A customer brought in a BORA Wind Tunnel Optimized 60 wheel set for service.
I've only got a photo of the rear wheel, but
I'm doing a full inspection of the brand-new front and rear wheels.
I won't name names, but they were purchased from a local shop within walking distance of our workshop, and
the staff told them "we'll do final checks including truing, so please wait a moment"
but when they got them back, there was radial runout, and both wheels had centering issues.
Especially the front wheel—it looked like the truing work had actually caused the centering to shift.
The front wheel's centering offset was so severe that even the most imprecise centering gauge
couldn't possibly have missed it, so
it's certain the gauge wasn't used after the "truing."
(Whether it was off to begin with or got shifted during service doesn't really matter—
the problem is that it was off-center when they handed it over).
Well, the customer clearly doesn't trust that shop's initial inspection anyway,
which is why they brought it to us.
This BORA WTO comes with
rim internal widths that in Campagnolo's terminology (C15, C17, etc.) would be equivalent to
C19, with an external width of 26.5mm.
It's available in a 77mm-deep front wheel with CULT bearings (no rear version), and
60mm-deep front and rear wheels with USB bearings,
plus a new model that didn't make the 2019 catalog:
45mm-deep front and rear with USB bearings.
Unlike the previous Bora, it's not a complete upgrade—
in terms of rim weight (even accounting for height-to-weight ratio) the WTO is actually heavier,
but it's supposed to have superior aerodynamics.
Also, all WTO rims feature 2WAY-FIT, so
they're compatible with tubeless tires.
Not just the rim, but the hub shape was also designed with aerodynamics in mind.
With the WTO's arrival, the 2019 catalog classification changed—
the disc wheel Bora Ultra TT and WTO series became
"Aero Carbon Wheels," while
the traditional Bora became "Performance Carbon Wheels."
Since the Bora Ultra TT only comes in tubular format,
I don't think many people do setups like
"rear wheel Bora Ultra TT, front wheel Bora WTO 77."
The front rim wasn't too bad, but
carbon dust came pouring out of the rear rim... it didn't come out easily,
so it took considerable effort to shake the rim until no more dust came out.
You can see the valve bushing in the photo above, and
dust longer than the valve hole diameter didn't want to come out on its own.
By the way, WTO doesn't stand for "World Trade Organization"
but rather "Wind Tunnel Optimized,"
though back in the day Campagnolo used to call their deep-rim wheels
Fluid Dynamics wheels.
Strictly speaking, "Fluid Dynamics" is the proper translation of the term.
Writing "fruidu" (フルード) rather than as Fuluide wasn't my own idea—
I'm just respecting the Japanese catalog translation from back then (1999).
By 2000, it became "Fluid Dynamics,"
but in 1999 it was spelled Bora,
then from 2000 onward it was Bola for a while.
The 1999 VELOCE was Veloce,
but around 2002-2003 it was sometimes Beloche.
This is unrelated, but in my own personal classification system
I distinguish early Euclid as Eucleus, and early Nucleon as Nucleon.
Also, calling ROVAL "Rouvale" is just an old habit of mine.
I know the official Specialized-owned zombie brand spelling is
"Roval," but I just can't get used to it.
I've only got a photo of the rear wheel, but
I'm doing a full inspection of the brand-new front and rear wheels.
I won't name names, but they were purchased from a local shop within walking distance of our workshop, and
the staff told them "we'll do final checks including truing, so please wait a moment"
but when they got them back, there was radial runout, and both wheels had centering issues.
Especially the front wheel—it looked like the truing work had actually caused the centering to shift.
The front wheel's centering offset was so severe that even the most imprecise centering gauge
couldn't possibly have missed it, so
it's certain the gauge wasn't used after the "truing."
(Whether it was off to begin with or got shifted during service doesn't really matter—
the problem is that it was off-center when they handed it over).
Well, the customer clearly doesn't trust that shop's initial inspection anyway,
which is why they brought it to us.
This BORA WTO comes with
rim internal widths that in Campagnolo's terminology (C15, C17, etc.) would be equivalent to
C19, with an external width of 26.5mm.
It's available in a 77mm-deep front wheel with CULT bearings (no rear version), and
60mm-deep front and rear wheels with USB bearings,
plus a new model that didn't make the 2019 catalog:
45mm-deep front and rear with USB bearings.
Unlike the previous Bora, it's not a complete upgrade—
in terms of rim weight (even accounting for height-to-weight ratio) the WTO is actually heavier,
but it's supposed to have superior aerodynamics.
Also, all WTO rims feature 2WAY-FIT, so
they're compatible with tubeless tires.
Not just the rim, but the hub shape was also designed with aerodynamics in mind.
With the WTO's arrival, the 2019 catalog classification changed—
the disc wheel Bora Ultra TT and WTO series became
"Aero Carbon Wheels," while
the traditional Bora became "Performance Carbon Wheels."
Since the Bora Ultra TT only comes in tubular format,
I don't think many people do setups like
"rear wheel Bora Ultra TT, front wheel Bora WTO 77."
The front rim wasn't too bad, but
carbon dust came pouring out of the rear rim... it didn't come out easily,
so it took considerable effort to shake the rim until no more dust came out.
You can see the valve bushing in the photo above, and
dust longer than the valve hole diameter didn't want to come out on its own.
By the way, WTO doesn't stand for "World Trade Organization"
but rather "Wind Tunnel Optimized,"
though back in the day Campagnolo used to call their deep-rim wheels
Fluid Dynamics wheels.
Strictly speaking, "Fluid Dynamics" is the proper translation of the term.
Writing "fruidu" (フルード) rather than as Fuluide wasn't my own idea—
I'm just respecting the Japanese catalog translation from back then (1999).
By 2000, it became "Fluid Dynamics,"
but in 1999 it was spelled Bora,
then from 2000 onward it was Bola for a while.
The 1999 VELOCE was Veloce,
but around 2002-2003 it was sometimes Beloche.
This is unrelated, but in my own personal classification system
I distinguish early Euclid as Eucleus, and early Nucleon as Nucleon.
Also, calling ROVAL "Rouvale" is just an old habit of mine.
I know the official Specialized-owned zombie brand spelling is
"Roval," but I just can't get used to it.