A customer dropped off an Open Pro front wheel with me.
It's one I built a while back.
It has a Centaur Century hub,
but they wanted me to replace the hub.
I disassembled it.
The replacement hub is
a Campagnolo 50th Anniversary front hub.
The 50th Anniversary Super Record,
has a serial number stamped on the back of the right crank.
It was originally supposed to be limited to 5,000 sets,
but actually around 15,000 sets were produced.
On lots with lower serial numbers,
the finish on the back of the crank is relatively clean,
but on later lots, the finish becomes somewhat rough,
similar to a nail file attached to nail clippers.
The value gets subdivided by this serial number age and whether it comes with the original box,
and as a further fine detail, whether the diamond-shaped stamp-like "1933-1983 seal" is missing or not is also important.
I've memorized the name of this seal as "ichikyu-san-san ichikyu-hachi-san seal,"
so I never forget the year Campagnolo was founded.
Also, there's a special postcard that comes with it to inform the Italian headquarters
that you bought the 50th Anniversary model.
If you send this in, you receive a small commemorative item.
Anyway, moving on to the rebuild.
The bend pattern that develops just below the spoke head differs between straight-gauge and butted spokes,
so I find it safer to thread straight-gauge spokes with straight-gauge and butted spokes with butted spokes
to reduce the risk of spoke head failure.
The image above shows the state after only the straight-gauge spokes were transferred.
The wheel is built.
The spoke lengths were nearly identical, so I reused the spokes.
The nipples could have been reused, but I replaced them all.
32H CX-RAY Italian cross lacing.
Because the flange was under tension, the hub's ball race became loose,
and play developed that wasn't there when the hub was by itself.
Conversely, the Centaur Century hub
has become slightly stiffer in rotation once isolated as a hub.
Since this happens often,
it's better not to adjust the ball race when the hub is by itself.
Separately, rear through-axle hubs like Shimano Saint
deliberately have some necessary play, which appears quite loose as a standalone hub,
but once the wheel is built and fixed to the frame, it feels just right.
If you don't know this and tighten out all the play,
the rotation will become abnormally heavy once fixed to the frame, so be careful.
So I adjusted the ball race, but the cone wrench width was 16mm.
That's a rare size.
It's one I built a while back.
It has a Centaur Century hub,
but they wanted me to replace the hub.
I disassembled it.
The replacement hub is
a Campagnolo 50th Anniversary front hub.
The 50th Anniversary Super Record,
has a serial number stamped on the back of the right crank.
It was originally supposed to be limited to 5,000 sets,
but actually around 15,000 sets were produced.
On lots with lower serial numbers,
the finish on the back of the crank is relatively clean,
but on later lots, the finish becomes somewhat rough,
similar to a nail file attached to nail clippers.
The value gets subdivided by this serial number age and whether it comes with the original box,
and as a further fine detail, whether the diamond-shaped stamp-like "1933-1983 seal" is missing or not is also important.
I've memorized the name of this seal as "ichikyu-san-san ichikyu-hachi-san seal,"
so I never forget the year Campagnolo was founded.
Also, there's a special postcard that comes with it to inform the Italian headquarters
that you bought the 50th Anniversary model.
If you send this in, you receive a small commemorative item.
Anyway, moving on to the rebuild.
The bend pattern that develops just below the spoke head differs between straight-gauge and butted spokes,
so I find it safer to thread straight-gauge spokes with straight-gauge and butted spokes with butted spokes
to reduce the risk of spoke head failure.
The image above shows the state after only the straight-gauge spokes were transferred.
The wheel is built.
The spoke lengths were nearly identical, so I reused the spokes.
The nipples could have been reused, but I replaced them all.
32H CX-RAY Italian cross lacing.
Because the flange was under tension, the hub's ball race became loose,
and play developed that wasn't there when the hub was by itself.
Conversely, the Centaur Century hub
has become slightly stiffer in rotation once isolated as a hub.
Since this happens often,
it's better not to adjust the ball race when the hub is by itself.
Separately, rear through-axle hubs like Shimano Saint
deliberately have some necessary play, which appears quite loose as a standalone hub,
but once the wheel is built and fixed to the frame, it feels just right.
If you don't know this and tighten out all the play,
the rotation will become abnormally heavy once fixed to the frame, so be careful.
So I adjusted the ball race, but the cone wrench width was 16mm.
That's a rare size.