A customer placed an order, so I sourced a Racing Zero Competizione wheelset.
Rather than the customer bringing it in themselves, I sourced it from
a distributor that's the only one in Japan handling Fulcrum.
When I quickly checked the major overseas online retailers,
their prices were so cheap that I couldn't match them at our shop,
so I was honest with the customer and told them those sites would be cheaper.
Still, they wanted to buy from us, so I did my best to make the price work.
If they'd bought from overseas and had to pay customs duty, plus
the hassle of either shipping it to us or bringing it in themselves,
and considering that we do free inspections on items purchased from our shop,
I managed to get things to a point where there's not a huge price difference.
The front wheel too
and the rear wheel were both perfectly centered right out of the box.
I only did the slightest bit of truing.
Over the past few years, Campagnolo/Fulcrum has raised the price point threshold
for which pre-built wheelsets come with a wheel bag,
so these days the Racing Zero no longer comes with one.
Even though the wheels are well-supported in the box so they don't move around much,
the packaging is extremely simple—just a bubble wrap bag—
and while these wheels are inherently resistant to rim wobble,
considering they shipped from Romania and made their way here through
whatever route they took,
it's remarkable how little runout they have.
This isn't just true of this particular unit, but is a general characteristic
of Campagnolo/Fulcrum wheelsets.
Rather than the customer bringing it in themselves, I sourced it from
a distributor that's the only one in Japan handling Fulcrum.
When I quickly checked the major overseas online retailers,
their prices were so cheap that I couldn't match them at our shop,
so I was honest with the customer and told them those sites would be cheaper.
Still, they wanted to buy from us, so I did my best to make the price work.
If they'd bought from overseas and had to pay customs duty, plus
the hassle of either shipping it to us or bringing it in themselves,
and considering that we do free inspections on items purchased from our shop,
I managed to get things to a point where there's not a huge price difference.
The front wheel too
and the rear wheel were both perfectly centered right out of the box.
I only did the slightest bit of truing.
Over the past few years, Campagnolo/Fulcrum has raised the price point threshold
for which pre-built wheelsets come with a wheel bag,
so these days the Racing Zero no longer comes with one.
Even though the wheels are well-supported in the box so they don't move around much,
the packaging is extremely simple—just a bubble wrap bag—
and while these wheels are inherently resistant to rim wobble,
considering they shipped from Romania and made their way here through
whatever route they took,
it's remarkable how little runout they have.
This isn't just true of this particular unit, but is a general characteristic
of Campagnolo/Fulcrum wheelsets.