A customer brought in the rear wheel of a first-generation Racing Zero for service.
Strictly speaking, the first-generation Racing Zero refers to the model with red hubs and rims,
but this one is just a color variation with black hubs and black rims
and the specs themselves are identical to the all-red original.
There's one bent spoke with impact damage.
Since it's first-gen, it's a necktie spoke design.
Fixed it.
↑Replacement spokes
Fulcrum aluminum spokes sometimes have
front and rear-left as the same part number with rear-right making 2 types,
or hub dimensions changed so all are different part numbers making 3 types,
but the first-gen necktie spokes have rear left and right the same
so it's 2 types: front and rear left/right combined.
They probably adjusted the hub dimensions
to keep the spare parts variety as narrow as possible.
The red necktie spokes are still used frequently.
If you're not careful the stock depletes, but I maintain a steady inventory.
But isn't this spoke packaging carrying way too much air?
Oh, I mixed up the image. This is the right one.
There are front wheel 16-spoke sets and rear wheel 21-spoke sets,
but single aluminum spokes or 4-pack steel spokes come in the same box.
DT spokes are similar.
The bag in the image contains 10 spokes, but you can also order just 4,
and in that case they still come in the same bag.
This shipment is 5 front and 5 rear, and combined with stock already here,
we probably won't have a shortage.
Not enough for a complete spoke replacement,
but I haven't even had a Fulcrum repair requiring a complete spoke replacement yet.
Mostly it's things like replacing 6 spokes on the freewheel side after catching the rear derailleur,
and that's about the worst case.
Probably the worst one I've had was (→this one).
I've mentioned it several times, but as a commonly heard claim:
"Rim replacement requires complete spoke replacement"—this is simply not true,
and any shop clerk spouting such nonsense is second-rate garbage you shouldn't trust.
Of course, during rim replacement you might occasionally find
one or two spokes that need replacing.
But the idea that complete replacement is always necessary is a lie.
The red spokes with "Racing Zero Competizione" lettering have
spoke head stamps of "3 diagonal lines" for front and "2 diagonal lines" for rear-left.
The black spokes used on the same side naturally have the same stamps.
These red spokes are cheaper per unit when bought as 16-spoke front or 21-spoke rear sets,
but more expensive individually. If buying purely for repairs, you'd buy sets
and happen to use the red spoke since that's the one that broke—
so individual purchases are rare,
but at our shop we use them more often for color-matching jobs,
so we have no choice but to source them individually.
By the way, front spokes are black/red at pre-tax list prices of ¥1,893/¥3,324 respectively,
and rear-left at ¥1,954/¥2,862.
What's with this price difference? Why is the gap smaller for rear-left?
It doesn't seem like the manufacturing effort differs between red front and rear-left—
lots of questions, but that's just how the pricing works out.
Also, of the 5 red front spokes in this shipment,
4 of them had the stamp "69".
They're exactly the same length as the "3 diagonal lines" version.
Strictly speaking, the first-generation Racing Zero refers to the model with red hubs and rims,
but this one is just a color variation with black hubs and black rims
and the specs themselves are identical to the all-red original.
There's one bent spoke with impact damage.
Since it's first-gen, it's a necktie spoke design.
Fixed it.
↑Replacement spokes
Fulcrum aluminum spokes sometimes have
front and rear-left as the same part number with rear-right making 2 types,
or hub dimensions changed so all are different part numbers making 3 types,
but the first-gen necktie spokes have rear left and right the same
so it's 2 types: front and rear left/right combined.
They probably adjusted the hub dimensions
to keep the spare parts variety as narrow as possible.
The red necktie spokes are still used frequently.
If you're not careful the stock depletes, but I maintain a steady inventory.
But isn't this spoke packaging carrying way too much air?
Oh, I mixed up the image. This is the right one.
There are front wheel 16-spoke sets and rear wheel 21-spoke sets,
but single aluminum spokes or 4-pack steel spokes come in the same box.
DT spokes are similar.
The bag in the image contains 10 spokes, but you can also order just 4,
and in that case they still come in the same bag.
This shipment is 5 front and 5 rear, and combined with stock already here,
we probably won't have a shortage.
Not enough for a complete spoke replacement,
but I haven't even had a Fulcrum repair requiring a complete spoke replacement yet.
Mostly it's things like replacing 6 spokes on the freewheel side after catching the rear derailleur,
and that's about the worst case.
Probably the worst one I've had was (→this one).
I've mentioned it several times, but as a commonly heard claim:
"Rim replacement requires complete spoke replacement"—this is simply not true,
and any shop clerk spouting such nonsense is second-rate garbage you shouldn't trust.
Of course, during rim replacement you might occasionally find
one or two spokes that need replacing.
But the idea that complete replacement is always necessary is a lie.
The red spokes with "Racing Zero Competizione" lettering have
spoke head stamps of "3 diagonal lines" for front and "2 diagonal lines" for rear-left.
The black spokes used on the same side naturally have the same stamps.
These red spokes are cheaper per unit when bought as 16-spoke front or 21-spoke rear sets,
but more expensive individually. If buying purely for repairs, you'd buy sets
and happen to use the red spoke since that's the one that broke—
so individual purchases are rare,
but at our shop we use them more often for color-matching jobs,
so we have no choice but to source them individually.
By the way, front spokes are black/red at pre-tax list prices of ¥1,893/¥3,324 respectively,
and rear-left at ¥1,954/¥2,862.
What's with this price difference? Why is the gap smaller for rear-left?
It doesn't seem like the manufacturing effort differs between red front and rear-left—
lots of questions, but that's just how the pricing works out.
Also, of the 5 red front spokes in this shipment,
4 of them had the stamp "69".
They're exactly the same length as the "3 diagonal lines" version.