A customer brought in a Eurash (Japanese bicycle brand) rear wheel for me to work on.

Apparently one spoke is bent.


↑That's the one the customer marked



Fixed it.


↑The spoke I replaced
There were a lot of nipples that were on the verge of seizing,
but I managed to get it sorted.

Along with the rear wheel, the customer asked me to "take a look at" the front wheel too,
so I inspected it. The wheel didn't have much runout,
but the centering was way off—something you wouldn't expect
from a factory-built wheel. So I asked the customer
if there was any history of spoke truing on this wheel,
and they said no, plus they're the original owner.
I mean, I'm not doubting the customer or anything,
but this much misalignment is just weird, you know?
As I kept working on it...



I found several spokes that were wildly twisted near the nipples.
No way that happens naturally.
Then the customer says they "remembered"—apparently
a nearby shop was messing with the wheels while doing a bike overhaul,
and that's definitely where both the centering issue and the twisted spokes came from.
They did some sketchy spoke truing work there.
I did ask which shop it was,
but I promised not to name them, so I can't say.
What's strange is the front wheel has almost no seizing-prone nipples,
and the nipples on even the twisted spokes turn easily.
I honestly can't figure out why they'd twist them that badly.