A customer dropped off a Bora One with me.
Brand new, basically no issues, nothing special to report on the inspection side of things.
Since this was their first time with tubular tires,
I gave them a lesson on how to glue them on.
But anyway,
There's a marking "AC3" on the rim.
This is a minor update applied only to
Campagnolo and Fulcrum carbon wide rims
（the Bora Ultra 80 is actually still a narrow rim so it doesn't count,
and the Racing Speed 50 and 35 stayed narrow rims and were discontinued in 2017）,
grooves are etched into the braking zone with a laser
to improve braking performance（especially in wet conditions）.
It reminds me of the technique used on trial bike rims called "sanding"—
where radial saw marks are made on the braking zone.
When you pair it with something like Magura HS33 hydraulic cantilever brakes,
the braking becomes abnormally powerful.
But anyway, that's beside the point.
With this AC3 treatment, dry braking performance improves slightly,
while wet braking performance improves dramatically（about 140% compared to non-AC3）,
but it's also true that brake pad wear increases just a little bit.
I'm keeping my description of the downside to just "a little bit"!
Is this okay?!←who I'm talking to is a secret
The reason I'm writing about this is,
for example, I know someone who deliberately hunted down and bought
a narrow rim（pre-C17）Racing Zero Night,
and when I asked why, they said "I don't use 25C tires,
so the lighter older-spec rim is better."
There are also other examples, like people who bought up the previous generation's lightweight rims en masse
once they learned that ENVE's rims got heavier with their redesign.
So there are rare people who think "the old spec was actually better."
With Racing Zero Night you can deliberately choose non-C17 versions,
but AC3 treatment rims transition gradually as a minor update,
so you can't tell without seeing the actual product.
I don't think the front and rear wheel pair in the same box would have different specs.
In fact, the opposite—writing something like this might make people think
that all the non-AC3 rim Campagnolo Boras and
Fulcrum Speeds hanging on shop floors nationwide
will stop selling.
In other words, this might be suspected of being
an article disguised as "get the old spec while you can!"
that's really saying "don't buy anything that's not the new spec!"
But I hope you'll judge from my track record so far
whether I'm the kind of guy who'd write articles for such shady reasons.
By the way, as a 2018 model, Fulcrum's Speed line will finally get
a 55mm high rim clincher called the "55C,"
and the 55C will definitely be an AC3 rim.
Well, I'd better start getting ready for the celebration（something to look forward to in the distant future）.
Brand new, basically no issues, nothing special to report on the inspection side of things.
Since this was their first time with tubular tires,
I gave them a lesson on how to glue them on.
But anyway,
There's a marking "AC3" on the rim.
This is a minor update applied only to
Campagnolo and Fulcrum carbon wide rims
（the Bora Ultra 80 is actually still a narrow rim so it doesn't count,
and the Racing Speed 50 and 35 stayed narrow rims and were discontinued in 2017）,
grooves are etched into the braking zone with a laser
to improve braking performance（especially in wet conditions）.
It reminds me of the technique used on trial bike rims called "sanding"—
where radial saw marks are made on the braking zone.
When you pair it with something like Magura HS33 hydraulic cantilever brakes,
the braking becomes abnormally powerful.
But anyway, that's beside the point.
With this AC3 treatment, dry braking performance improves slightly,
while wet braking performance improves dramatically（about 140% compared to non-AC3）,
but it's also true that brake pad wear increases just a little bit.
I'm keeping my description of the downside to just "a little bit"!
Is this okay?!←who I'm talking to is a secret
The reason I'm writing about this is,
for example, I know someone who deliberately hunted down and bought
a narrow rim（pre-C17）Racing Zero Night,
and when I asked why, they said "I don't use 25C tires,
so the lighter older-spec rim is better."
There are also other examples, like people who bought up the previous generation's lightweight rims en masse
once they learned that ENVE's rims got heavier with their redesign.
So there are rare people who think "the old spec was actually better."
With Racing Zero Night you can deliberately choose non-C17 versions,
but AC3 treatment rims transition gradually as a minor update,
so you can't tell without seeing the actual product.
I don't think the front and rear wheel pair in the same box would have different specs.
In fact, the opposite—writing something like this might make people think
that all the non-AC3 rim Campagnolo Boras and
Fulcrum Speeds hanging on shop floors nationwide
will stop selling.
In other words, this might be suspected of being
an article disguised as "get the old spec while you can!"
that's really saying "don't buy anything that's not the new spec!"
But I hope you'll judge from my track record so far
whether I'm the kind of guy who'd write articles for such shady reasons.
By the way, as a 2018 model, Fulcrum's Speed line will finally get
a 55mm high rim clincher called the "55C,"
and the 55C will definitely be an AC3 rim.
Well, I'd better start getting ready for the celebration（something to look forward to in the distant future）.