A customer brought in a Racing Zero rear wheel for repair.
One spoke is broken, but first let me explain the backstory.
The spoke got bent from a chain drop, so
it was repaired at a nearby shop.
→After that, a spoke broke while riding (the current state in the photo)
When the customer tried to request repairs again,
they were told "even if we replace it with a new spoke, it'll just break again"
and the shop gave up on fixing it.
→The cause is unknown. The shop apparently threw in the towel.
To cut to the chase: this is almost entirely the fault of that incompetent neighborhood shop.
As I'll explain below, there's solid evidence.
They broke the customer's wheel themselves and then
just gave up? Do they have no respect for their work?
This spoke that supposedly broke suddenly during riding
would never normally break at this location.
There's only one cause.
The way they restrained the spoke twist was wrong—
they twisted the butted section at the rim end of the spoke.
So this definitely happened because of that shop's
half-baked spoke replacement job.
This nipple in particular shows clear marks of an incompetent person
messing around with it.
↑opposite side
From here on, I'll refer to the location of this broken spoke as "A".
Next, the freewheel-side spoke next to location A (excluding the opposite side),
which is the rightmost spoke in the image above:
There are clear marks of the incompetent person messing with this one too.
I'll call this location "B" from now on.
Based on experience, spokes with this level of twist
don't usually break during riding,
so spoke A must have had worse twisting, or
they bent it back and forth multiple times.
Spoke B also has concerns, so I'm replacing it.
Next, the partner spoke in the final cross pattern relative to spoke A
has deformation from the chain drop on the hub flange side.
While the chain drop itself is the rider's fault,
the shop overlooked this when replacing spoke A—that's the shop's mistake.
I'll refer to this location as "C" from now on.
All the other outer spokes have chain rub marks,
but to this degree (in my judgment) I wouldn't replace them.
If the customer wants them replaced, I will, but I wouldn't push for it.
I'm replacing spokes A, B, and C as mentioned above.
The freewheel body nut was loose enough to turn by hand,
so I tightened it.
This and any hub sideways play affect where you place the center gauge,
so I check these first.
The hub had no play.
It's fixed.
↑These are spokes A, B, and C.
With one spoke broken, there's so much runout that checking a temporary center
is pointless, so I didn't check the temporary center.
After replacing the spoke, I was able to straighten the lateral runout
by adjusting just the nipples at locations A, B, and C.
I can see they unnecessarily loosened the non-freewheel-side spoke
between A and B.
It's like watching someone who doesn't know how to solve a Rubik's cube
and just turned it randomly—I can figure out roughly where and how much
they unnecessarily touched. Don't disrespect bike mechanics.
Oh wait, the other guy was "supposedly" a bike mechanic too.
When the lateral runout was corrected, there was almost no radial runout
and the center was dead-on.
Lucky for us that they were so incompetent they didn't mess with too many things—
once I finished the lateral runout correction,
the wheel returned to Fulcrum's factory state.
Actually, there was some runout that would barely qualify as runout,
so I fine-tuned the lateral correction a bit more.
Then I applied the center gauge, and the result is shown in the image above.
Going back in time, this is location A.
The broken spoke remainder was too long to drop inside the rim,
so if it had been stuck, I'd have to cut the spoke short,
but as you can see, it loosened completely.
Actually, spoke A wasn't the original spoke on this wheel
(there's evidence for this, which I'll show later),
so there's no way it would have been stuck.
Next, location B.
A green thread-locking compound was filling the threads
like plaque between teeth, but
it still loosened normally.
I don't understand why they'd twist the spoke over this small amount.
The fact that they twisted the spoke while loosening the nipple completely
without breaking the spoke shows this wasn't "unavoidable"—
it proves they made a mistake.
This is the original spoke from location A,
sent to me by the customer.
This became crucial evidence.
The original spokes at locations A, B, and C
I'll call lowercase a, b, and c respectively.
Spoke b shows less twisting because
when the nipple was turned in the loosening direction,
it twisted back slightly along with it.
In normal work, spokes with this level of twist
would just be straightened visually—I wouldn't replace them.
For reference, spoke c.
It's not twisted at all.
Spoke c was replaced because of the deformation on the hub end.
Spoke a has a stamp that reads "- -" (two horizontal lines side by side).
This is the most damning thing in this whole incident.
Looking at the original wheel, the freewheel-side spokes are stamped
"III" (three vertical lines).
Spokes b and c also have three vertical lines, and
what I used for repairs here are all stamped "III".
Fulcrum aluminum spokes have longer thread lengths to work with
the new nipples that have built-in nylon thread-locking.
So even if they appear different in length, if the distance from the spoke head
to where the threads start is the same, they can be substituted.
↑This is an example of such a case.
For details (→see here)
Let me compare the lengths of the "- -" and "III" spare spokes I have.
When I align the spoke heads...
They're this different. This cannot be substituted.
The upper spoke is the length of a, and
the lower spoke is the correct length for b, c, and the original.
Both have thread lengths for the old nipples, by the way.
The "- -" spoke sent by the customer and the spoke with the nipple
still attached that broke and remained on the wheel
couldn't possibly be unrelated.
The twisted fracture surfaces fit together perfectly.
The spoke broke from twisting, but it's possible
they also forced assembly by screwing a spoke that was too long
all the way to the bottom.
Also, looking at the image above,
the nipple at location A has been replaced.
What that crappy shop did was:
In their first so-called repair, they installed a spoke of the wrong length at location A,
damaged the nipple,
unnecessarily twisted the spoke at location B,
overlooked the need to replace the spoke at location C which was clearly deformed,
and then when they found out the spoke at location A had broken,
they spouted nonsense and gave up.
In principle, they should refund the cost of spokes A and B
and the labor from the first repair,
but I don't intervene in matters beyond wheel repair, nor can I.
If the customer chooses not to just accept the loss and takes action,
this article and the spokes are evidence.
Normally I photograph replaced spokes and discard them, but
in this case I'm returning them.
I'm also deliberately leaving the A, B, C marker tape on the rim
to make the damage clear.
If you want, you can even show this article to that shop nearby.
Let me write a message for them too.
Hey, you piece of garbage, the fact that you can't fix a wheel this basic
means you're below second-rate, and if you can't even refund what you messed up,
you're below third-rate. At least try to be second-rate.
Seriously appreciate the customers who feed you without realizing
how incompetent you are.
Good thing your shop isn't in Osaka.
I forgot to mention that the customer's area is
about 200+ km from my shop.
Bonus:
There's a similar case from before (→see here),
and in that one they showed the article and had a conversation.
The customer got 60,000 yen back out of 120,000 yen.
That roughly covers the cost of the spokes they replaced without the customer's approval
plus the front and rear wheel labor.
The second-generation owner who made the mistake said things like
"I'm actually not good at wheel building~" as an excuse,
and "The 60,000 yen I refunded—that's coming out of my own pocket, not the shop's!"
He kept saying stuff like that.
Yeah, that's exactly the problem with you. You're probably done after your generation.
One spoke is broken, but first let me explain the backstory.
The spoke got bent from a chain drop, so
it was repaired at a nearby shop.
→After that, a spoke broke while riding (the current state in the photo)
When the customer tried to request repairs again,
they were told "even if we replace it with a new spoke, it'll just break again"
and the shop gave up on fixing it.
→The cause is unknown. The shop apparently threw in the towel.
To cut to the chase: this is almost entirely the fault of that incompetent neighborhood shop.
As I'll explain below, there's solid evidence.
They broke the customer's wheel themselves and then
just gave up? Do they have no respect for their work?
This spoke that supposedly broke suddenly during riding
would never normally break at this location.
There's only one cause.
The way they restrained the spoke twist was wrong—
they twisted the butted section at the rim end of the spoke.
So this definitely happened because of that shop's
half-baked spoke replacement job.
This nipple in particular shows clear marks of an incompetent person
messing around with it.
↑opposite side
From here on, I'll refer to the location of this broken spoke as "A".
Next, the freewheel-side spoke next to location A (excluding the opposite side),
which is the rightmost spoke in the image above:
There are clear marks of the incompetent person messing with this one too.
I'll call this location "B" from now on.
Based on experience, spokes with this level of twist
don't usually break during riding,
so spoke A must have had worse twisting, or
they bent it back and forth multiple times.
Spoke B also has concerns, so I'm replacing it.
Next, the partner spoke in the final cross pattern relative to spoke A
has deformation from the chain drop on the hub flange side.
While the chain drop itself is the rider's fault,
the shop overlooked this when replacing spoke A—that's the shop's mistake.
I'll refer to this location as "C" from now on.
All the other outer spokes have chain rub marks,
but to this degree (in my judgment) I wouldn't replace them.
If the customer wants them replaced, I will, but I wouldn't push for it.
I'm replacing spokes A, B, and C as mentioned above.
The freewheel body nut was loose enough to turn by hand,
so I tightened it.
This and any hub sideways play affect where you place the center gauge,
so I check these first.
The hub had no play.
It's fixed.
↑These are spokes A, B, and C.
With one spoke broken, there's so much runout that checking a temporary center
is pointless, so I didn't check the temporary center.
After replacing the spoke, I was able to straighten the lateral runout
by adjusting just the nipples at locations A, B, and C.
I can see they unnecessarily loosened the non-freewheel-side spoke
between A and B.
It's like watching someone who doesn't know how to solve a Rubik's cube
and just turned it randomly—I can figure out roughly where and how much
they unnecessarily touched. Don't disrespect bike mechanics.
Oh wait, the other guy was "supposedly" a bike mechanic too.
When the lateral runout was corrected, there was almost no radial runout
and the center was dead-on.
Lucky for us that they were so incompetent they didn't mess with too many things—
once I finished the lateral runout correction,
the wheel returned to Fulcrum's factory state.
Actually, there was some runout that would barely qualify as runout,
so I fine-tuned the lateral correction a bit more.
Then I applied the center gauge, and the result is shown in the image above.
Going back in time, this is location A.
The broken spoke remainder was too long to drop inside the rim,
so if it had been stuck, I'd have to cut the spoke short,
but as you can see, it loosened completely.
Actually, spoke A wasn't the original spoke on this wheel
(there's evidence for this, which I'll show later),
so there's no way it would have been stuck.
Next, location B.
A green thread-locking compound was filling the threads
like plaque between teeth, but
it still loosened normally.
I don't understand why they'd twist the spoke over this small amount.
The fact that they twisted the spoke while loosening the nipple completely
without breaking the spoke shows this wasn't "unavoidable"—
it proves they made a mistake.
This is the original spoke from location A,
sent to me by the customer.
This became crucial evidence.
The original spokes at locations A, B, and C
I'll call lowercase a, b, and c respectively.
Spoke b shows less twisting because
when the nipple was turned in the loosening direction,
it twisted back slightly along with it.
In normal work, spokes with this level of twist
would just be straightened visually—I wouldn't replace them.
For reference, spoke c.
It's not twisted at all.
Spoke c was replaced because of the deformation on the hub end.
Spoke a has a stamp that reads "- -" (two horizontal lines side by side).
This is the most damning thing in this whole incident.
Looking at the original wheel, the freewheel-side spokes are stamped
"III" (three vertical lines).
Spokes b and c also have three vertical lines, and
what I used for repairs here are all stamped "III".
Fulcrum aluminum spokes have longer thread lengths to work with
the new nipples that have built-in nylon thread-locking.
So even if they appear different in length, if the distance from the spoke head
to where the threads start is the same, they can be substituted.
↑This is an example of such a case.
For details (→see here)
Let me compare the lengths of the "- -" and "III" spare spokes I have.
When I align the spoke heads...
They're this different. This cannot be substituted.
The upper spoke is the length of a, and
the lower spoke is the correct length for b, c, and the original.
Both have thread lengths for the old nipples, by the way.
The "- -" spoke sent by the customer and the spoke with the nipple
still attached that broke and remained on the wheel
couldn't possibly be unrelated.
The twisted fracture surfaces fit together perfectly.
The spoke broke from twisting, but it's possible
they also forced assembly by screwing a spoke that was too long
all the way to the bottom.
Also, looking at the image above,
the nipple at location A has been replaced.
What that crappy shop did was:
In their first so-called repair, they installed a spoke of the wrong length at location A,
damaged the nipple,
unnecessarily twisted the spoke at location B,
overlooked the need to replace the spoke at location C which was clearly deformed,
and then when they found out the spoke at location A had broken,
they spouted nonsense and gave up.
In principle, they should refund the cost of spokes A and B
and the labor from the first repair,
but I don't intervene in matters beyond wheel repair, nor can I.
If the customer chooses not to just accept the loss and takes action,
this article and the spokes are evidence.
Normally I photograph replaced spokes and discard them, but
in this case I'm returning them.
I'm also deliberately leaving the A, B, C marker tape on the rim
to make the damage clear.
If you want, you can even show this article to that shop nearby.
Let me write a message for them too.
Hey, you piece of garbage, the fact that you can't fix a wheel this basic
means you're below second-rate, and if you can't even refund what you messed up,
you're below third-rate. At least try to be second-rate.
Seriously appreciate the customers who feed you without realizing
how incompetent you are.
Good thing your shop isn't in Osaka.
I forgot to mention that the customer's area is
about 200+ km from my shop.
Bonus:
There's a similar case from before (→see here),
and in that one they showed the article and had a conversation.
The customer got 60,000 yen back out of 120,000 yen.
That roughly covers the cost of the spokes they replaced without the customer's approval
plus the front and rear wheel labor.
The second-generation owner who made the mistake said things like
"I'm actually not good at wheel building~" as an excuse,
and "The 60,000 yen I refunded—that's coming out of my own pocket, not the shop's!"
He kept saying stuff like that.
Yeah, that's exactly the problem with you. You're probably done after your generation.