I received the rear wheel of a Bora 35 DB from a customer.
The first disc brake wheels Campagnolo released
were the Bora One 50 DB and Zonda DB.
At that point, there was no model equivalent to the Bora Ultra DB,
so even pro teams were using the Bora One DB.
This is the Bora One 35 DB that came later,
but a tubular rim version is extremely rare.
Anyway, it was purchased at auction,
and the customer brought it in asking for an inspection before use.
There was almost no lateral runout,
but when I looked at the rotating wheel,
I could tell without even using a truing stand's gauge
that there was significant radial runout with a jerky, bouncy feel.
In reality, the rim profile was unusually pulled inward
on the inner edge rather than the outer edge,
and there were two points where this occurred.
The intent is unclear (or perhaps there was no intent at all),
but three spokes' nipples on the G3 spoke set were over-tightened.
Not only that, while the spokes themselves weren't bent,
the spokes on the non-drive side at those two points
had been twisted to a permanent deformation level when the nipples were turned.
The spoke missing at the 10:30 position in the image above
is because I noticed this and removed it.
While it's true that straightening out a twist requires more force than causing one,
I'm puzzled how I could have twisted spokes
while keeping some spokes twisted and loosening others.
I'm keeping the nipples in place with tape so they don't fall off the rim.
For a basic inspection without parts replacement,
it's possible to work without removing the tubular tire,
but spoke replacement requires radial truing to be done properly,
so I temporarily removed the tire for this work.
The tire was held on with tape rather than rim cement.
↑This is the twisted spoke before removal,
and this spoke on the other side
also had twisting at the hub end.
After replacing the spoke,
I reversed the unnecessary truing steps
and corrected both radial and lateral runout, then centered the wheel.
The front wheel showed no signs of tampering and the inspection was quick.
This is what can happen when you buy wheels at auction—
that's the value of this post.
If there hadn't been a spoke replacement needed,
I wouldn't have taken photos or written about it.
↑The replacement spoke
doesn't have deformation that would cause runout, but
the spoke removed later (bottom in the image)
had permanent deformation twisting
near the start of the butted section on the hub end, and
both spokes show twisting at the start of the butted section on the rim end.
The first disc brake wheels Campagnolo released
were the Bora One 50 DB and Zonda DB.
At that point, there was no model equivalent to the Bora Ultra DB,
so even pro teams were using the Bora One DB.
This is the Bora One 35 DB that came later,
but a tubular rim version is extremely rare.
Anyway, it was purchased at auction,
and the customer brought it in asking for an inspection before use.
There was almost no lateral runout,
but when I looked at the rotating wheel,
I could tell without even using a truing stand's gauge
that there was significant radial runout with a jerky, bouncy feel.
In reality, the rim profile was unusually pulled inward
on the inner edge rather than the outer edge,
and there were two points where this occurred.
The intent is unclear (or perhaps there was no intent at all),
but three spokes' nipples on the G3 spoke set were over-tightened.
Not only that, while the spokes themselves weren't bent,
the spokes on the non-drive side at those two points
had been twisted to a permanent deformation level when the nipples were turned.
The spoke missing at the 10:30 position in the image above
is because I noticed this and removed it.
While it's true that straightening out a twist requires more force than causing one,
I'm puzzled how I could have twisted spokes
while keeping some spokes twisted and loosening others.
I'm keeping the nipples in place with tape so they don't fall off the rim.
For a basic inspection without parts replacement,
it's possible to work without removing the tubular tire,
but spoke replacement requires radial truing to be done properly,
so I temporarily removed the tire for this work.
The tire was held on with tape rather than rim cement.
↑This is the twisted spoke before removal,
and this spoke on the other side
also had twisting at the hub end.
After replacing the spoke,
I reversed the unnecessary truing steps
and corrected both radial and lateral runout, then centered the wheel.
The front wheel showed no signs of tampering and the inspection was quick.
This is what can happen when you buy wheels at auction—
that's the value of this post.
If there hadn't been a spoke replacement needed,
I wouldn't have taken photos or written about it.
↑The replacement spoke
doesn't have deformation that would cause runout, but
the spoke removed later (bottom in the image)
had permanent deformation twisting
near the start of the butted section on the hub end, and
both spokes show twisting at the start of the butted section on the rim end.