A customer brought in a Roval CLX50 for me to work on.
They brought it in for front and rear wheel inspections,
and I hadn't planned to write about it,
but since I ended up replacing some front wheel spokes, here we are.
The black logo is printed on the rim,
and markings like CLX50 are done the same way on this rim.
When the Roval lettering is white, a white sticker the same size is applied
over the black printed logo on some wheels.
The adhesive on those stickers is weak and the edges peel up in spots,
and this hologram sticker is the same deal—just different colors.
"Hologram wheel" or not, it's got nothing to do with Cannondale.
↑This image is after I released the tension.
There was one huge lateral wobble,
and I was convinced there was a bent spoke,
so I figured the customer had to have noticed it too and asked about it.
They said, "I think I'm probably the third owner,"—sounding like they'd heard something similar before.
The secondimpact owner (probably) apparently told them,
"We inspect it before handing it over!"
But there's no way you'd miss a wobble like that—don't feed me that careless nonsense.
Anyway, that's how we ended up replacing spokes.
And sure enough, as it turned out,
it wasn't a "transfer from someone they know in real life."
All fixed now.
As for the rear wheel, it was a 2:1 build with 21H,
but it wasn't a left-right reverse-butted build—both sides were DT black aero lite straight spokes.
Even for that era, I'd think the CLX32 had a reverse-butted configuration.
The rear wheel didn't have any bent spokes,
but there was enough wobble that if I put it on a truing stand, I'd have no choice but to correct it,
so I'm skeptical that they actually inspected it.
Or maybe they did their best without bad intentions and that's just what they got... but no,
with that kind of lateral wobble on the front, it's impossible.
So the "inspection" claim must be false.
↑The spokes I replaced
While I was working, the customer with this wheel said to me,
"Between the Bora 50 and the Nomu Lab Wheel No. 5,
the Bora feels like it has worse engagement."
... I thought maybe I shouldn't plant preconceptions like that,
but I ended up saying back,
"If you can feel that difference, then you should also be able to tell that the CLX50 is smoother than the Bora."
They brought it in for front and rear wheel inspections,
and I hadn't planned to write about it,
but since I ended up replacing some front wheel spokes, here we are.
The black logo is printed on the rim,
and markings like CLX50 are done the same way on this rim.
When the Roval lettering is white, a white sticker the same size is applied
over the black printed logo on some wheels.
The adhesive on those stickers is weak and the edges peel up in spots,
and this hologram sticker is the same deal—just different colors.
↑This image is after I released the tension.
There was one huge lateral wobble,
and I was convinced there was a bent spoke,
so I figured the customer had to have noticed it too and asked about it.
They said, "I think I'm probably the third owner,"—sounding like they'd heard something similar before.
The second
"We inspect it before handing it over!"
But there's no way you'd miss a wobble like that—don't feed me that careless nonsense.
Anyway, that's how we ended up replacing spokes.
And sure enough, as it turned out,
it wasn't a "transfer from someone they know in real life."
All fixed now.
As for the rear wheel, it was a 2:1 build with 21H,
but it wasn't a left-right reverse-butted build—both sides were DT black aero lite straight spokes.
Even for that era, I'd think the CLX32 had a reverse-butted configuration.
The rear wheel didn't have any bent spokes,
but there was enough wobble that if I put it on a truing stand, I'd have no choice but to correct it,
so I'm skeptical that they actually inspected it.
Or maybe they did their best without bad intentions and that's just what they got... but no,
with that kind of lateral wobble on the front, it's impossible.
So the "inspection" claim must be false.
↑The spokes I replaced
While I was working, the customer with this wheel said to me,
"Between the Bora 50 and the Nomu Lab Wheel No. 5,
the Bora feels like it has worse engagement."
... I thought maybe I shouldn't plant preconceptions like that,
but I ended up saying back,
"If you can feel that difference, then you should also be able to tell that the CLX50 is smoother than the Bora."