Specialized Roval Traverse SL 29

First Published: Singletrack Issue 95

Width (internal): 30mm
Weight (pair): 1,660g
Available: 29in and 27.5in diameter.

Specialized’s carbon Roval all-mountain wheelset certainly ticks all the right boxes. Aluminium hubs (the rear, CNC-machined one, also has DT Swiss 350 hub internals) are hand-built onto carbon rims using DT Swiss Revolution spokes – 28 on the rear and 24 on the front. The spoke pattern is three-cross on the rear, and on the front it’s a mixture of three-cross on the rotor side and radial on the other, to keep weight down.

The rims have an internal width of 30mm, and hookless beads, which I admit I was somewhat sceptical of, but I had no problems at all. The wheels also come with a tubeless plug system – which (as you’d expect) is a number of plugs for the spoke holes, which reduces weight, although I admit that I used tubeless rim tape for the duration of the test. Tyres went on with a minimum of fuss, and inflated easily. For the most part I ran around 25psi in the rear and less than 20psi in the front with no issues; traction was truly excellent both climbing and descending, and my tyres never squirmed, even cornering at speed at such low pressures.

I also fancy I noticed an increase in cornering grip when running these wheels, perhaps due to the extra rim width altering the shoulder profile of the tyres. And despite the paucity of spokes, the wheels also felt noticeably stiffer than the aluminium rims I’d been running beforehand. Their relative lack of ‘twang’ on the same bike, with the same tyres, on the same trails, was obvious.

Build quality was excellent, as you’d hope from handmade wheels: spoke tension is good, and the wheels have remained perfectly true for the duration of the test. They have an excellent black-on-black colour scheme I rather took to, although if you prefer, different coloured decals are included.

So far the wheels have performed flawlessly – although if I’m being niggly perhaps it’s slightly too easy to remove the freehub body by accident if you’re changing the cassette – but that’s a minor gripe.

Overall: They’re not cheap, but they’re very, very good. These wheels tick all the right boxes.

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Review Info

Barney Marsh

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.

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