Another day, another wheel (et cetera).
A customer brought in the front wheel from a ZED TECH version of the ZIPP 303.
I'm calling it "ZED TECH" rather than "Zed Tek" or "Z.E.D. Tech"
because that's what the distributors called it back then.
ZED TECH was a ZIPP series where they applied dimpling not just to the rim sides
but also to the hub itself.
It seems the idea was short-lived, probably because ZIPP dealers worldwide at the time
complained that "cleaning the dirty hub is incredibly tedious (especially on rear hubs)".
As you can see, one spoke is missing...
or rather, the hub shell had cracked
and a spoke had come loose.
Obviously, this called for a hub replacement.
To remove the spokes, I took out the axle,
and the bearings, which should have been a light press fit, came out easily.
Which makes sense, given the crack in the shell.
I rebuilt it.
Don't go saying things like
"But the rim says ZED TECH and it's just a regular 303..."
Evolite hub, 18H, CX-RAY outpoke radial lacing.
When the wheel came in, one of the 18 spokes was already gone,
so the tension on the remaining 17 spokes was lower.
This means that even if I tension the new build higher, it won't necessarily be stiffer than before the rebuild.
However, since the old hub had wider flanges,
I'd like to tension it as much as possible.
The thing is, ZIPP rims from this era used external-nipple construction
and didn't use nipple washers,
with relatively small holes on the outer edge, so for example, among the three washer types available from Sapim,
the smallest A type barely makes sense to use, and the larger B and C types won't fit.
So I had to go with bare external nipples, which is quite dangerous.
Telling myself "you can do it... you can do it..." the whole time, I got through it.
A customer brought in the front wheel from a ZED TECH version of the ZIPP 303.
I'm calling it "ZED TECH" rather than "Zed Tek" or "Z.E.D. Tech"
because that's what the distributors called it back then.
ZED TECH was a ZIPP series where they applied dimpling not just to the rim sides
but also to the hub itself.
It seems the idea was short-lived, probably because ZIPP dealers worldwide at the time
complained that "cleaning the dirty hub is incredibly tedious (especially on rear hubs)".
As you can see, one spoke is missing...
or rather, the hub shell had cracked
and a spoke had come loose.
Obviously, this called for a hub replacement.
To remove the spokes, I took out the axle,
and the bearings, which should have been a light press fit, came out easily.
Which makes sense, given the crack in the shell.
I rebuilt it.
Don't go saying things like
"But the rim says ZED TECH and it's just a regular 303..."
Evolite hub, 18H, CX-RAY outpoke radial lacing.
When the wheel came in, one of the 18 spokes was already gone,
so the tension on the remaining 17 spokes was lower.
This means that even if I tension the new build higher, it won't necessarily be stiffer than before the rebuild.
However, since the old hub had wider flanges,
I'd like to tension it as much as possible.
The thing is, ZIPP rims from this era used external-nipple construction
and didn't use nipple washers,
with relatively small holes on the outer edge, so for example, among the three washer types available from Sapim,
the smallest A type barely makes sense to use, and the larger B and C types won't fit.
So I had to go with bare external nipples, which is quite dangerous.
Telling myself "you can do it... you can do it..." the whole time, I got through it.