A customer dropped off the rear wheel from their Racing Zero Night for repair.
A spoke had broken.
It snapped during a hard pedal stroke on a climb.
This wasn't the "typical" spoke failure at the neck due to fatigue—
the spoke actually fractured mid-shaft.
I said "typical" because I've only ever seen two cases of Campagnolo/Fulcrum aluminum spokes breaking at the neck without any visible damage or deformation. It's incredibly rare.
Spokes don't just break in the middle for no reason, so as the customer mentioned, there must have been a pre-existing defect or scratch on the spoke before it fractured.
Spoke failures typically happen
(including standard neck breaks on steel spokes)
during sudden, hard pedal strokes—like accelerating from a red light or standing up to climb.
I removed the freehub body because, apparently, the customer shares a single freehub body between two wheels.
Since I need the freehub body as a reference point for centering the wheel,
I installed my own freehub body for the repair work.
All fixed.
↑Replacement spoke
A spoke had broken.
It snapped during a hard pedal stroke on a climb.
This wasn't the "typical" spoke failure at the neck due to fatigue—
the spoke actually fractured mid-shaft.
I said "typical" because I've only ever seen two cases of Campagnolo/Fulcrum aluminum spokes breaking at the neck without any visible damage or deformation. It's incredibly rare.
Spokes don't just break in the middle for no reason, so as the customer mentioned, there must have been a pre-existing defect or scratch on the spoke before it fractured.
Spoke failures typically happen
(including standard neck breaks on steel spokes)
during sudden, hard pedal strokes—like accelerating from a red light or standing up to climb.
I removed the freehub body because, apparently, the customer shares a single freehub body between two wheels.
Since I need the freehub body as a reference point for centering the wheel,
I installed my own freehub body for the repair work.
All fixed.
↑Replacement spoke