Continuing from the other day. Let me wrap up the title.
I installed Mikashima (MKS) Lambda pedals on the bamboo frame, but
when I ordered these pedals, what arrived was
Lambda Ezy Superior.
Ezy (Easy) is Mikashima's proprietary standard,
a mechanism that allows the pedal body to be detachable (convenient for bike touring).
Currently, Ezy is mostly installed on budget models,
while Ezy Superior is installed on premium models.
There is no compatibility between Ezy and Ezy Superior.
Lambda has a list price of ¥4,300 (before tax),
Lambda Ezy Superior has a list price of ¥9,800 (before tax),
so the Ezy Superior part is actually more expensive than the pedal body itself.
I ordered the cheaper model but received the expensive one by mistake,
but since I don't have any particular need to remove the pedal by hand
I didn't think "Great, I got lucky!"
I felt sorry for throwing off their inventory count
so I decided to return and exchange it anyway.
That distributor
is the only distributor in Japan handling Fulcrum,
and since it's within my bike commute range (10 minutes from home),
I went there directly to return it.
The image above is a whiteboard in the distributor's shop that I took at the time,
and the doodles of crab rays haven't been erased for at least six months.
On the left side, there's something written that doesn't seem particularly important,
but I can't judge whether it's truly unimportant,
so I've processed the image to obscure it.
I was able to exchange the pedal for a regular Lambda,
but during the process I was dragged into a back room and threatened with
"If Speed 40C Gold Limited is sold out,
you could stock Racing Zero Competizione Red Custom,"
and due to political reasons I ended up having to stock it.
I'm exaggerating somewhat,
but it's a definite fact that if I hadn't visited for that pedal exchange that day,
I wouldn't have stocked these wheels.
So they arrived.
Racing Zero Competizione Red Custom.
The Competizione rims are 2WAY-FIT rims.
Apart from the disc brake DB series,
currently Campagnolo and Fulcrum don't seem particularly enthusiastic about
releasing tubeless rims for their aluminum rim brake wheels
(Shamal Mille and Racing Zero Night are both non-tubeless rims).
The part number for this rim is R0F (or R)-2RB21, which breaks down as:
R Racing
0 Zero
F (R) Front or Rear
2 2WAY-FIT designation. Clincher would be C, tubular would be T
R Rim
B Rim color is black. Red would be R, Night would be N, Carbon would be C
21 Model type. Changes as no number at end → 01 → 11 → 21...
This is the pattern, but I suspected that this was just
an older 2WAY-FIT rim with
a Competizione sticker
slapped on as a lazy model, so I investigated and found that:
The 2RB rim was the 2009 Racing Zero 2WAY-FIT,
The 2RB01 rim was the 2010-2012 Racing Zero 2WAY-FIT,
The 2RB11 rim was the 2013-2016 Racing Zero 2WAY-FIT rim,
and the Racing Zero 2WAY-FIT model was discontinued after 2016,
while the 2RB21 rim has been the Competizione rim from 2017 to present,
so this 2WAY-FIT rim is Competizione-exclusive.
The difference is that the 2RB11 rim is 20.5mm wide,
while the 2RB21 rim is 23mm wide — it's been widened.
So rather than designing a dedicated rim,
it just happened to coincide with the timing of the wide rim update, probably.
Apart from the rim, the hub bearings feature CULT specification,
which differs from other Racing Zero wheels,
and the spokes are not just plain red spokes but
include one red spoke with cosmetic lettering as a distinguishing feature.
↑rear wheel
↑front wheel
Wait? The red spoke with lettering that's supposed to introduce itself as "Competizione"
isn't in the proper place or anywhere else!
How does this thing dare claim to be a Competizione!
So at our shop, we
replaced the red spoke near the valve hole
with a lettered spoke and are selling it as
"Racing Zero Competizione Red Custom Custom".
The hub side has lettering,
and the rim side has this mark.
I replaced both front and rear wheel spokes.
There was slight centering drift that I corrected as well
(though we'd be doing this anyway before sale even without spoke replacement).
For pricing and stock availability, please visit or call the shop.
Racing Zero Competizione Red Custom is
a Japanese distributor-exclusive specification with limited production runs,
but the distributor doesn't disclose specific order quantities to the manufacturer.
Speed 40C Gold Limited Edition is
publicized as limited to 75 pairs.
However, I discovered that they actually ordered 77 pairs, and the label on our box
showed this was the 3rd pair we received (seen in the image above).
This time's Red Custom shipment had no such markings,
but I asked the people at the distributor, so I know how many pairs were ordered.
But I can't write that here.
I installed Mikashima (MKS) Lambda pedals on the bamboo frame, but
when I ordered these pedals, what arrived was
Lambda Ezy Superior.
Ezy (Easy) is Mikashima's proprietary standard,
a mechanism that allows the pedal body to be detachable (convenient for bike touring).
Currently, Ezy is mostly installed on budget models,
while Ezy Superior is installed on premium models.
There is no compatibility between Ezy and Ezy Superior.
Lambda has a list price of ¥4,300 (before tax),
Lambda Ezy Superior has a list price of ¥9,800 (before tax),
so the Ezy Superior part is actually more expensive than the pedal body itself.
I ordered the cheaper model but received the expensive one by mistake,
but since I don't have any particular need to remove the pedal by hand
I didn't think "Great, I got lucky!"
I felt sorry for throwing off their inventory count
so I decided to return and exchange it anyway.
That distributor
is the only distributor in Japan handling Fulcrum,
and since it's within my bike commute range (10 minutes from home),
I went there directly to return it.
The image above is a whiteboard in the distributor's shop that I took at the time,
and the doodles of crab rays haven't been erased for at least six months.
On the left side, there's something written that doesn't seem particularly important,
but I can't judge whether it's truly unimportant,
so I've processed the image to obscure it.
I was able to exchange the pedal for a regular Lambda,
but during the process I was dragged into a back room and threatened with
"If Speed 40C Gold Limited is sold out,
you could stock Racing Zero Competizione Red Custom,"
and due to political reasons I ended up having to stock it.
I'm exaggerating somewhat,
but it's a definite fact that if I hadn't visited for that pedal exchange that day,
I wouldn't have stocked these wheels.
So they arrived.
Racing Zero Competizione Red Custom.
The Competizione rims are 2WAY-FIT rims.
Apart from the disc brake DB series,
currently Campagnolo and Fulcrum don't seem particularly enthusiastic about
releasing tubeless rims for their aluminum rim brake wheels
(Shamal Mille and Racing Zero Night are both non-tubeless rims).
The part number for this rim is R0F (or R)-2RB21, which breaks down as:
R Racing
0 Zero
F (R) Front or Rear
2 2WAY-FIT designation. Clincher would be C, tubular would be T
R Rim
B Rim color is black. Red would be R, Night would be N, Carbon would be C
21 Model type. Changes as no number at end → 01 → 11 → 21...
This is the pattern, but I suspected that this was just
an older 2WAY-FIT rim with
a Competizione sticker
The 2RB rim was the 2009 Racing Zero 2WAY-FIT,
The 2RB01 rim was the 2010-2012 Racing Zero 2WAY-FIT,
The 2RB11 rim was the 2013-2016 Racing Zero 2WAY-FIT rim,
and the Racing Zero 2WAY-FIT model was discontinued after 2016,
while the 2RB21 rim has been the Competizione rim from 2017 to present,
so this 2WAY-FIT rim is Competizione-exclusive.
The difference is that the 2RB11 rim is 20.5mm wide,
while the 2RB21 rim is 23mm wide — it's been widened.
it just happened to coincide with the timing of the wide rim update, probably.
Apart from the rim, the hub bearings feature CULT specification,
which differs from other Racing Zero wheels,
and the spokes are not just plain red spokes but
include one red spoke with cosmetic lettering as a distinguishing feature.
↑rear wheel
↑front wheel
Wait? The red spoke with lettering that's supposed to introduce itself as "Competizione"
isn't in the proper place or anywhere else!
How does this thing dare claim to be a Competizione!
So at our shop, we
replaced the red spoke near the valve hole
with a lettered spoke and are selling it as
"Racing Zero Competizione Red Custom Custom".
The hub side has lettering,
and the rim side has this mark.
I replaced both front and rear wheel spokes.
There was slight centering drift that I corrected as well
(though we'd be doing this anyway before sale even without spoke replacement).
For pricing and stock availability, please visit or call the shop.
Racing Zero Competizione Red Custom is
a Japanese distributor-exclusive specification with limited production runs,
but the distributor doesn't disclose specific order quantities to the manufacturer.
Speed 40C Gold Limited Edition is
publicized as limited to 75 pairs.
However, I discovered that they actually ordered 77 pairs, and the label on our box
showed this was the 3rd pair we received (seen in the image above).
This time's Red Custom shipment had no such markings,
but I asked the people at the distributor, so I know how many pairs were ordered.
But I can't write that here.