Pros
- 990g actual weight (with tape and valves)
- DT Swiss hub internals
- Built using a single spoke length
- Same weight limit as other Roval wheels
Cons
- Proprietary carbon spokes
I’m not sure how we’ve ended up in a place where a set of mountain bike wheels designed for being thrashed in a cross-country race is now lighter than the vast majority of wheels intended for racing on the road, but I’m not mad about it.
Aerodynamics are less relevant in cross-country racing due to the lower average speeds and the terrain. Because of this, weight is something that riders focus on intensely. This is how we end up with Roval’s latest wheelset, the Control World Cup, and if you’re a weight weenie, the details on these wheels are incredible.
These are the lightest production mountain bike wheels on the market, with a claimed weight of 998 g. On my scale, they weighed an incredible 990g, including the factory-installed tubeless tape and valves. The carbon rims feature a 28.5mm internal width, and Roval uses 20 carbon fiber spokes on the front and rear to join them to low-flange in-house hubs based around the DT Swiss 180 hubs.
Specialized achieved this incredible weight by optimizing the layup of their existing Control SL Team rims, which saved 36g per rim. Switching to carbon spokes saved 101.6g compared to using steel spokes. Swapping to ultralight 3M tubeless tape and the incredibly minimal tubeless valves saved an additional 11 g per wheel.
Despite the low weight, the Control World Cup wheels are at least designed to be relatively easy to live with. For starters, the minimal Roval hubs use DT Swiss 180 internals and ceramic bearings, meaning riders should have no difficulty finding service parts. Specialized also designed these wheels to use a single-length spoke front, back, left, and right. The wheelset ships with eight spare spokes, just in case.
The wheels are only available in 29”, with Boost spacing and Centerlock disc mounts—all the standards one would expect in a lightweight cross-country racing wheel. They ship with an XD driver and a 36-tooth ratchet. Riders wanting to run a Shimano cassette must purchase a Microspline driver separately. The rims are designed to be used with tires from 1.9 to 2.6 inches and feature 4mm-wide bead hooks per side to help prevent pinch flats in the event of a bottom-out.
Roval’s wheels come with a lifetime warranty for defects in materials and manufacturing. This extends to subsequent owners for up to two years after the original purchase date. There is also a crash replacement program for owners who have registered their products after purchase. Finally, the Control World Cup wheels have the same weight limit (275 lbs) as the rest of Roval’s wheel lineup.
It's worth pointing out that you can achieve this kind of wheelset weight by assembling a custom wheelset using boutique parts. Depending on your wheel builders' rates and where you source your parts, you might be able to achieve that weight for a bit less than the Control World Cup MSRP of $3,000. Other options include going with smaller brands, such as Porte, that offer complete wheelsets as light as 1070g for around $1,860 (depending on the conversion rate).
Ride Impressions
Over twenty years of riding bikes have given me a keen ability to notice tiny changes in my equipment. I consider this skill invaluable and use it constantly as a test editor. But I didn’t need it with the Cotrol World Cup wheels. The impact of knocking over 400 grams of rotating weight from my cross-country bike was noticeable from the first pedal stroke.
What impressed me more than their low weight was just how solid these wheels felt. When I’ve tried ultra-light wheels in the past, they have often felt a bit soft in rougher terrain, with some noticeable wind-up under hard pedaling and braking. By contrast, the Control World Cups held their line over rocks, roots, up and down sharp ledges. The wheels were happy to take on anything I could throw my XC bike at.
Unsurprisingly, the uphill performance was stellar. I’ve often described lightweight bikes or wheels as encouraging my uphill efforts. It’s not that they require less effort, but it feels better to ride them hard uphill. When riding these wheels, I never wanted to back off the effort.
Ride quality was undoubtedly stiff, thanks to the carbon spokes. I've noticed this with carbon spoked wheels in general compared to wheels built with traditional steel spokes. But on a full-suspension mountain bike, the stiff wheels felt like a benefit because I had the suspension and large tires taking care of the compliance. However, I could see these wheels crossing over into potentially being too harsh on a hardtail mountain bike.
Naturally, with wheels this light, there will be some concerns about durability. I don't know how well these wheels will hold up over time (yet). Specialized claims that its factory team riders raced these wheels all last season without a single rim failure, which is hopefully a good sign. The generous warranty and rider weight limit should also inspire confidence from riders.
What is very clear is that Roval has made the 1000-gram weight the new benchmark other brands will need to hit to be seen as competitive in the cross-country race wheel segment.
Test Editor Dan Chabanov got his start in cycling as a New York City bike messenger but quickly found his way into road and cyclocross racing, competing in professional cyclocross races from 2009 to 2019 and winning a Master’s National Championship title in 2018. Prior to joining Bicycling in 2021, Dan worked as part of the race organization for the Red Hook Crit, as a coach with EnduranceWERX, as well as a freelance writer and photographer.
