driving.
We’ve been thrashing them on the brand new 24kg S-Works Levo. And that’s included loads of massive bikepark-style jumps (every part is a bikepark with an eMTB that shuttles you back-and-forth to the highest of the mountain!) Plus, sketchy rock gardens, and even a dodgy e-Enduro energy stage by an deserted manufacturing unit. However as gentle as they’re, I wouldn’t thoughts swapping out the heavier aluminum wheels I’ve on my all-mountain path bike. And even these on my bikepark enduro bike.
It’s exhausting to search out one other mullet mountain bike wheelset that weighs as little as these do, but instills such confidence which you can cost full-speed into any terrain. And the confirmed DT 240 DEG internals are only a fast-engaging bonus in my e book.
That is the sort of carbon mountain bike wheelset that can simply make you cease worrying about damaging a carbon rim by simply driving your bike.
