Zonda again! (Not that I mind.)
I received a Zonda wheel from a customer.
The spokes were broken,
so I replaced
them.
The timeline is a bit mixed up, but
the customer also wanted a hub overhaul, so I did that at the same time.
Since the straight spokes are through-spokes rather than hooked, the hub axle has to be removed to replace them, which worked out perfectly.
The customer had apparently taken apart the hub themselves before,
but they hadn't properly seated the dust seal into the groove on the cone—
the seal was floating, making the hub rotation seem rough.
The bearings, cone, and bearing race didn't show enough wear to need replacement,
so I just cleaned everything and re-greased it.
The rear wheel also needed a hub overhaul and inspection.
The right dropout nut and left dropout hollow bolt came loose by hand.
I cleaned everything. The freewheel pawl spring showed no distortion at all, so I reused it,
though apparently our shop used to sell it as a separate item. There was hardly any runout, but the wheel center was slightly off—that was fixed quickly.
Now, what I'm about to say has nothing to do with this Zonda customer,
but today one of our regular customers told me
that an acquaintance took a Racing 3 wheel to a nearby shop for spoke repair,
and the shop claimed that regulations had changed and repair is no longer allowed at shops—
it can only be done at Campagnolo Japan's service center,
the cost is substantial (basically the price of a new wheel),
and the wait time is several months. So the customer just bought spokes and fixed it themselves.
Yeah, that shop was just lying through its teeth.
If you're reading this and remember doing that, you goddamn Shizuoka shop—you.
I don't know if you're just trying to sell new wheels,
but stop ripping people offgo to hell you hack.
It's true that Campagnolo Japan's service center does handle
certain parts that can't be serviced anywhere else.
Specifically, things like the ratchet teeth on the rear hub freebody,
the pivot bolt on current Super Record rear derailleurs,
and internal component failures on EPS units.
These require specialized tools and can only be serviced at the center,
but everything else is up to the shops,
and Campagnolo Japan's policy is to supply spare parts "only."
So spare spokes are available for all wheel models,
and depending on the model you can get them as "all spokes for the front wheel," "all spokes for the rear wheel,"
"one spoke and one nipple," "four spokes and four nipples,"
or "two spokes and two nipples for both wheels front and rear (mini kit),"
but in any case they're available. The image above is the "four at a time" option.
For aluminum spokes on wheels like Shamal Ultra or Racing Zero, since individual spokes are pricey,
you can choose between buying them "one at a time" or "all spokes for one wheel."
In the latter case, you can either reuse the nipples or
buy a separate set of "10 nipples only."
As for wheel repair itself, we've never
troubled Campagnolo Japan,
but we have caused them trouble by writing unnecessary things here (※)
so I apologize for that.
※This article itself might do the same
Our customer has an acquaintance in Shizuoka
who says his Chinese carbon wheels feel squishy
and wants to do something about it. I heard about that today too.
If it's not a wheel I built, I think I can make it better than it is now,
so if you come to Osaka, please leave it with me. Thank you.
I received a Zonda wheel from a customer.
The spokes were broken,
so I replaced
them.
The timeline is a bit mixed up, but
the customer also wanted a hub overhaul, so I did that at the same time.
Since the straight spokes are through-spokes rather than hooked, the hub axle has to be removed to replace them, which worked out perfectly.
The customer had apparently taken apart the hub themselves before,
but they hadn't properly seated the dust seal into the groove on the cone—
the seal was floating, making the hub rotation seem rough.
The bearings, cone, and bearing race didn't show enough wear to need replacement,
so I just cleaned everything and re-greased it.
The rear wheel also needed a hub overhaul and inspection.
The right dropout nut and left dropout hollow bolt came loose by hand.
I cleaned everything. The freewheel pawl spring showed no distortion at all, so I reused it,
though apparently our shop used to sell it as a separate item. There was hardly any runout, but the wheel center was slightly off—that was fixed quickly.
Now, what I'm about to say has nothing to do with this Zonda customer,
but today one of our regular customers told me
that an acquaintance took a Racing 3 wheel to a nearby shop for spoke repair,
and the shop claimed that regulations had changed and repair is no longer allowed at shops—
it can only be done at Campagnolo Japan's service center,
the cost is substantial (basically the price of a new wheel),
and the wait time is several months. So the customer just bought spokes and fixed it themselves.
Yeah, that shop was just lying through its teeth.
If you're reading this and remember doing that, you goddamn Shizuoka shop—you.
I don't know if you're just trying to sell new wheels,
but stop ripping people off
It's true that Campagnolo Japan's service center does handle
certain parts that can't be serviced anywhere else.
Specifically, things like the ratchet teeth on the rear hub freebody,
the pivot bolt on current Super Record rear derailleurs,
and internal component failures on EPS units.
These require specialized tools and can only be serviced at the center,
but everything else is up to the shops,
and Campagnolo Japan's policy is to supply spare parts "only."
So spare spokes are available for all wheel models,
and depending on the model you can get them as "all spokes for the front wheel," "all spokes for the rear wheel,"
"one spoke and one nipple," "four spokes and four nipples,"
or "two spokes and two nipples for both wheels front and rear (mini kit),"
but in any case they're available. The image above is the "four at a time" option.
For aluminum spokes on wheels like Shamal Ultra or Racing Zero, since individual spokes are pricey,
you can choose between buying them "one at a time" or "all spokes for one wheel."
In the latter case, you can either reuse the nipples or
buy a separate set of "10 nipples only."
As for wheel repair itself, we've never
troubled Campagnolo Japan,
but we have caused them trouble by writing unnecessary things here (※)
so I apologize for that.
※This article itself might do the same
Our customer has an acquaintance in Shizuoka
who says his Chinese carbon wheels feel squishy
and wants to do something about it. I heard about that today too.
If it's not a wheel I built, I think I can make it better than it is now,
so if you come to Osaka, please leave it with me. Thank you.