Another day with wheels (and so on).
A customer brought in both front and rear wheels from a ZIPP 303 Firecreast.
Today I'm working on the front wheel, and the customer wants to replace the hubs on both wheels with ONYX Vesper hubs.
That's fine, but ZIPP wheels come with an incredibly generous written warranty. As long as you're the first owner and have registered the product, even if you damage the wheel through your own negligence—not a product defect—like if you hit a rock on the road and crack the rim, they'll replace it with a brand new one free of charge at least once.
The "first owner with user registration" I mentioned earlier applies not just to products purchased from authorized dealers, but also to items purchased from overseas retailers. In fact, our shop has done initial inspections on a 404 bought overseas and later received a brand new 404 as a warranty replacement when the original was destroyed. Apparently they contacted ZIPP directly in their home country and they took care of it.
It's like you're buying the ownership rights for two wheels worth of warranty even though you can only own one wheel at a time.
However, modifications like hub swaps are considered alterations, and I suspect—though I haven't confirmed—that this warranty becomes void. So I did check with the customer to make sure they were okay with that.
Well, I'm returning the original hub and spokes, so if they actually destroy it later, I could theoretically rebuild it in the stock condition... wait, I probably shouldn't be writing this.
The right side—the low-tension side opposite the rotor mount—was actually tensioned pretty well despite those conditions.
I deflated the tire to release the bead. By the way, the current 303 series are all hookless rims. When you pinch the deflated tire, there's a ridge around the outer circumference like a lump of chewed gum stuck inside.
Some dried sealant of a type I wasn't familiar with was caked on the tire. Interestingly, it was scattered at different points around the wheel's circumference. If you divided the tire into six 60-degree sections, you'd find clumps of this sealant in every single section.
Separately, some Stans sealant had also dried. Within the frame of this image, it's all clumped in one spot. This must have been the side touching the ground for most of the time. Though honestly, this wheel's been sitting in our shop since last year anyway! Ahahaha! ← What am I laughing at?
I've been thinking for a while now—with tubeless wheels that have sealant in them, isn't it impossible to precisely apply balance weights?
Disassembled.
I prepared this shot just for the article's appearance—if I wasn't going to use it here, I wouldn't have written it on a paper towel. I sorted the spokes by side and by J-spoke/non-J-spoke, but since none of these spokes would be reused, there's not much point to it. I'm replacing the rotor-mount-side spokes with a different gauge, and the opposite-side spokes with a different length, so I'm not reusing a single spoke.
This wheel is a 303 Firecreast with all-black CX-RAY spokes, but the cheaper 303S model uses all-black CX Sprint spokes. ZIPP is one of the manufacturers that uses CX Sprint, but it seems they only adopt it for the sake of differentiation—deliberately making it heavier compared to their higher-end models with CX-RAY. It's not for doing left-right different-gauge lacing. In that respect, ZIPP's understanding of wheelbuilding is even inferior to Reynolds during one of their phases. For me, even if CX Sprint were the same price as CX-RAY, there are still situations where I'd use it. Aside from left-right different-gauge lacing, if I were building an 18H or 16H radial front wheel for rim brakes, I'd choose CX Sprint over CX-RAY if it was an option.
If this wheel had been a 303S, I would've reused the four black CX Sprint spokes on the rotor-mount side without modification during the rebuild.
Since it's not the side with cable routing, returning it to stock condition would be easy.
↑Original J-spoke
↑Original non-J-spoke
Maybe because these are the low-tension right-side spokes, there's not much difference in the deformation around the spoke neck, but there is a noticeable difference. The photos don't capture it very well, but the original J-spoke has deformed into more of an umbrella-handle curve.
Sapim's new B nipple washer was installed between the nipple and rim. For the differences between the old and new B (→see here), and for details on A, B, and C differences (→see here)
Laced up.
ONYX Vesper disc road hub, 24H, black half CX Sprint, 64-spoke reverse Italian lacing. I'll do the cable routing later.
A customer brought in both front and rear wheels from a ZIPP 303 Firecreast.
Today I'm working on the front wheel, and the customer wants to replace the hubs on both wheels with ONYX Vesper hubs.
That's fine, but ZIPP wheels come with an incredibly generous written warranty. As long as you're the first owner and have registered the product, even if you damage the wheel through your own negligence—not a product defect—like if you hit a rock on the road and crack the rim, they'll replace it with a brand new one free of charge at least once.
It's like you're buying the ownership rights for two wheels worth of warranty even though you can only own one wheel at a time.
However, modifications like hub swaps are considered alterations, and I suspect—though I haven't confirmed—that this warranty becomes void. So I did check with the customer to make sure they were okay with that.
The right side—the low-tension side opposite the rotor mount—was actually tensioned pretty well despite those conditions.
I deflated the tire to release the bead. By the way, the current 303 series are all hookless rims. When you pinch the deflated tire, there's a ridge around the outer circumference like a lump of chewed gum stuck inside.
Some dried sealant of a type I wasn't familiar with was caked on the tire. Interestingly, it was scattered at different points around the wheel's circumference. If you divided the tire into six 60-degree sections, you'd find clumps of this sealant in every single section.
Separately, some Stans sealant had also dried. Within the frame of this image, it's all clumped in one spot. This must have been the side touching the ground for most of the time. Though honestly, this wheel's been sitting in our shop since last year anyway! Ahahaha! ← What am I laughing at?
I've been thinking for a while now—with tubeless wheels that have sealant in them, isn't it impossible to precisely apply balance weights?
Disassembled.
I prepared this shot just for the article's appearance—if I wasn't going to use it here, I wouldn't have written it on a paper towel. I sorted the spokes by side and by J-spoke/non-J-spoke, but since none of these spokes would be reused, there's not much point to it. I'm replacing the rotor-mount-side spokes with a different gauge, and the opposite-side spokes with a different length, so I'm not reusing a single spoke.
This wheel is a 303 Firecreast with all-black CX-RAY spokes, but the cheaper 303S model uses all-black CX Sprint spokes. ZIPP is one of the manufacturers that uses CX Sprint, but it seems they only adopt it for the sake of differentiation—deliberately making it heavier compared to their higher-end models with CX-RAY. It's not for doing left-right different-gauge lacing. In that respect, ZIPP's understanding of wheelbuilding is even inferior to Reynolds during one of their phases. For me, even if CX Sprint were the same price as CX-RAY, there are still situations where I'd use it. Aside from left-right different-gauge lacing, if I were building an 18H or 16H radial front wheel for rim brakes, I'd choose CX Sprint over CX-RAY if it was an option.
If this wheel had been a 303S, I would've reused the four black CX Sprint spokes on the rotor-mount side without modification during the rebuild.
↑Original J-spoke
↑Original non-J-spoke
Maybe because these are the low-tension right-side spokes, there's not much difference in the deformation around the spoke neck, but there is a noticeable difference. The photos don't capture it very well, but the original J-spoke has deformed into more of an umbrella-handle curve.
Sapim's new B nipple washer was installed between the nipple and rim. For the differences between the old and new B (→see here), and for details on A, B, and C differences (→see here)
Laced up.
ONYX Vesper disc road hub, 24H, black half CX Sprint, 64-spoke reverse Italian lacing. I'll do the cable routing later.