Another wheel day (and so on).
A customer left me with front and rear wheels from a Bora Ultra 35.
Several of the aluminum nipples on the rear wheel are cracked, so
they asked me to replace them,
but corrosion had spread into the nipple thread areas
and was splitting many nipples from the inside.
I also have the front wheel on inspection,
but that one looks like all nipples are completely fine.
The cause is unclear, but it might be a condition that only occurs when
road salt spray and chain lube chemicals combine,
or something like that.
↑These guys
If I replaced only what I visually determined to be bad,
there's a high likelihood that the ones I didn't replace
would fail the same way later, becoming a double job,
so I determined that all nipples need replacing.
In other words, this is a wheel rebuild job.
The hub locknuts are all crusty too.
↑This photo jumps ahead in time—
I took it after rebuilding the wheel,
but roughly in the opposite phase from the image above.
Looking at the side that was probably in contact with
the frame dropout slot—
It looks like this.
Yep, it snapped right away.
I was holding it with the spoke wrench not on the
flattened wrench flat but on the 2.0mm round section near the nipple.
The thread seizure was so extreme it wouldn't budge at all.
The nipple thread areas are packed with white rust.
Finally got one loose.
The threads are completely white.
This is another spot with powder coming out everywhere.
The only cracked nipple that would loosen.
Out of the 21 positions of G3×7 pairs, only this many loosened—
First, the 7 spokes on the non-drive side were total losses.
Whether they loosen or break, it's better to work on
these 7 first.
The non-drive side flange and spoke head are "through" type,
but the drive side is "hooked," so
once enough spoke tension comes off,
the spokes can be removed from the hub flange.
Of the drive-side G3 spokes, if 2 pairs of the 7 pairs
neighboring each other loosen or break,
the spoke tension is relieved,
and if the next 2 neighboring pairs loosen or break,
the remaining 3 pairs (6 spokes) can come off the right flange.
Technically it's 4 pairs' worth of phase, but
even after these 5 spokes were released from the hub flange,
they still wouldn't loosen at all.
And 5 others had already snapped,
so I only recovered 4 out of the 14 drive-side spokes.
These will be run through the thread-rolling machine of the spoke cutter
for cleaning purposes,
then degreased and reused.
I have spare spokes in stock for the Bora 35,
and I'm particularly well-stocked with rear-right spokes.
The front and rear-left use the same part number and are interchangeable,
used for radial spoking, so they have a flattened spoke head
for the spoke wrench.
The rear-right tangential-spoked spokes have
the same spoke head shape as standard straight spokes, and
because of their length and weight characteristics, I keep
an ample supply on hand for building evil wheels
in addition to normal repairs.
The rim doesn't need replacing, but
the brake zone is rounded down.
According to the customer, they've only ever used
the original red carbon-rim brake pads.
All nipples get replaced, but
the nipples with broken spoke bits stuck in them
are slightly attracted to a strong magnet, so
recovering them from the rim was easy.
It's built.
I've replaced 17 spokes and all the nipples.
The 2 pairs (4 spokes) of drive-side G3 immediately adjacent to the valve hole
are the reused spokes.
If these cause problems down the road,
that means my judgment in
trusting them was wrong.
This rim has the dark label, but
I have a damaged Bora 35 tubular wide rim with the bright label (red text)
in stock, so
I already know its weight.
As sample size increases, the word "average" becomes more certain, so
I should weigh it if the opportunity arises.
That said, I don't plan on telling anyone the actual measured weight.
↑man, that's pretty off-putting
Thaaaaank youuuu for waaiting! Pleeeease look at thiiis iiiimage!
Thuuuus iiiis the riiiim from thiiis joooob!
Thiiis iiiis the briiiight laaaabel riiiim from a diffeeerent joooob!
Boooooth aaaare reeeear riiiims!
Thiiis joooob's daaaark laaaabel iiis beeeeing ridden with taaaape,
And pleeeease noooote thaaaat the otherrrr joooob's briiiight laaaabel
haaas rim ceeeement beeeeddiiing present!
↑Stop iiiit aaalready!
A customer left me with front and rear wheels from a Bora Ultra 35.
Several of the aluminum nipples on the rear wheel are cracked, so
they asked me to replace them,
but corrosion had spread into the nipple thread areas
and was splitting many nipples from the inside.
I also have the front wheel on inspection,
but that one looks like all nipples are completely fine.
The cause is unclear, but it might be a condition that only occurs when
road salt spray and chain lube chemicals combine,
or something like that.
↑These guys
If I replaced only what I visually determined to be bad,
there's a high likelihood that the ones I didn't replace
would fail the same way later, becoming a double job,
so I determined that all nipples need replacing.
In other words, this is a wheel rebuild job.
The hub locknuts are all crusty too.
↑This photo jumps ahead in time—
I took it after rebuilding the wheel,
but roughly in the opposite phase from the image above.
Looking at the side that was probably in contact with
the frame dropout slot—
It looks like this.
Yep, it snapped right away.
I was holding it with the spoke wrench not on the
flattened wrench flat but on the 2.0mm round section near the nipple.
The thread seizure was so extreme it wouldn't budge at all.
The nipple thread areas are packed with white rust.
Finally got one loose.
The threads are completely white.
This is another spot with powder coming out everywhere.
The only cracked nipple that would loosen.
Out of the 21 positions of G3×7 pairs, only this many loosened—
First, the 7 spokes on the non-drive side were total losses.
Whether they loosen or break, it's better to work on
these 7 first.
The non-drive side flange and spoke head are "through" type,
but the drive side is "hooked," so
once enough spoke tension comes off,
the spokes can be removed from the hub flange.
Of the drive-side G3 spokes, if 2 pairs of the 7 pairs
neighboring each other loosen or break,
the spoke tension is relieved,
and if the next 2 neighboring pairs loosen or break,
the remaining 3 pairs (6 spokes) can come off the right flange.
Technically it's 4 pairs' worth of phase, but
even after these 5 spokes were released from the hub flange,
they still wouldn't loosen at all.
And 5 others had already snapped,
so I only recovered 4 out of the 14 drive-side spokes.
These will be run through the thread-rolling machine of the spoke cutter
for cleaning purposes,
then degreased and reused.
I have spare spokes in stock for the Bora 35,
and I'm particularly well-stocked with rear-right spokes.
The front and rear-left use the same part number and are interchangeable,
used for radial spoking, so they have a flattened spoke head
for the spoke wrench.
The rear-right tangential-spoked spokes have
the same spoke head shape as standard straight spokes, and
because of their length and weight characteristics, I keep
an ample supply on hand for building
in addition to normal repairs.
The rim doesn't need replacing, but
the brake zone is rounded down.
According to the customer, they've only ever used
the original red carbon-rim brake pads.
All nipples get replaced, but
the nipples with broken spoke bits stuck in them
are slightly attracted to a strong magnet, so
recovering them from the rim was easy.
It's built.
I've replaced 17 spokes and all the nipples.
The 2 pairs (4 spokes) of drive-side G3 immediately adjacent to the valve hole
are the reused spokes.
If these cause problems down the road,
that means my judgment in
trusting them was wrong.
This rim has the dark label, but
I have a damaged Bora 35 tubular wide rim with the bright label (red text)
in stock, so
I already know its weight.
As sample size increases, the word "average" becomes more certain, so
I should weigh it if the opportunity arises.
That said, I don't plan on telling anyone the actual measured weight.
↑man, that's pretty off-putting
Thaaaaank youuuu for waaiting! Pleeeease look at thiiis iiiimage!
Thuuuus iiiis the riiiim from thiiis joooob!
Thiiis iiiis the briiiight laaaabel riiiim from a diffeeerent joooob!
Boooooth aaaare reeeear riiiims!
Thiiis joooob's daaaark laaaabel iiis beeeeing ridden with taaaape,
And pleeeease noooote thaaaat the otherrrr joooob's briiiight laaaabel
haaas rim ceeeement beeeeddiiing present!
↑Stop iiiit aaalready!