I received a rear wheel from a Racing Quattro customer.
The chain dropped to the inside and bent some spokes, so
the customer asked me to fix them.
There are spokes with damage marks from the chain drop,
but there are also spokes that appear to have been hit by the rear derailleur as a result.
↑The spoke head area is splintered.
↑It's badly dented and deformed.
↑It's being stretched by spoke tension,
but it's quite bent.
After careful inspection, these 4 spokes needed replacement.
From top in the image: the badly dented spoke,
followed by 2 bent spokes.
Interestingly, these weren't
spokes at adjacent radial positions.
The 4th spoke looks straight but
...it's the splintered spoke from before.
As for spare spoke inventory, we don't have them in stock, and neither do the Japanese distributors.
However, the customer's preference was that as long as it's repaired with something that works,
they want it done quickly, regardless of whether it's the original part.
For example, we could certainly use 14-gauge plain straight spokes
or CX-RAY straight spokes as replacements.
However, when you mix spokes with different weight characteristics,
only those sections will have lower spoke tension or develop lateral runout.
Spokes aren't interchangeable—you can't just use any spoke.
Apart from the flat, ribbon-like spokes with higher weight that existed in the old Racing 3,
the current steel spoke models use
lightweight square aero spokes.
But there are variations among these too—for example, Zonda and Bora differ in that
Zonda has slightly wider flats and greater spoke weight
(because the freewheel side is thickened with different diameters on each side).
On the Racing Quattro freewheel side,
the cross-sectional shape of the flat section matches the Zonda,
so due to differences in rim height and freewheel-side assembly,
the lengths should theoretically work out to the same... but they didn't.
Even cutting won't work (more on this later).
↑The original spoke.
↑A different spoke cut to the same length as the original.
This spoke weighs around 19.2g for four spokes,
so even if there's a 0.1g difference, the spoke weight is essentially the same.
The replacement spokes have been cut 13mm.
Before cutting, they were 20.1g for four spokes,
and luckily they came out nearly identical as expected.
The fact that the nipple-end plain section is
longer than the head-end was helpful too.
If you were to cut Zonda freewheel-side spokes to this length,
the threading would end and the flat-butted section would begin right away,
making it appear usable but actually not.
As you tension it, the nipple end face would jam at the flat section.
One clearly different point is visible even in the photos—
the replacement spokes have an elliptical aero profile.
It's fixed.
The chain dropped to the inside and bent some spokes, so
the customer asked me to fix them.
There are spokes with damage marks from the chain drop,
but there are also spokes that appear to have been hit by the rear derailleur as a result.
↑The spoke head area is splintered.
↑It's badly dented and deformed.
↑It's being stretched by spoke tension,
but it's quite bent.
After careful inspection, these 4 spokes needed replacement.
From top in the image: the badly dented spoke,
followed by 2 bent spokes.
Interestingly, these weren't
spokes at adjacent radial positions.
The 4th spoke looks straight but
...it's the splintered spoke from before.
As for spare spoke inventory, we don't have them in stock, and neither do the Japanese distributors.
However, the customer's preference was that as long as it's repaired with something that works,
they want it done quickly, regardless of whether it's the original part.
For example, we could certainly use 14-gauge plain straight spokes
or CX-RAY straight spokes as replacements.
However, when you mix spokes with different weight characteristics,
only those sections will have lower spoke tension or develop lateral runout.
Spokes aren't interchangeable—you can't just use any spoke.
Apart from the flat, ribbon-like spokes with higher weight that existed in the old Racing 3,
the current steel spoke models use
lightweight square aero spokes.
But there are variations among these too—for example, Zonda and Bora differ in that
Zonda has slightly wider flats and greater spoke weight
(because the freewheel side is thickened with different diameters on each side).
On the Racing Quattro freewheel side,
the cross-sectional shape of the flat section matches the Zonda,
so due to differences in rim height and freewheel-side assembly,
the lengths should theoretically work out to the same... but they didn't.
Even cutting won't work (more on this later).
↑The original spoke.
↑A different spoke cut to the same length as the original.
This spoke weighs around 19.2g for four spokes,
so even if there's a 0.1g difference, the spoke weight is essentially the same.
The replacement spokes have been cut 13mm.
Before cutting, they were 20.1g for four spokes,
and luckily they came out nearly identical as expected.
The fact that the nipple-end plain section is
longer than the head-end was helpful too.
If you were to cut Zonda freewheel-side spokes to this length,
the threading would end and the flat-butted section would begin right away,
making it appear usable but actually not.
As you tension it, the nipple end face would jam at the flat section.
One clearly different point is visible even in the photos—
the replacement spokes have an elliptical aero profile.
It's fixed.