I received the front wheel of a Racing 1 2WAY-FIT (Fulcrum wheel) from a customer.
One spoke is
broken, but
this spoke has deformation separate from the fracture, and
there are impact marks on the bent section. According to the customer, although they noticed it was bent, they kept using it as-is. Then one day while going downhill, suddenly the spoke snapped with a crack! and the brakes locked up hard. Somehow they managed to stop without crashing.
After investigating thoroughly, it turns out only this one spoke needs replacement, but the customer is requesting repair with a red spoke—what a stylish thief they are! When doing this "spoke styling," you typically make the spoke closest to the valve hole a red spoke. However, since the rim hole for the spoke needing replacement isn't next to the valve hole, the process becomes: "use the black spoke next to the valve hole as the repair spoke, and install a red spoke in the rim hole next to the valve hole."
The broken spoke's stamp mark is "four vertical lines"... not three. I know the answer so I'm not fooled, but it's four. Even if I didn't know, if it were three vertical lines, the stamp would be unnaturally offset. It's more natural to interpret it as one of four lines being smudged.
The stamp on the black spoke I removed next to the valve hole as repair material was indeed four vertical lines.
It's fixed.
The spoke with tape on it is the repaired spoke. Since the red spoke is visually obvious, I didn't put a marker tape on it. As I always write, if you haven't done shoddy truing work, these two nipples alone will bring the wheel back into true almost completely.
On Racing Zero and 1 clincher (so-called WO format) front rims, the valve hole is positioned exactly midway between spokes. However, on the 2WAY-FIT rim (apparently for valve bushing installation purposes), the unsanded section of the rim is combined with the one closest rim hole. On Fulcrum rear wheels that have "spoke styling" as standard spec, the spokes on the non-freewheel side are red. In other words, the red spokes are on the left side. So this time I made the spoke closest to the valve hole red, and when I looked at the front hub...
With the cone lock nut on the left side, the hub shell orientation shows the correct logo, and
the red spoke is on the left side. But that's just coincidence.
Irrelevant, but the rear hub I trued while I was at it had the reverse logo.
This is a Racing Zero Competizione front wheel that's currently in the shop on a separate job, and
the Competizione has a 2WAY-FIT rim, so the valve hole and its closest rim hole are combined, and the cosmetic spoke is also in the closest rim hole, but
on this wheel, the hub shell has the correct logo and the red spoke is on the right side. The rear wheel's red spoke is 100% on the left side, so the front and rear wheels have red spokes in opposite positions. If you reverse the hub shaft orientation, the red spoke direction would match, but then the hub shell would have the reverse logo.
Since this wheel is in for rim replacement, I'll make sure during replacement that "the spoke closest to the valve hole is red and on the left side."
↑The replaced spoke
Crack!
The dark portion of the cross-section is the crack that had propagated nearly to failure, and the light portion is where it finally snapped on the last impact.
The tubeless valve is red anodized, and
it was an American Classic.
Oh, and speaking of which (feigning spontaneity), Stans has added colored anodize options to their aluminum tubeless valves. The 35mm and 44mm lengths come in five colors—black, blue, green, orange, and red—while the 55mm length comes in two colors, black and red. Black alone was previously available in all three lengths (35, 44, 55mm), but just recently the other colors were added as well. The nuts are also anodized to match the color of the valve body.
One spoke is
broken, but
this spoke has deformation separate from the fracture, and
there are impact marks on the bent section. According to the customer, although they noticed it was bent, they kept using it as-is. Then one day while going downhill, suddenly the spoke snapped with a crack! and the brakes locked up hard. Somehow they managed to stop without crashing.
After investigating thoroughly, it turns out only this one spoke needs replacement, but the customer is requesting repair with a red spoke—what a stylish thief they are! When doing this "spoke styling," you typically make the spoke closest to the valve hole a red spoke. However, since the rim hole for the spoke needing replacement isn't next to the valve hole, the process becomes: "use the black spoke next to the valve hole as the repair spoke, and install a red spoke in the rim hole next to the valve hole."
The broken spoke's stamp mark is "four vertical lines"... not three. I know the answer so I'm not fooled, but it's four. Even if I didn't know, if it were three vertical lines, the stamp would be unnaturally offset. It's more natural to interpret it as one of four lines being smudged.
The stamp on the black spoke I removed next to the valve hole as repair material was indeed four vertical lines.
It's fixed.
The spoke with tape on it is the repaired spoke. Since the red spoke is visually obvious, I didn't put a marker tape on it. As I always write, if you haven't done shoddy truing work, these two nipples alone will bring the wheel back into true almost completely.
On Racing Zero and 1 clincher (so-called WO format) front rims, the valve hole is positioned exactly midway between spokes. However, on the 2WAY-FIT rim (apparently for valve bushing installation purposes), the unsanded section of the rim is combined with the one closest rim hole. On Fulcrum rear wheels that have "spoke styling" as standard spec, the spokes on the non-freewheel side are red. In other words, the red spokes are on the left side. So this time I made the spoke closest to the valve hole red, and when I looked at the front hub...
With the cone lock nut on the left side, the hub shell orientation shows the correct logo, and
the red spoke is on the left side. But that's just coincidence.
Irrelevant, but the rear hub I trued while I was at it had the reverse logo.
This is a Racing Zero Competizione front wheel that's currently in the shop on a separate job, and
the Competizione has a 2WAY-FIT rim, so the valve hole and its closest rim hole are combined, and the cosmetic spoke is also in the closest rim hole, but
on this wheel, the hub shell has the correct logo and the red spoke is on the right side. The rear wheel's red spoke is 100% on the left side, so the front and rear wheels have red spokes in opposite positions. If you reverse the hub shaft orientation, the red spoke direction would match, but then the hub shell would have the reverse logo.
Since this wheel is in for rim replacement, I'll make sure during replacement that "the spoke closest to the valve hole is red and on the left side."
↑The replaced spoke
Crack!
The dark portion of the cross-section is the crack that had propagated nearly to failure, and the light portion is where it finally snapped on the last impact.
The tubeless valve is red anodized, and
it was an American Classic.
Oh, and speaking of which (feigning spontaneity), Stans has added colored anodize options to their aluminum tubeless valves. The 35mm and 44mm lengths come in five colors—black, blue, green, orange, and red—while the 55mm length comes in two colors, black and red. Black alone was previously available in all three lengths (35, 44, 55mm), but just recently the other colors were added as well. The nuts are also anodized to match the color of the valve body.