A customer brought in a Bullet Ultra for me to work on.
The hub had play in it, but two local shops couldn't fix it,
so they brought it to our shop.
The "Bullet Ultra" comes in both USB and CULT specifications
(this one is the CULT spec),
and both naturally use cup-and-cone bearing systems, so there's no reason the play shouldn't be fixable.
Actually, the lower-grade "Bullet" doesn't use a cup-and-cone system
but rather cartridge bearings, so the hub spec is the same as Scirocco and others.
For that reason, CULT conversion isn't possible either.
Even after loosening the locknut screw on the bearing adjustment nut,
the adjustment nut couldn't be tightened, so there's play in the hub. I can't believe a shop can't solve a problem this basic. Incredible.
I asked the customer for the names of both shops,
but I promised not to post them publicly, so I can't call them out.
Apparently, one of them said the hub needed to be replaced.
Or they said it would need to be sent out for repair by some shop affiliated with Campagnolo.
I already knew what the problem was, so I explained it to the customer before working on it,
and then I proved that I was right in front of their eyes.
A centering shim with a wedge was digging hard into the left cone,
and because of that, hand pressure alone couldn't tighten the adjustment nut.
So all I had to do was release the wedge from the cone once.
The whole fix took less than five minutes.
For these shops to talk about replacing the hub over something like this—
I told the customer that this is exactly the kind of crappy shop that makes exaggerated claims and covers up the fact that they can't handle the problem,
just like I wrote about yesterday right here.
The sad part is that some of these cases
end up being brought to Japan's most knowledgeable Campagnolo distributor
to deal with. Dealing with these idiots and taking responsibility for them must be rough.
I run into situations like this all the time myself,
so I really feel for them.
↑This is a Nucleon bearing adjustment nut,
but the old hubs had 21mm-wide flats for gripping,
so you could turn the nut with a tool.
Even if the wedge was set, you could force it,
but Campagnolo's hubs of this type don't actually require much tightening force for bearing adjustment
(if the wedge is set, you just release it),
and because tools could be applied here, I saw a lot of hubs back then
that got over-tightened and became notchy,
so Campagnolo probably did away with the grip flats for that reason too.
For the rear wheel, there was almost no lateral wobble, but there was a slight center offset.
Given that it was offset toward the freewheel side and the usage history I heard,
I thought it was from wear over time,
but then I noticed the front wheel that came with it had almost no wobble,
but the center was offset by a ridiculous amount that couldn't possibly be Campagnolo's factory state
(about the thickness of a one-yen coin),
so I asked and learned there was a spoke truing history from one of the two shops mentioned earlier.
I can't say for certain about the rear wheel,
but the front wheel was definitely "pseudo-trued"—it's offset all wrong.
With rim brakes, front wheels don't go out of center from normal wear,
and truing work that leaves this much center offset behind and charging money for it
can't be called shop work.
The hub had play in it, but two local shops couldn't fix it,
so they brought it to our shop.
The "Bullet Ultra" comes in both USB and CULT specifications
(this one is the CULT spec),
and both naturally use cup-and-cone bearing systems, so there's no reason the play shouldn't be fixable.
Actually, the lower-grade "Bullet" doesn't use a cup-and-cone system
but rather cartridge bearings, so the hub spec is the same as Scirocco and others.
For that reason, CULT conversion isn't possible either.
Even after loosening the locknut screw on the bearing adjustment nut,
the adjustment nut couldn't be tightened, so there's play in the hub. I can't believe a shop can't solve a problem this basic. Incredible.
I asked the customer for the names of both shops,
but I promised not to post them publicly, so I can't call them out.
Apparently, one of them said the hub needed to be replaced.
Or they said it would need to be sent out for repair by some shop affiliated with Campagnolo.
I already knew what the problem was, so I explained it to the customer before working on it,
and then I proved that I was right in front of their eyes.
A centering shim with a wedge was digging hard into the left cone,
and because of that, hand pressure alone couldn't tighten the adjustment nut.
So all I had to do was release the wedge from the cone once.
The whole fix took less than five minutes.
For these shops to talk about replacing the hub over something like this—
I told the customer that this is exactly the kind of crappy shop that makes exaggerated claims and covers up the fact that they can't handle the problem,
just like I wrote about yesterday right here.
The sad part is that some of these cases
end up being brought to Japan's most knowledgeable Campagnolo distributor
to deal with. Dealing with these idiots and taking responsibility for them must be rough.
I run into situations like this all the time myself,
so I really feel for them.
↑This is a Nucleon bearing adjustment nut,
but the old hubs had 21mm-wide flats for gripping,
so you could turn the nut with a tool.
Even if the wedge was set, you could force it,
but Campagnolo's hubs of this type don't actually require much tightening force for bearing adjustment
(if the wedge is set, you just release it),
and because tools could be applied here, I saw a lot of hubs back then
that got over-tightened and became notchy,
so Campagnolo probably did away with the grip flats for that reason too.
For the rear wheel, there was almost no lateral wobble, but there was a slight center offset.
Given that it was offset toward the freewheel side and the usage history I heard,
I thought it was from wear over time,
but then I noticed the front wheel that came with it had almost no wobble,
but the center was offset by a ridiculous amount that couldn't possibly be Campagnolo's factory state
(about the thickness of a one-yen coin),
so I asked and learned there was a spoke truing history from one of the two shops mentioned earlier.
I can't say for certain about the rear wheel,
but the front wheel was definitely "pseudo-trued"—it's offset all wrong.
With rim brakes, front wheels don't go out of center from normal wear,
and truing work that leaves this much center offset behind and charging money for it
can't be called shop work.