A customer left me a wheel-shaped object made with a Gravel Tack rim and hub.
The rim and hub are Gravel Tack, but it's not a factory-built wheel.
It was apparently assembled at some shop in Kyoto
(they told me the name but I forgot)
called something Cycle.
The spoke tension is abnormally low—by my standards, it's below
the minimum threshold for being considered a wheel at all.
On the freewheel side, the spoke tension meter needle barely moves,
so I'd estimate it's less than 20 kgf.
Though this slack apparently is the customer's request—they said
"I intentionally set the tension low for comparison with complete wheels,"
which makes no sense. They asked me to re-tension it at my shop.
I told them they should ask the shop that built it
(I should have just refused),
but I ended up building it anyway.
The nipples are various colors,
but not arranged in any rainbow pattern.
↑Left tire side.
This tire has a specific mounting direction—
the label directly below the valve is on the right side,
where it says SPECIALIZED.
That's fine, but on the tire sidewall
at the widest bulge point, there's a wear mark.
So I checked the frame this rear wheel was mounted to,
and the inside of the left chainstay had
chipped paint exposing carbon underneath.
↑This is not where the spoke lost tension,
but the final crossing point. When I squeeze it, it looks like this.
The shape of the chipped paint on the left edge of the image matches,
so it's clearly the same spot.
The spokes are Sapim CX Super base-15 on both sides,
24H radial laced.
When dealing with a wheel I don't trust,
I want to know if the spoke length is correct,
but since the tubeless tape was wrinkled and needed replacing anyway,
I fortunately got a chance to look inside the rim.
The spoke length was not just short—it was too short.
Even after I tightened it up, the spoke ends
don't reach the nipple end face.
At this point, in front of the customer,
I blurted out "What is this garbage?"
Even if you want to build a wheel with low tension, there are limits.
A wheel with this much centering offset—I can't believe
someone actually got paid to build this.
Did an amateur really build this? A friend? I asked again.
I really should have refused.
And honestly, even with the wheel this far off to the right,
the left tire side still rubs on the frame?
Sealant seeped into the rim through where the tubeless tape was peeling,
and when I spun the wheel on the truing stand,
it oozed out from the nipple holes.
The wheel building wasn't started properly—
the nipple rotation is ridiculously stiff.
(This is a trade secret,
but other shops do it right too.)
Building a wheel from loose parts would've been better.
I did 2.5 extra turns on the freewheel side,
and it still had room to go,
so I tightened another 2/3 turn.
Then I shifted the wheel center way over to the right,
way more than it was originally,
and corrected the centering by tightening the non-freewheel side.
For an all-CX Super radial build, I tensioned it
to about what it should be.
（I wrote unpleasant grumbling in my draft below, but I've restrained myself and deleted it.）
The rim and hub are Gravel Tack, but it's not a factory-built wheel.
It was apparently assembled at some shop in Kyoto
(they told me the name but I forgot)
called something Cycle.
The spoke tension is abnormally low—by my standards, it's below
the minimum threshold for being considered a wheel at all.
On the freewheel side, the spoke tension meter needle barely moves,
so I'd estimate it's less than 20 kgf.
Though this slack apparently is the customer's request—they said
"I intentionally set the tension low for comparison with complete wheels,"
which makes no sense. They asked me to re-tension it at my shop.
I told them they should ask the shop that built it
(I should have just refused),
but I ended up building it anyway.
The nipples are various colors,
but not arranged in any rainbow pattern.
↑Left tire side.
This tire has a specific mounting direction—
the label directly below the valve is on the right side,
where it says SPECIALIZED.
That's fine, but on the tire sidewall
at the widest bulge point, there's a wear mark.
So I checked the frame this rear wheel was mounted to,
and the inside of the left chainstay had
chipped paint exposing carbon underneath.
↑This is not where the spoke lost tension,
but the final crossing point. When I squeeze it, it looks like this.
The shape of the chipped paint on the left edge of the image matches,
so it's clearly the same spot.
The spokes are Sapim CX Super base-15 on both sides,
24H radial laced.
When dealing with a wheel I don't trust,
I want to know if the spoke length is correct,
but since the tubeless tape was wrinkled and needed replacing anyway,
I fortunately got a chance to look inside the rim.
The spoke length was not just short—it was too short.
Even after I tightened it up, the spoke ends
don't reach the nipple end face.
At this point, in front of the customer,
I blurted out "What is this garbage?"
Even if you want to build a wheel with low tension, there are limits.
A wheel with this much centering offset—I can't believe
someone actually got paid to build this.
Did an amateur really build this? A friend? I asked again.
I really should have refused.
And honestly, even with the wheel this far off to the right,
the left tire side still rubs on the frame?
Sealant seeped into the rim through where the tubeless tape was peeling,
and when I spun the wheel on the truing stand,
it oozed out from the nipple holes.
The wheel building wasn't started properly—
the nipple rotation is ridiculously stiff.
(This is a trade secret,
but other shops do it right too.)
Building a wheel from loose parts would've been better.
I did 2.5 extra turns on the freewheel side,
and it still had room to go,
so I tightened another 2/3 turn.
Then I shifted the wheel center way over to the right,
way more than it was originally,
and corrected the centering by tightening the non-freewheel side.
For an all-CX Super radial build, I tensioned it
to about what it should be.
（I wrote unpleasant grumbling in my draft below, but I've restrained myself and deleted it.）